Vers van de pers, een paar aardige tegengestelde geluiden in de pers vanochtend:

Germany Ready to Combine ESM, EFSF Funds, WirtschaftsWoche Says -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is ready to add unused funds from the euro region’s financial backstop to its permanent successor, WirtschaftsWoche reported, citing government officials it didn’t name.

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Merkel Stopped by Kauder on ESM, EFSF Merger Plan, BamS Says -- Volker Kauder, the floor leader for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, blocked a plan to put unused funds from the euro region’s financial backstop into its permanent successor, Bild am Sonntag reported. Merkel wanted to endorse combining the lending power of the European Financial Stability Facility and the 500 billion-euro European Stability Mechanism, the euro region’s future permanent financial backstop. (Bloomberg)

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Greek Coalition Is Said to Back More Austerity -- As European Union leaders prepared for a summit meeting on Monday in Brussels that will seek ways to spur economic growth, Greece’s prime minister struck a different tone on Sunday, suggesting that the three leaders in his fractious coalition were prepared to back additional austerity measures and reforms needed to receive a second bailout.

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Greek fury at plan for EU budget control - Greece’s finance minister angrily rejected a German plan for the eurozone to impose a budget overseer onto Athens in return for a new €130bn bail-out, saying it would improperly force his country to choose between “financial assistance” and “national dignity”. Evangelos Venizelos said the proposal to create a European Union “budget commissioner” with the power to veto Greek tax and spending decisions, revealed by the FT, “ignores some key historical lessons”. He added EU lenders already had sufficient monitoring safeguards in place in its bail-out programme Mr Venizelos’s comments came as talks in Athens shifted from the weeks-long negotiations over restructuring its privately held debt to the question of which public institutions will have to pay to fill a widening gap in Greece’s budget figures.

Is niet een zuivere tegenstelling, maar toch. Na het journaal van gisteren gezien te hebben geloof ik dat het tweede verhaal wel klopt. Zelfs de tweede wereldoorlog kwam weer voorbij - het oude oude verhaal: “Does Germany Owe Greece $95 Billion from WW II? - In the debate about the possible bankruptcy of the Greek state, one largely dormant argument has resurfaced with increasing frequency: the widespread damage inflicted by the Nazi regime during World War II means that Germany still owes Greece major wartime reparations. “

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Mersch Sees ‘Again High Demand’ at ECB’s Next 3-Year Operation -- European Central Bank governing council member Yves Mersch said he expects “again high demand” at the bank’s next three-year longer-term refinancing operation in February, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing an interview. The ECB’s bond purchases are “limited in time and scope” and have “no future long-term” even though they have proved themselves as a temporary stop-gap measure, Mersch said.

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Moody's: Europe Banks Likely To Rely More On ECB Funding, A Credit Negative -- The European Central Bank's continued provision of three-year loans could lead euro-zone banks to become more reliant on ECB funding, which would be a credit-negative development, Moody's Investors Service said Monday. Writing in Moody's Weekly Credit Outlook, Senior Research Analyst Tobias Moerschen acknowledged that ECB action reduced the risk of defaults due to illiquidity and supported banks' ability to lend, so avoiding a negative-feedback loop of increased deleveraging and worsening asset quality. But Moerschen noted that banks faced serious challenges that central-bank policy was unable to address. Weakening sovereign creditworthiness hurts banks' standalone credit profiles, spurring many to gradually reduce their exposure to troubled countries. Sovereign stress also reduces the ability and willingness of governments to support banks, he said. (DJ)

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Vandaag wederom een EURO-Top. Het zal wel weer over austerity gaan. Voornemen: proberen 1 week niet te melden dat austerity now! & inflatie-angst slechte raadgevers zijn, het is wel zo, maar het wordt zo eentonig – en er zijn ontwikkelingen in de juiste richting: “E.U. Leaders Set to Admit Austerity Is Not Enough - Bowing to mounting evidence that austerity alone cannot solve the debt crisis, European leaders are expected to conclude this week that what the debt-laden, sclerotic countries of the Continent need are a dose of economic growth.”

Gelukkig dat de politici goed advies hebben meegekregen: “Davos Tells EU to Fix Crisis for Good After Two Years of Failure -- European leaders were told by policy makers, bankers and academics from around the world that it’s time to end the region’s debt crisis and measures aimed at simply containing it are no longer enough.” Bekend verhaal – nu hopen dat ze luisteren.

Jacob Jurg is verbonden aan AFS en verantwoordelijk voor nieuws en research. De informatie in deze column bevat geen individueel beleggingsadvies of aanbeveling tot het doen van bepaalde beleggingen.

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