The EU Creed – “Try and Try again there is no do”
The negotiations have gone on for months. If you truly believe that it’s about making Greece’s’ debts more affordable you’re mad, this is about setting targets that are impossible to meet, thus creating a situation wherein Greece becomes a third world country outside the EU, and all the unelected eurocrats cry “We did our best, we spent months working on a plan”. We already know its win, win for the bondholders anyway link , link, and the US is heavily leaning on Germany to do what ever is possible to stop the inevitable default bleeding the fed dry.
Saturday 4th February 2012
Euro zone finance ministers told Greece it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed to implement reforms to secure a second financing package from the euro zone and the IMF.
via Euro zone insists no Greek rescue without reforms | Reuters.
Sunday 5th February 2012
Greece’s prime minister scrambled Sunday to convince lenders and politicians to sign off on a 130 billion euro rescue, after his finance minister said just hours remained to clinch a deal to avoid a messy default.
Via Greece on “knife edge” in push to agree bailout
Analysis 24 January 2012
So, they’re going through a drawn-out step-by-step procedure of demands for reforms, promises, failed implementations, rebukes, withheld bailout transfers that then might still be made, and so on. The idea is to keep markets from panicking, give governments time to prepare for the inevitable, and render politicians blameless for Greece’s exit from the monetary union.