Will they stay or will they go?

Germany and the euroGermany benefits from euro

It seems every day for the past three weeks has brought comment and speculation on “the game of chess”, “game of chicken” or “game of poker” with regard to negotiations over Greece´s national debt. Of course, this has served to make the Greek crisis a little more newsworthy than the usual EU fare, which is of course, to postpone making a decision of any consequence until the very last moment.

We are led to believe that today will be a pivotal day for the future of the euro zone, with Greece set for further negotiations with the Eurogroup, the council made up of EU Finance Ministers. Hopes of a deal subsided over the weekend, with Greece´s biggest fan- Eurogroup head Jeroen Djissenbloeum -saying he was “very pessimistic” over the prospect of a deal being done in the short term.

“Who will blink first?” has been a favoured question for commentators for weeks now. At this point, The Corner is more concerned about the eyesight of the respective participants than any actual economic agreement. (This is not an analogy)

Reports over the weekend suggested that it may be the wording of a potential agreement that is holding up progress, ironic given the narrow linguistic parameters to which this interminable saga has been confined to date.

The Corner expects more posturing today, with most of Europe´s finance Ministers emerging from the meeting like a bunch of dismayed prospective father-in-laws, each hoping that their pronouncement of disapproval will change the outcome of future events. Varoufakis will no doubt continue to saunter around like the cat that got the cream, and everyone will get together again on Thursday, by which time they will really ought to start making progress.

In Spain, figures published today are expected to reveal a trade deficit of €2.2 billion, which may be considered further evidence of a turnaround in consumer demand.

The IBEX 35 was at 10,732,50 while the euro was trading at $1.1418 against the dollar.

 

About the Author

The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.

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