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THE FINANCE MINISTER is back in Brussels today to meet with his European colleagues to try and prevent a eurozone crisis.
The meeting today will see 19 finance minister from across the eurozone come together for the third meeting in just over a week to try and prevent Greece from running out of money.
Negotiations have been ongoing between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – with a lengthy phone call taking place last night that AFP are reporting “appeared to calm the waters”.
Greece made a proposal earlier this week in which the country would comply with an extension of their bailout but with greater flexibility built in. This saw the Greeks make a number of concessions on their earlier demands.
While this received a positive airing from the European Commission and other interested parties – Germany, and in particular their Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, were less receptive and felt that the agreement represented a ‘Trojan Horse’ deal, with Greece being unclear on a number of points with the aim of securing bridge financing.
If a deal is not struck today it could lead to further damage to the euro, which is already down , and may see Greece exit the eurozone.
How big is Michael Noonan’s role in all of this?
While not a playing as central a role as those in the Greek and German camps – our Finance Minister’s position is still significant.
He has been named by Business Insider as one of 18 key players in the Greek crisis negotiations. The reasons for this is Ireland’s position as a country that has imposed tough austerity measures and now appears to be coming out the other side.
Alongside the Spanish Finance Minister, Luis de Guindos, Noonan is backing the current bailout deal that is being imposed on Greece.
The Minister is expected to fly out to Brussels at around 11am today and make a statement before the meeting begins at around three o’clock.
In a additional bit of Irish interest, it turns out Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is a fan of playwright Samuel Beckett – having gone to see a performance of one his plays on Tuesday.
Yanis Varoufakis / TwitterTwo nights ago I saw S, Beckett's Happy Days (Greek National Theatre). Splendid performance(s). Such a relief from you know what...
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) February 20, 2015
Will a deal be struck today?
There is a sense that today’s talks represent the last chance for a resolution between Greece and the rest of the eurozone.
Today marks the end of their current bailout programme. Without further financing Greece faces the prospect of running out of money.
Part of the reason given for the difficulty has been the clash in styles between stoical German Finance Minister Schaeuble and his more casual Greek counterpart Varoufakis.
The rejection of Athens’ earlier concessions drew a strong reaction – with Greece saying today’s meeting would offer “just two choices. To accept or reject the Greek request”.
It is hoped that things may take a less belligerent tone after last night’s discussion between Alexis Tsipras and Angela Merkel yesterday evening.
There was calm in the financial markets today following last night’s phone call between Alexis Tsipras and Angela Merkel.
- Additional reporting by AFP
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Oh yes, Michael will save the eurozone.. by punishing Greece and obeying Germany’s every command as he always does.
Well said Russell. Noonan is part of the problem, not the solution.
Solidarity with the Greeks who have the first European government in a very long time trying to govern in the interests of their citizens and not the plutocracy unlike our own quisling leaders such as Noonan.
The only reason that the Troika hold any leverage over Greece is that the nation’s debts are in what is effectively a foreign currency, the Euro. The same holds true for Ireland.
This is a key reason why European democracy is largely a façade now and why the unelected technocrats of the ECB and IMF get to decide how many Greek and Irish children need to go to bed cold and hungry so that the corporate elite which the Troika serve continue to accumulate vast wealth at the rate they’ve become accustomed to.
The difference with Greece and Ireland is that these nation’s debts are effectively a foreign currency debt which cannot be keystroked out of existence as monetary sovereignty has been ceded to the ECB.
So Ireland, Greece, Spain Portugal etc must obtain euros to service the debt using the real resources (e.g labour or exports) of the nation or borrow euro funding externally also to be repaid ultimately with the real resources of the citizens.
The Euro was a deliberately designed monetary trap which we will ultimately need to exit if it continues down the current destructive neo liberal path which serves the interests of capital over the interests of the majority.
Michael simply obeys his master. Its that simple. He is a puppet.
Hit the nail on the head there waddler
Well spotted waddler, after World War One Germany was so heavily in debt the people their were going hungry… Enter one adolf hitler, extreme new leader, he printed a second internal German currency which was issued by the German government to workers who came off the dole queues to build roads etc. this currency was used to buy only German goods and services, within a few years Germany was back on its feet…. After that he went a bit haywire but up till then his plan was a success
@Theirry – Ab Lincoln did much the same thing with his ‘greenbacks’.
The history of banking is not what most people think.
Noonan at 71 years of age should do the honourable thing and resign he has done enough for his friends .
it looks like the clowns are running the circus here today….
hope he rightfully tells greece to get stuffed. lefties must be thought manners
Yeah help a country and its citizens who have suffered enough. Governments of Greece not citizens who made the laws and rules . never enforced the lax tax rules. It was not the average citizen who wrecked Greece it was the Greek governments time and again. They ran the country not the citizens. But as typical with everyone blame the people not the governments even though its governments that run the country.
TL;DR
The banks in Greece need to broken up and a freeze put on withdrawals like what happened in Cyprus. If the EU pumps in more money then it will be gone nearly as quick to pay bond and deposit holders.
The formula to get out of this debt slavery has remained the same throughout history, it always ends with a nations work and assets being exploited by the rich… We need a leader of intelligence and utmost integrity to defend the people and eire’s assets
Deutschland Deutschland uber alles Michael, you must know all the words by now.
Yes he is well past his sell by date.
Paul. Retirement age is 66 so Mr Noonan way pass his sell by date, Its time for young blood. For too long these old croonies, (on all sides)have been in positions of power. Lets thank them for their service, but at 70 its time to relax. Its the same with driving, i believe we all should be tested every year, on our abilities behind the wheel. Its a new era, and time for change.
Denying Greece what our Government got elected to do.. got old begrudgery.
I heard Noonan say if they got a write down it would have knock on effect to creditors, good man making the argument against our own cause.
#Patriot
Putting his country first or saving the eurozone. I think we know what he will do.
Good thing the eurozone voted him into his job so…… Oh wait :/ d’oh :((
“What our government got elected to do”????
Where in the FG manifesto did it say that they would look to default on the country’s debt?
A mickey with one eye.
“Not another Red cent”
Do you really think we have 8.5 billion a year “spare” in this country for the next 40 years..
The New Economics Foundation have made an interesting proposal on how Greece and the other Eurozone countries can access funding while avoiding profiteering by the bond market speculators.
“When it cannot be sure of the long term co-operation of the central bank, the Government can easily implement an alternative by ceasing the issuance of government bonds and borrowing instead directly from the commercial banks in the form of long-term loan contracts. This has the advantage of increasing bank credit creation, as well as strengthening the banking system by improving the quality of its loan book. Such a policy is the potential solution to many of the problems faced by countries such as Spain and Ireland presently: the prime rate, i.e. the interest rate banks charge borrowers with the best credit risk is often far lower in Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece than the sovereign bond yield of similar maturity. The reason is that bank credit is not tradable and hence not susceptible to speculative attacks, or downgrades by rating agencies- while being eligible as collateral with the ECB, not required to be marked to market and not requiring new capital from the banks, according to Basel rules.”
http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/where-does-money-come-from
The commercial banks create most of the new money in circulation today when they issue loans. In issuing credit, banks simultaneously create new electronic deposits in the recipient’s bank account via computer keystrokes. Governments borrowing directly from the commercial banks is not prohibited under the current treaties of the EU. So this capability of the private banks to create new money can be legally harnessed by Greece as a source of funding if they chose to do so. (The slavering neo liberals in the ECB and Eurogroup would be most upset by a development like this which would be an added bonus.)
This proposal is from the economists and financial professional below.
Tony Greenham is Head of Finance and Business at nef. He is a former investment banker, a Chartered Accountant and regular writer and media commentator on banking reform.
Professor Richard Werner is Director of the Centre for Banking, Finance and Sustainable Development at the University of Southampton and author of two best-selling
books on banking and economics. He is credited with popularising the term ‘quantitative easing’ in 1994 whilst Chief Economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia), following a spell as visiting research fellow at the Japanese Central Bank.
Josh Ryan-Collins is a Senior Researcher at nef (the new economics foundation) where he is leading a programme of research on the history and practice of monetary systems. He is studying for a PhD in finance at the University of Southampton.
But they did say burn the bondholders. Not one red cent more. Look for a write down. Think your getting confused on countries debt and banks debt . 1 which was ours and the other which wasn’t.
I think the time has come for a head to head Greece versus Germany one will have to leave the Euro or the currency will be worthless. Europe not printing monies in the past brought this crisis to where it is today. Germans getting to big a say. If Greece leaves Ireland under new leadership will follow.
Big crash ahead…
I think your post is a little confused..
“They did” “Did they” ?
Yes they printed money five years too late to satisfy the Germans and prove austerity in the truck loads will sink and deflate a currency.
Problem is cents are not red.
I would love to know the reason why your post is getting red arrowed!
Can a man who can’t say ‘no’ save the Eurozone from economic disaster.
Sorry…how important is the Irish citizen to the rest of Europe?….considering that after Lisbon 1 we were told that an insignificant country with a small population on the edge of Europe should not be allowed to stop the progression of the EU.
Ireland appears to be coming out the other side? More journal Bullshit
In 3 yrs max we will be using punts
Yes please jon-boy
This isn’t a conflict of nations between Germany and Greece as the mainstream media like to portray it. Rather this is a confrontation between the interests of the vast majority of ordinary European citizens (as represented by the new Syriza government) and the Capitalist elite.
Germany is home to the dominant capitalist class in Europe and so they take the lead in trying to crush Greece’s move towards actual democracy which will erode their control and wealth. In Ireland, the interests of the capitalist class have always been served by FG and FF and more recently Labour.
Solidarity to Syriza and the Greek people in their struggle.
Europe thinks it holds the cards but it is still Greece. They can get the loans they need from China who have already offered. So watch Europe bend .
He should have 2 black eyes
“Europe thinks it holds the cards but it is still Greece. They can get the loans they need from China who have already offered. So watch Europe bend .”
????
Europe is patently not bending.
“Rather this is a confrontation between the interests of the vast majority of ordinary European citizens (as represented by the new Syriza government) and the Capitalist elite.”
No, this most definitely is a confrontation between the interests of Syriza and the electorate they represent and those of other European countries, whose hard-pressed taxpayers are fed up of shovelling more and more money at the problem.
“Germany is home to the dominant capitalist class in Europe and so they take the lead in trying to crush Greece’s move towards actual democracy which will erode their control and wealth.”
Greece’s “actual democracy” relies on the tax money of other European countries, but I guess their electorates don’t get to have a say.
“In 3 yrs max we will be using punts”
People have been saying this since the beginning of the crisis.
Eagle, Who do you imagine kept the lights on in Greece before they joined the Euro?
The euro founders and their henchmen won’t let Greece out… It will have a domino effect… If Greece does stand firm and leave, the eu will place trade embargos and try crush them financially to make sure spain Ireland and Portugal don’t get any ideas.. If Greece do exit, I for one will buy their produce and maybe go on a holiday to Greece
The way Germany is negotiating, I’m starting to wonder if they’ve decided that the damage of having Greece leave the Euro is less than the damage of them staying in. I wouldn’t be so sure that they’re not on the way out.
now more than ever is the time to form some sort of union with the UK if they vote yes in the EU referendum so we have muscle and leverage to negotiate our terms if we leave the EU
Saul, the UK (Rothschild’s Bank of England) is playing good cop bad cop. They are doing what they are doing so one arm of their empire isnt effected by yheir other arm which contrils the ECB.
Google them. They’ve some history altogether.
There to wipe Angela’s ass
Is this Waterford whispers ?
Rosenmontag – Rose Monday is a carnival celebrated in parts of Germany and Austria on the Monday before Ash Wednesday marking the start of lent. It comes from an old Roman tradition of making slaves and peasants masters for just one day. Would Greece like to be masters over Germany for more than one day just to get their finances sorted out.
Congrats on your headline having 0 to do with the reality of what he is doing today
Selling the irish out again bear
Mr noonan, you look ridiculous
Mr Noonan got eye strain from focusing too much on bond holders and satisfying them. The whole Irish nation has a man that should be resting his eye after his operation and his recent cancer episode at the table in Europe. Some thing very wrong there but this meeting thanks to Greece will allow a consideration for the first time for social economic policy that is the piece austerity removed in favour of bond markets and bond holders.
Great man is noonan just look at how he treated women who were infected with hepatitis c. But it’s ok he said sorry. Sure that makes it ok
Just to be clear, the BTSB apologised to the Bridget McCole, not Michael Noonan in a personal, nor in his capacity as minister of health (From the dail records: The State, in the form of the Minister, is responsible for the débâcle from the beginning). He never apologised for the way he treated Ellen regarding what the state would do to her after he daughter’s death, although he did offer crocodile condolences. No public apology was forthcoming, even though other in the dail requested it.
On top of this, while contesting a pittance for the government against the women of Ireland, he gave both the chief medical officer and CEO of the BTSB a golden handshake of £250k each. Consider these the earliest unsecured bondholders.
And you think this is the man who will save Europe? I’d rather Jack the ripper in my corner, at least he would let you see the blade he stabs you with.
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!
.
Must be a candidate for headline of the year.
The clown couldn’t save Green Shield Stamps.
Fair play to you guys at the Journal, you haven’t lost your sense of humour no matter how hard you have tried.
Exodus 15:26
All those who in the land attempt to posses gods people he will inflict on you illness and disease…
How’s the eye mick
Mr Noonan is a member of the Bilderberg group so there is a huge conflict of interest in relation to the Irish people but I’m sure he would have a problem supporting the fascist EU agenda
.
Ireland
• Garret FitzGerald, former Taoiseach[55] (deceased)
• Paul Gallagher, Attorney General of Ireland.[22]
• Dermot Gleeson, former Attorney General of Ireland.[21]
• Michael McDowell (2007), former Attorney General, former Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform[1]
• Michael Noonan, (2012), then Minister for Finance.[31]
• Peter Sutherland, Director General of the WTO and former Attorney General of Ireland[8][better source nee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bilderberg_participants
If Noonan is a member of the Bilderberg group that would have serious consequences for Ireland’s recovery,This is an important question.
http://www.infowars.com/leaked-secret-agenda-from-bilderberg-2014-revealed/
Peter Sutherland – the emperor of FG leader and true Taoiseach in the shadows.
We really do need a leader in touch with the people not silver spoon clowns from gonzaga college
Next time you feel like saying that the Greeks have no choice and need to stay in the euro get out a map of Europe. Now see where Greece is and keep in mind they are a member of NATO. Now ask yourself if the US will allow it to be destabilised by the incompetent, self interested, austerity fetishists in the EU.
Trust me Greece are not as defenceless as a simple economic analysis would indicate.
Well they do spend 3-4 billion euro every year – of the cash they are handed from other European countries – on their military.
Michael noonan couldn’t save a drowning fish, for Christ’s sake.
Trevor Haydon you made me laugh with your drowning fish! You should be a scriptwriter on Savage Eye brilliant!
Quasi-noonan
The mans is in touch with the working class. The general elections will bear fruits for this coalition. I can see the posters already,”Fine Gael No.1 keeping your head above water!”
What Irish Water lol.
No
No better man for the job
Ya Magill, no better man to make sure they don’t get a deal, considering his poor performance on getting Ireland one,
Yea I suppose you would rather if people where withdrawing money from the bank and fdi jobs where fleeing il take our gov. With all there faults over the Greeks any day putting the recovery backwards in Greece and still going to have to pay
Give it a rest hoola hoop
Thanks to good economic management over the past 4 years we are in a far better position than Greece who opted for the SyrizaMurphy/AAA/SF route.
Hows the weather in Oz?
No better man Mr gillhouley. To make sure it suits his and fg agenda . he will help the big boys at the detriment of his country. Enda didn’t get the pat on the head for nothing.
He will do the right thing as always :)
Stormy in oz at the moment I believe both weather and politically…..
Noonan played a significant roll in the “Game changing” debt writedown that never happened. Kenny let it slip on rate last night that Noonan never even asked for one. In matters of finance in the EU Ireland’s voting allocation is 1.169%. Very significant indeed.
Paul Carey are you one of the new FG candidates? Either that or you are a headcase with comments like that.
Gilhooley wont bother my arse to comment any more on your stupid FG spin but just to say at the next election your Great Leader will be turfed out (pun intended) as will the majority of his overpaid, underachieving spinless traitors in FG. Nothing repeat nothing you do or say will alter that fact, the electorate are waiting for him in the long grass……
@Paul Carey
Syriza are nothing like Murphy/AAA! They have policies that don’t involve water and moaning!
Ireland and the rest of Europe helped German after World War 2.
It is now Germany’s opportunity to assist Greece Ireland, Spain Italy etc
All loans to sort out the current crisis should be converted into 100 year loans with no interest from ECB.
It was wrong and immoral of the Irish Government to allow unsecured Bondholders (mainly unsecured loans from German Banks to Anglo, AIB and B of I ) to be converted into Irish Sovereign debts!
“Ireland and the rest of Europe helped German after World War 2″
Largely for their own interests and with stringent conditions attached.
“All loans to sort out the current crisis should be converted into 100 year loans with no interest from ECB.”
The loans are already at hugely low interest rates, lower than the member states themselves are borrowing. The ECB can’t get involved with direct government funding, but has supported Greek’s banks and their junk collateral to the tune of tens of billions.
Ah…Noonan can do nothing if Greece leaves euro. EC RIP. Case closed!
“While not a playing as central a role as those in the Greek and German camps – our Finance Minister’s position is still significant.”
What a load of brown sticky propaganda, many in the Eurozone are saying the Eurozone would be better off without Germany now…
Greece’s troubles are from being in the Euro more than the debt they were in before joining the Euro and Greece is the whipping boy of the Eurozone especially for Italy, Spain, Portugal and here…
The Guy is an like most of his predecessors, don’t understand finance and blames everything else for his ignorance.
Image of Gorbachev with his new look
He couldn’t save himself from falling on his fat h@le
Yep this European union thing is working all right. If they could just get everyone to agree with them things would be fine. Perhaps a new law to silence critics would do. Then I’m sure everyone will be happy.
Fair play I needed a good laugh, why not throw in ‘Big Phil’ as well to help them set up Hell-Ass Water
Baldie Noonan could not save his own small business in Limerick from ruin,so what can he contribute to saving the Euro.!!
It’s great to see Ireland playing a positive role in Europe and also feel the benefits of the recovery. If some of the nay sayers on here spent less time venting and more time working they might feel it too.
You seem to have plenty of time yourself to comment, get back to work you fool!
Not as much as you pat and at least I’ll put my name to them unlike a lot of the “brave” commentators here!
I’m too busy in work to be arguing with the likes of you, later J!
Who’s arguing “pat” if that is your real name? Now back to “work” with you!
I’m sure he is going to “shiner” on Europe.
Let’s bring back the punt.
If a Greek exit and thereafter a Greek default occurs, imagine how the combined population of Spain, Ireland and Portugal will react (62million) when they realise that the very difficult austerity measures inflicted upon them by the Troika could have been avoided had ‘their’ governments made a stand. I predict a serious backlash politically and a major swing to the left maybe not for Ireland but definitely for Spain and even Italy who is teetering on the edge. . Political instability and unrest wreaks far more havoc to economies than the Troika ever could. The contagion effect of this is pretty scary. An Americans perception of a Greek default will be a lot more acute than a European one for e.g. I think we can already see it. The indexes around Europe have been affected already,
“If a Greek exit and thereafter a Greek default occurs, imagine how the combined population of Spain, Ireland and Portugal will react (62million) when they realise that the very difficult austerity measures inflicted upon them by the Troika could have been avoided had ‘their’ governments made a stand.”
Hang on a minute. You think if Greece defaults they’ll be able to “avoid austerity”? This is the biggest lie that the extreme left has fed people, and it’s an incredibly dangerous idea. If Greece defaults, they will be in for the WORLD of austerity, unlike any that they have seen thus far. Completely cut off from market lending, their credit rating in tatters, with no access to official lending, they will be mired in economic ruin.
The austerity measures could’ve been avoided if the state hadn’t destroyed the economy in the first place.
I never said that. To the contrary I would totally agree with you. Greece will seriously lose if it exits the Eurozone as a Greek default will rapidly ensue with untold consequences for them certainly in the short term will arise.
To be honest Greece actually has more clout than one would think in this debacle. Varoufakis is playing a dangerous game that he can win. The Greek financials currently are untenable. I’m not going into the details of that BUT Merkel and Schaeuble unbelievably want Greece to say yes to yet another extension to the bailout with a selfish view to ‘maintain stability for their currency’ . So let’s say they extend the bailout by another €100bn. This exposes the Eurozone even further to debt repayments that won’t or can’t ever be made. If Schaeuble continues with his entrenched attitude then he risks falling between two stools. If a Grexit happens a complete Greek default could happen too. He loses everything! €250bn down the drain and counting. This exposes everyone. We all know how interconnected economies are after the fall of Lehman Bros. Let’s see if Varoufakis game theory in relation to ‘incredible threats’ actually materialises. He is playing his hand and Schaeuble knows it.. My guess is that a compromise will be made. It cant go to the line for either side.
Past puppets being exposed.
You’re having a laugh, right? Michael Noonan, could not – and didn’t even try – to save his own country from disaster. You are now suggesting that this man could save the Eurozone! Shome mishtake shurely.
I must again comment that realgael/Gillhouley (+ god knows who else) are still permitted to post whilst their twitter accounts are suspended. What is going on, Journal? I can’t even get my avatar on this site and must remain a little grey blob.
Of course he will ,he will tell them to slaughter the poor in cutbacks
As usual he’ll do as he is told!
It might have been better for Ireland if it hadn’t left sterling….
Greece economy isn’t a total basket case, apparently, with its annual budget / primary surplus, before taking interest charges into consideration.
To dump that proud country out of the euro is not the answer for fellow Euro members. Better for EU to assist it in making the necessary structural improvements to its current problematic national mode of governance, which is root issue here, then allow it move forward as paid-up rule-followers of the ever expanding euro club.
Greece might have given the world democracy, but it would be first to admit national book-keeping nor effective tax management is not its strong suite!
Foundation principles of EU regarding each european county watching out and assisting each other need to be respected here!
Whole EU / Euro projects are still a WIP and once every paid senior government official in all national and EU Governments just carry out the job that they are paid to do, it will come right before too long.
….Something Michael Noonan fully understands, IMO.
And so they should be Michael. Much like this country Greece has used the euro like confetti at a wedding and now that the party is over someone is left to pay the bill…..
Aayyy ye
Didn’t do much for a person called Brigid McCole?
This is no longer about the continued imposition of a failed policy. It is a confrontation between an unaccountable EU/ECB and a democratic State. Noonan is little more than a useful idiot brought in to parrot the German line.
Noonan has done a great job in bringing the country back to a level where jobs are being created, the economics look good and future growth looks positive. Of course the loony left will vent against the truth.
The EU bought he’s soul a very long time ago
He couldn’t save stamps
have your say