Free Republic

The Swiss Army is preparing contingency plans for violent unrest across Europe. A nation mostly famous for its banks, watches and chocolate fears it may face a massive influx of European refugees in the near future. One of the world’s richest nations openly expressed concerns over the possible outcome of Europe’s continuing financial troubles, and is currently conducting army exercises against the possibility of riots along its borders. In September, the Swiss military conducted exercises dubbed ‘Stabilo Due,’ with scenarios involving violent instability across the EU.Switzerland has maintained an avowedly neutral stance for decades, and refused to join the eurozone...

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signalled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue programme that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds. "The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said. Three other euro zone senior euro zone sources confirmed the shift...

In a letter addressed to Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, his fellow coalition leaders -- PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos and Democratic Left’s Fotis Kouvelis -- Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, six judges and prosecutors associations have claimed that the proposed cuts in their salaries and pensions devised by the government are unconstitutional. Judges and magistrates have been staging a series of rolling work stoppages in recent weeks, while administrative judges have said they will extend their industrial action until October 5.

Greek police protesting against austerity cuts blocked the entrance to the riot police headquarters on Thursday, preventing buses carrying riot police from leaving for the site of major demonstrations this weekend. The government plans to slash police pay in a new round of spending cuts worth nearly 12 billion euros over the next two years. The savings plan is expected to provoke new street protests in the coming weeks by austerity-weary Greeks fed up with repeated wage and pension cuts.

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

Spain has issued a veiled warning that it will not accept a full bail-out from Europe if the terms are too harsh, a move that would paralyse the European Central Bank and call the euro’s survival into question. In an escalating game of brinkmanship, Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos said his country is not yet willing to sign a Memorandum giving up fiscal sovereignty to EU inspectors. “First of all, one must clarify the conditions,” he told German newspaper Handelsblatt. Mr de Guindos said the crisis engulfing the region is larger than any one country and warned north Europe...

Even as Greece desperately tries to avoid defaulting on its debt, American companies are preparing for what was once unthinkable: that Greece could soon be forced to leave the euro zone. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has looked into filling trucks with cash and sending them over the Greek border so clients can continue to pay local employees and suppliers in the event money is unavailable. Ford has configured its computer systems so they will be able to immediately handle a new Greek currency. No one knows just how broad the shock waves from a Greek exit would be, but...

Italy's public debt hit an all-time high in June of almost €2 trillion and the annual budget deficit was also bigger than a year before, due largely to Italy's share of bailouts for other eurozone states, the central bank announced. Public debt at the end of June rose €6.6 billion to €1.973 trillion, the Bank of Italy said yesterday (13 August), as the Treasury's cash reserves increased by €10.3 billion. Italy's benchmark bond yields remain close to 6% despite tough austerity measures introduced by Prime Minister Mario Monti's government. With the country mired in a deep recession, markets are skeptical...

What does Greece have to do with the next US president? Or the current debate about a "political and fiscal union" in Europe? Readers tempted to shrug shoulders and say "not much" would be ill-advised. The main topic in the US campaign ahead of the 6 November presidential elections is the economy. And Europe has become the bogeyman for the Republican camp. "I see our President making us more and more like Europe. I don't want to be like Europe, I want to be like America," Republican candidate Mitt Romney said on Sunday (12 August) during a campaign event in...

Greece should start paying half of its pensions and state salaries in drachmas as part of a gradual exit from the eurozone, a leading German conservative was quoted on Monday as saying. Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has long argued that Greece would be better off outside the eurozone. "With Greece we have reached the end of the road. There must not be any further aid. A country which does not have the will to fulfil the conditions, or is not able to do...

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Tuesday he expected the governor of Sicily to resign following a growing financial crisis that has pushed the autonomous region close to default. Monti said in a statement there were "grave concerns" that the island could default and he said he had written to the governor Raffaele Lombardo seeking confirmation that he would resign by the end of the month.

How bad is Europe’s economic climate? Switzerland, Germany and Denmark have negative 2 year sovereign yields. This means that investors are paying the governments to store their funds! Switzerland has been in negative territory for a while. Note the red line that is off the chart! Germany, the European “Big Dog,” has recently joined the negative yield club. And the Netherlands, where they serve mayonnaise on their french fries (I tried it), has also recently joined the negative yield club. And these are NOMINAL yields. Even the U.S. where the 2 year sovereign rate is 0.258% and the inflation rate...

Addressing the European Parliament yesterday (3 July) in Strasbourg, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso slammed British euroskeptics for their divisive behavior and taking pleasure in the eurozone's troubles. "Let me tell you that it is puzzling that you seem to delight in the difficulties of the euro area," Barroso told the British Tories, adding that this was in stark contrast with the position taken by Prime Minister David Cameron. Barroso was taking aim especially at Conservative MEP Martin Callanan, who has repeatedly criticized bank bailouts as wasting taxpayers' money and talked in favor of eurozone exits for some countries....

India will pledge an additional $ 10 billion to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) firewall against a eurozone financial conflagration. This was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his opening speech at the Group of 20 summit in Mexico. The money will be part of an estimated $63-billion contribution by the BRICS countries, the emerging group og economies currently chaired by India, to the IMF’s $430-billion emergency fund. The BRICS countries, comprising Brazil Russia India China and South Africa, had earlier agreed that their contributions would be conditional on the IMF enhancing their voting rights and “that this recourse...

The eurozone crisis can be traced more to political than economic and financial causes, Emma Bonino, vice president of the Italian Senate and a former European Commissioner told EurActiv Italia. She says it is mostly a problem of governance. The EU Summit this week (28-29 June) is not a meeting as many others: “It’s a key date for the EU, almost a point of no return,” she said, reasserting the need for a United States of Europe. She spoke on the margin of a conference organized by European Movement Italy, ahead of the Rome mini-summit on 22 June. Bonino shares...

In a not-so-subtle rebuke of President Obama’s tendency to offer unsolicited recommendations on how Europeans should handle their debt crises on Sunday evening, Germany’s finance minister suggested that perhaps His Munificence should focus on his own problems before trying to fix everybody else’s. Wolfgang Schaeuble told public broadcaster ZDF in an interview late Sunday that “people are always very quick at giving others advice.”He says: “Mr. Obama should first of all take care of reducing the American deficit, which is higher than in the eurozone.” An unfortunate and embarrassing truth — the EU’s debt-to-GDP ratio is well over eighty percent,...

The Greek boss learns a few lessons about economics as he makes his rounds, on the very eve of the election… As a minor mob boss in the south, Greco had had some serious setbacks. His operation was crumbling around him, and he didn’t know what to do. Deep in hock to the big Mob Bosses in Brussels, Greco had gone back to the well for renegotiations again and again, and neither his bosses nor his grubber list seemed to understand his situation at all. No compassion, no understanding. What was the world coming to? But it was Saturday, and...

Ireland wants to renegotiate its rescue plan to benefit from the same treatment as Spain, which looks set to win a bailout for its banks without any broader economic reforms in return, European sources said on Saturday. "Ireland raised two issues: one is the need to ensure parity of the deal with Spain retroactively on its bailout from EFSF," one European government source told AFP, referring to the temporary rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. Another European government source confirmed the information. Ireland secured an 85-billion-euro ($112 billion) rescue deal from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund...

Eurozone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to €100 billion ($125 billion) to shore up its teetering banks, and Madrid said it would specify precisely how much it needs once independent audits report in just over a week. After a 2½-hour conference call of the 17 finance ministers, which several sources described as heated, the Eurogroup and Madrid said the amount of the bailout would be sufficiently large to banish any doubts. "The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, estimated as summing up to €100 billion in total," a Eurogroup statement...

Thursday may be the final test for the euro zone, Vincent Cignarella argues on Markets Hub. The simmering euro-zone crisis may reach full boil when Spain goes to the market to borrow bonds just one day after the ECB met.