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Eurointelligence Daily Briefing: German rebellion against second loan tranche for Greece
Bundestag votes in favour of Portugal package, but more and more MPs come out in opposition to a second loan package for Greece; Schäuble says Germany's support was a question of fate for Europe; Der Spiegel says Europe has become the fault line of centre-right politics in Germany; Bild Zeitung has another outrageous article about overpaid and lazy Greeks, and why the crisis will last forever; Antonio Borges and Jean Claude Juncker call for more Greek privatisations; Holger Steltzner bemoans that the ECB is becoming more French, and less German; the IMF warns that the crisis may yet spread to core Europe; El Pais wonders why the IMF still considers Spain to be among the Euro Area 4 peripheral countries; economists and investors overwhelmingly expect a Greek restructuring, according to a Reuters poll; Barclays Capital calculates that Greece needs a 67% haircut; True Finns stay out of government in protest over the decision to support a Portuguese aid package; there were more violent protests in Athens after the serious injury of a protester earlier this week; John Walters argues why Ireland is the victim in this crisis; Christine Lagarde is to revise the 2011 growth forecast upwards following a better than expected first quarter;there is much speculation, meanwhile, about the future of Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi after Mario Draghi's accession to the ECB presidency.
(Google link)

Economics is politics by other means
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 13th, 2011 at 04:51:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I read news reports on the parliamentary debate yesterday, which suggest an internal conflict within the right-wing parties, while passing the vote would not be a problem as SPD and Greens wouldn't oppose. Interestingly, even some government MP criticised the punitive interests on the loans to Portugal, but as long as government policy aims to assuage the chauvinists in the own ranks and Bild, nothing good will come of it.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri May 13th, 2011 at 05:00:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
the chauvinists in the own ranks

Also the neoliberals (the FDP guys still fuming over Merkel's shelving of their tax cut plans).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Fri May 13th, 2011 at 05:03:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Süddeutsche has info on the scale of the rebellion:

Koalition: Streit um EU-Finanzhilfen - Genörgel gegen Merkels Griechenland-Kurs - Politik - sueddeutsche.de Coalition: dispute over EU financial bailouts - Gripes against Merkel's Greece course - Politics - sueddeutsche.de
Nach Angaben aus den Fraktionen haben bisher 14 FDP- und fünf Unions-Parlamentarier erklärt, dass sie Merkels Pläne nicht mehr mittragen wollen. Darüber hinaus gebe es "Dutzende" weitere Koalitionsabgeordnete, die der gleichen Meinung seien.According to information from the factions, until now, 14 FDP and five CDU/CSU members of parliament declared that they no longer want to support Merkel's plans. In addition, there are further "dozens" of coalition members of parliament who shared their opinion.

After zu Googleberg's departure, CDU/CSU and FDP have 331 out of 621 seats, thus a loss of coalition majority needs 21 rebels, only two more than the 19 SZ has info about. However, the article notes with a source in the leadership that

...die meisten Abgeordneten würden am Ende zustimmen, wenn ihnen klar werde, dass sie sonst den Bestand der Koalition gefährdeten. Mehrere Abweichler räumten ein, dass ihr endgültiges Votum noch nicht feststehe. "Das entscheide ich dann, wenn die Abstimmung ansteht", sagte etwa Koppelin....most members of parliament would vote Yes in the end, once they realise that they otherwise endanger the survival of the coalition. Several dissenters acknowledged that their final vote has not been determined. "I decide when the vote is pending," said Koppelin for example.


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Fri May 13th, 2011 at 05:27:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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