Late on Thursday night Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou was able to obtain enough votes for his government to pass legislation on a new set of tough austerity measures. This could not exactly be called a victory for Papandreou as violent protests were held outside the Greek parliament resulting in the death of one man. A two-day general strike was held to show discontent for the austerity measures.
After the vote passed, protests continued and violence once again erupted, continuing into the night, with at least 74 people were taken to the hospital. One man is dead.
The vote passed by 154 votes against 144. The cost-cutting agreement reduces wages and raises taxes which is highly unpopular to the Greek population. But Greece has no choice but to meet its international lender requirements as the country tries to avoid bankruptcy and secure the aid tranche as agreed by the troika (made up of the IMF, EU and ECB).
The new austerity measures come two years after the debt crisis first came to light in Greece. However, Greece’s debts still look unsustainable, and even if the passing of the new austerity bill will lead to further international aid, could it just be another stop-gap measure and not actually prevent Greece from default?
Disagreement between France and Germany may prevent eurozone leaders from reaching a crucial deal on a second bailout package for Greece at the EU Summit in Brussels this weekend.
Germany is pushing for banks to accept cuts of 50 per cent to 60 per cent in the value of their Greek bonds, while France is insisting that leaders should only make technical revisions to a preliminary agreement reached with private investors in July.
The weekend meeting of European policy makers in Brussels aims at taking steps to come up with a plan to finally end the region’s problems. But if the deep divide between France and Germany on how to bolster the European Financial Stability Facility will not be resolved at the summit, the single currency will plunge further, and risk spreading the debt crisis from Greece and other indebted peripherals to the rest of the euro zone.
By clicking “Continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.
Trading Point uses cookies to ensure that we provide you with the best experience while visiting our website. Some of the cookies are needed to provide essential features, such as login sessions, and cannot be disabled. Other cookies help us improve our website’s performance and your experience through personalising content, providing social media features and analysing our traffic. Such cookies may also include third-party cookies, which might track your use of our website. You may change your cookie settings at any time.
Read more, or change your cookie settings.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small data files. When you visit a website, the website sends the cookie to your computer. Your computer stores it in a file located inside your web browser.
Cookies do not transfer viruses or malware to your computer. Because the data in a cookie does not change when it travels back and forth, it has no way to affect how your computer runs, but they act more like logs (i.e. they record user activity and remember stateful information) and they get updated every time you visit a website.
We may obtain information about you by accessing cookies, sent by our website. Different types of cookies keep track of different activities. For example, session cookies are used only when a person is actively navigating a website. Once you leave the website, the session cookie disappears.
Why are cookies useful?
We use functional cookies to analyse how visitors use our website, as well as track and improve our website’s performance and function. This allows us to provide a high-quality customer experience by quickly identifying and fixing any issues that may arise. For example, we might use cookies to keep track of which website pages are most popular and which method of linking between website pages is most effective. The latter also helps us to track if you were referred to us by another website and improve our future advertising campaigns.
Another use of cookies is to store your log in sessions, meaning that when you log in to the Members Area to deposit funds, a "session cookie" is set so that the website remembers that you have already logged in. If the website did not set this cookie, you will be asked for your login and password on each new page as you progress through the funding process.
In addition, functional cookies, for example, are used to allow us to remember your preferences and identify you as a user, ensure your information is secure and operate more reliably and efficiently. For example, cookies save you the trouble of typing in your username every time you access our trading platform, and recall your preferences, such as which language you wish to see when you log in.
Here is an overview of some of the functions our cookies provide us with:
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses analytical cookies placed on your computer, to help the website analyze a user's use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) may be transmitted to and stored by Google on their servers. Google may use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties, where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on behalf of Google. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held. By using this website, you give your consent to Google to process data about you in the manner and for the purposes set out above.
Change Settings
Please select which types of cookies you want to be stored on your device.
We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.
Read more or change your cookie settings.