Italy Cooked Euro-Entry Books Worse The Greece

[whoami]

<<Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos digs the dirt on his mates.>>

You couldn't make this stuff up. I wonder who'll be next to get stabbed in the front - the Greeks feel cornered and their knives are out...

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Italy masked finances worse than Greece - Pangalos

LONDON (Reuters) - Italy did more than Greece to mask the state of its finances to secure euro zone entry, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos said, adding that Germany's history made it ill-placed to criticise his country.

The European Union has asked Greece to explain reports that it engaged in derivatives trades with U.S. investment banks that may have allowed it to mask the size of its debt and deficit from EU authorities ahead of its entry into the euro zone.

"You simply put some amounts of money in the next year ... it is what everybody did and Greece did it to a lesser extent than Italy for example," Pangalos said in an interview with BBC World Service radio broadcast on Wednesday.

Greece is under mounting pressure from markets and EU policymakers to slash its large debt and deficit. It must prove to Brussels by mid-March that it can meet its ambitious targets to cut the budget shortfall by 4 percent of gross domestic product this year to 8.7 percent.

On Tuesday a German state finance minister said Greece had to help itself out of its precarious fiscal situation and cannot expect Germany or the European Union to bail it out.

Pangalos criticised Germany's attitude towards the Greek crisis, saying Athens had never received compensation for the economic impact of the Nazi occupation during World War Two.

"They took away the Greek gold that was at the Bank of Greece (Stuttgart: 910622 - news) , they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back. This is an issue that has to be faced sometime in the future," he said.

"I don't say they have to give back the money necessarily but they have at least to say 'thanks'," he said. "And they shouldn't complain so much about stealing and not being very specific about economic dealings."

Greek politicians have been outraged by the tone of media coverage of the debt crisis in German media, such as a front-page picture in the weekly magazine Focus of "Venus de Milo"-type statue making an obscene finger gesture with the headline "Swindlers in the euro zone."

Pangalos also said the Greek situation would not have reached this point if there had been stronger leadership within the EU.

"The quality of leadership today in the Union is very, very poor indeed," he said, adding that it had been better in the 1980s when Jacques Delors headed the European Commission and Helmut Kohl, Francois Mitterrand and Margaret Thatcher were in power in Germany, France and Britain.

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This is better than a soap script. Can't wait for the next exciting episode.

[bogbrush]

Stand by for someone (Berlusconi?) to announce that they were all in on it at Brussels.

Anyone with a brain knew there conditions for entry thing was a load of balls. The project has always been political, not economic.

[The Masked Tulip]

So, European diplomacy descends to the language of the playground - he did it!

Italy would not be allowed to join the Euro today on economic grounds, it would not be allowed into the EU on democracy grounds. The Italians have been sitting back and enjoying all the billions of EU grants provided by us stupid Anglo-Saxons in the North.

For years, for example, we provided billions for them to modernise their motorway system but for years, still could be the case, the roads more or less fell away South of Rome.

The bottom line is that the PIIGS have had a boom time in the past 20 - 30 years on the back of the Germans, the Brits and other northern Europeans. At the same time our own quality of life and infrastructure has been run-down.

[leicestersq]

So, European diplomacy descends to the language of the playground - he did it!

Italy would not be allowed to join the Euro today on economic grounds, it would not be allowed into the EU on democracy grounds. The Italians have been sitting back and enjoying all the billions of EU grants provided by us stupid Anglo-Saxons in the North.

For years, for example, we provided billions for them to modernise their motorway system but for years, still could be the case, the roads more or less fell away South of Rome.

The bottom line is that the PIIGS have had a boom time in the past 20 - 30 years on the back of the Germans, the Brits and other northern Europeans. At the same time our own quality of life and infrastructure has been run-down.

Not to mention, all that money has raised the price level in these countries, making holidays there very expensive.

Hiring waiters from Barcelona is no longer done on cost grounds either.

[interestrateripoff]

Stand by for someone (Berlusconi?) to announce that they were all in on it at Brussels.

Anyone with a brain knew there conditions for entry thing was a load of balls. The project has always been political, not economic.

Yep it was all completely fudge so the Eurocrats could claim it was a success. Fudging would have been OK on a certain level if they had then got the books in order, instead it was swept under the carpet and left to fester.

The fudging of the rules on entry may ultimately undermine the whole Euro project.

[R K]

That's funny, the Managing Director of Goldman Sachs didn't mention it when he gave evidence to John McFall's Treasury Select Committee yesterday. (Not that Mcf*ckwit asked him of course).

Gets more and more like the Godfather every day. This is the Corleones going after the Tattaglias and the heads of the other five families.

What a wonderful 'Union' it is..............

[Bloo Loo]

Next years figures are ALWAYS a Guess.

who hasnt done a business plan and cash flow and didnt become a millionaire in 5 years time??

[indirectapproach]

I was in Tuscany in the autumn of year before last and the motor-ways really were pretty poor.

I got the impression that in Northern Italy, the people were well off but the state was poor, judging from cars, clothes and shoes.

Whereas in France it feels the reverse.

[scepticus]

So, European diplomacy descends to the language of the playground - he did it!

Italy would not be allowed to join the Euro today on economic grounds,

neither would germany I think. Ibelieve german debt/GDP is well above the 60% limit.

in any case the unfunded liabilities of germany alone make a mockery the financial stability pact, let alone the PIIGs.

I suspect that the germans and french are likely to be guilty of various boondoggles with the unfunded liabilities, if not with their existing deficits.

['Bart']

adding that Germany's history made it ill-placed to criticise his country

Whatever happened to "don't mention the war"?