Greece Prime Minister Calls "Crisis Meeting" Attacks EU, IMF; Does Germany Want a Deal?

[Owlet]

"Things are going so well in Greece (just one step away from a deal for weeks on end), that Greek officials attack EU and IMF as debt talks stall.

Greek officials launched a vociferous behind the scenes attack on European Union and International Monetary Fund negotiators as talks in Athens over the country's mounting debts appeared to stall.

Prime minister Lucas Papademos told aides that a crisis meeting of party leaders would be called as early as Thursday to thrash out a response to an increasingly intransigent negotiating team sent by Brussels, which is demanding severe austerity measures before sanctioning a further €130bn (£109bn) of bailout funds.

<snip>


German and IMF demands make meaningless any hint of a deal "soon". Germany has signaled it has had enough and will not throw another 130 billion euros down a rathole. The IMF signaled the same thing but not as emphatically.

Thus, if Germany does not back down and the IMF insists on a 10-page list of “prior actions” a Greek exit from the Eurozone is at hand.

Look for a "bank holiday" in Greece soon.

Complicating matters for Merkel, France does want a deal, and Sarkozy stepped in to support Greece.

Is this a game by Germany to extract concessions? I do not think so. This goes far beyond hardball. People do not understand the pressure on Merkel within her own party to end these nonsensical bailouts."

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/01/greece-prime-minister-calls-crisis.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29

[Yo_Mama]

1. That's a good question

I don't think Germany wants a deal, because they have concluded it will not work long term and they are putting up substantial amounts of money for it.

France does want it.

But Germany can't back off the original agreement. In fairness, everyone seems to have admitted that the 130 billion figure is insufficient. I think Germany would rather let Greece default and spend the money on shoring up its own banks.

[Owlet]

2. I think you're right

At least, all the evidence seems to point in that direction.