Cyprus Poll After Deposit Grab: 84% Think "Crisis Is Fault of Country’s Political, Economic and Social Systems"

In other words, congrats, Germany, EU, ECB, IMF. You did it.

From Zero Hedge (4/28/2013; emphasis is mine):

One Month Later: What Cyprus Thinks In The Aftermath Of Its Bank Sector Collapse?

Curious what the Cypriot people think just over a month after the most dramatic European banking sector collapse in years, and subsequent first bank sector bail-in and depositor impairment ever? Courtesy of Bloomberg, which summarizes a poll conducted via Symmetron and posted in Kathimerini Cyprus we now have an idea of what the still stunned Cypriot population thinks.

The Cyprus financial crisis is fault of country’s political, economic and social systems, not foreign institutions such as troika, according to 84% of Cypriots in poll by Symmetron published today in Kathimerini Cyprus. Poll also showed:

• Of 800 people questioned, 68% said bankers were most responsible for crisis, 63% said politicians next most to blame, 48% said central bank

• 79% said previous President Demetris Christofias and his govt is more to blame vs 13% for current administration led by President Nicos Anastasiades

• 54% said it was mistake for parliament to vote against 1st loan deal

• 68% said they don’t have enough money to meet direct needs, pay financial obligations

• 70% said personal economic situation to worsen over next 12 months

• 92% no longer trust central bank

• 66% said current govt actions to confront crisis not enough

• 64% against exit from euro area

• 73% said faithful implementation of loan agreement won’t lead country out of crisis

• Symmetron conducted poll April 22-26; margin of error +/-3.5 percentage points

So, Cyprus citizens now say everyone's deposit should have been taken away, not just deposits above 100,000 euro. And no exit from euro. And "government is not doing enough!"

The Cyprus Deposit Grab will be a successful template if people elsewhere are like Cyprus citizens. As far as Germany goes (also posted by Zero Hedge), that's what any government should do to the citizens - grab citizens' assets to reduce the government deficit.

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Spain's Prime Minister Rajoy: EU Countries Must Accept to Give Up Sovereignty

We're all "global citizens", I guess. I'm sure he well represents his people.

EU über alles.

Germany wins, as its economy sputters.

From Zero Hedge (4/23/2013; emphasis is original):

Spain's Rajoy Yields To Merkel, Agrees That EU Countries Must Cede Sovereignty

In what seems like a bow to his overlords in Berlin, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has unleashed a somewhat remarkable torrent of terrible realization and truthiness:

• *SPAIN PM SAYS EUROPE ECONOMY WORST THAN FORECAST THIS YEAR

• *SPAIN PM SAYS ALL EU COUNTRIES ARE REVIEWING GROWTH FORECASTS

• *SPAIN PM SAYS MUST TAKE DIFFICULT DECISIONS FOR COUNTRY'S GOOD

• *SPAIN PM SAYS EU COUNTRIES MUST ACCEPT TO GIVE UP SOVEREIGNTY

• *EU countries’ giving up sovereignty to the bloc is crucial for its future

In other words, handing over your liberty to Germany is for your own good. It seems the German perspective (as we noted here) is winning out.

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Cyprus Latest: 80 Percent "Haircut" for Uninsured Depositors at 2nd Largest Bank

And "informality" of all of this.

First, from UK's Telegraph Live Blog on Cyprus Bailout (3/26/2013):

21.19 Cyprus Finance Minister Michael Sarris has said uninsured Laika depositors could face an 80pc haircut, and might have to wait up to seven years for a payout.

He adds: "If Parliament had voted on March 17 [instead of March 19], maybe we could have saved Laiki Bank... It's obvious that Germany wants to impose its will on the people of the South. They didn't want to show to German taxpayers that they would pay to save Russian depositors' money.

Sure, Minister Sarris.

That's the meme by the way in the US in the public radio programs - taking the money from those bad, rich Russians is only fair. (Fair to whom? German taxpayers who fork out money as their government instructs them to do?)

What's so really funny and sad about all this is: Why does anyone have to listen to this "informal" group of Eurozone finance ministers which doesn't even keep the records of their "informal" meetings, not to mention follow what these ministers informally decide?

From Gary North (3/19/2013; emphasis is mine):

The No-Name European Committee That Made the $13 Billion Guarantee to Cypriot Banks

The Eurogroup held a teleconference this evening to take stock of the situation in Cyprus.

The eurozone's decision-making institution on the euro is an informal committee of finance ministers. The committee has no official name. It has no official power. It is not voted into office.

In the Lisbon Treaty, which went into effect on January 1, 2009, this no-name informal committee at last got its legal status.

Article 1: The Ministers of the Member States whose currency is the euro shall meet informally. Such meetings shall take place, when necessary, to discuss questions related to the specific responsibilities they share with regard to the single currency. The Commission shall take part in the meetings. The European Central Bank shall be invited to take part in such meetings, which shall be prepared by the representatives of the Ministers with responsibility for finance of the Member States whose currency is the euro and of the Commission.

Article 2: The Ministers of the Member States whose currency is the euro shall elect a president for two and a half years, by a majority of those Member States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_Group

So, it meets informally. It discusses questions. The Commission takes part. (How? With what authority? With how many votes?) The ECB is invited. It does not have a vote.

The president of the no-name committee has a name no one can pronounce unless he is Dutch, Jeroen Dijsselbloem. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeroen_Dijsselbloem)

Yet this no-name Committee promised Cyprus banks $13 billion worth of euros over the weekend, on its own authority, and answerable to no one in any European parliament, including the European Union.

This is called democracy in Europe. In Europe, democracy means: "You dumb clucks."

The bailout required the government of Cyprus to impose a capital tax on all bank accounts.

This was announced on Monday by the newly elected President of Cyprus. The voters of Cyprus went ballistic. The President of Cyprus had sworn to the people in his inauguration address on February 28 that he would never, ever do this.

Translation: "You dumb clucks."

The Parliament of Cyprus has thrown a spammer into the works. It has refused to impose the tax. What's this? It's democracy. The real kind.

The president of the no-name informal committee, which is informally called the "Euro Group," has issued a statement. It is unsigned. (No one can pronounce it, so who cares?) He is appalled at this betrayal by the parliament of Cyprus. This was a secret deal, and secret deals are supposed to be agreed to by Parliaments. Parliaments are supposed to be rubber stamps. Who does the bunch of stooges think they are, anyway?

I reproduce this announcement verbatim from the website of the so-called Euro Group. I also provide a translation.

I recall that the political agreement reached on 16 March on the cornerstones of the adjustment programme and the financing envelope for Cyprus reflects the consensus reached by the Cypriot government with the Eurogroup.

Because the meeting was held in secret, there were no official notes. You will have to trust my memory. The group met with the someone or other -- I cannot recall who -- who said he represented the government of Cyprus.

The implementation of the reform measures included in the draft programme is the best guarantee for a more prosperous future for Cyprus and its citizens, through a viable financial sector, sound public finances and sustainable economic growth.

The parliament of Cyprus should rubber stamp this deal. It is best for Cyprus citizens. Pay no attention to those crowds in front of the Parliament shouting "no!"

I reiterate that the stability levy on deposits is a one-off measure.

No body in the Eurozone outside of the no-name group with no official power has approved any of this. It has never happened before. It will never happen again. Trust me.

This measure will - together with the international financial support - be used to restore the viability of the Cypriot banking system and hence, safeguard financial stability in Cyprus. In the absence of this measure, Cyprus would have faced scenarios that would have left deposit holders significantly worse off.

No one in power told the voters of Cyprus that its banking system was close to collapse. But I am, now that someone or other representing the government of Cyprus agreed to it.

The Eurogroup continues to be of the view that small depositors should be treated differently from large depositors and reaffirms the importance of fully guaranteeing deposits below EUR 100.000. The Cypriot authorities will introduce more progressivity in the one-off levy compared to what was agreed on 16 March, provided that it continues yielding the targeted reduction of the financing envelope and, hence, not impact the overall amount of financial assistance up to EUR 10bn.

The Cypriot authorities will do this because we say so. They have cooperated so far by stealing the people's money over the weekend, in preparation for the heist on Monday.

The Eurogroup takes note of the authorities' decision to declare a temporary bank holiday in Cyprus on 19-20 March 2013 to safeguard the stability of the financial sector, and urges a swift decision by the Cypriot authorities and parliament to rapidly implement the agreed measures.

Our no-name committee speaks for all of the member nations of the eurozone.

The euro area Member States stand ready to assist Cyprus in its reform efforts on the basis of the agreed adjustment programme.

The voters who will fork over the money to bail out the banks of Cyprus are 100% behind this. Trust me.

That ended the press release:

http://eurozone.europa.eu/newsroom/news/2013/03/peg-statement-cyprus-18-03-13

This is the foundation for a never-ending crisis in the eurozone. This is business as usual.

Here is the no-name president of the no-name committee which pledged the money to bail out the banks of Cyprus. Let me translate. "There is no problem here. There is nothing to see here. Move along."

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Germany, IMF Wanted 40% Haircut of Deposits in Cyprus, Settled for 9.9% Instead

(UPDATE) The vote is delayed till at least Monday March 18, as the government may not have enough votes to do the bidding of Euro overlords... The banks may remain closed on Tuesday.

=======================================================

It's an outright theft, but since it's official government entities doing this, it's not called theft but bailout. The Cypriot government even calls it "a new beginning". (1984, anyone?)

In exchange for the 10 billion euro bailout for the Cypriot banks and supposedly saving 8,000 jobs, the EU demanded that the Cypriot government confiscate 6.75 to 9.9% of deposits at the banks and exchange it with the bank "equity" (what kind of joke is this?), and that the interest on deposits be charged with 20 to 25% tax. These thefts are supposed to raise up to 7.5 billion euros.

They did it after the last financial markets in the world (US) closed for the weekend. People cannot withdraw money over the weekend, as ATMs have been stopped. (Zero Hedge has more information on the theft, including this post.)

According to reports, Germany and IMF initially wanted 40% of deposit money confiscated, not 9.9%.

I think it's a trial balloon to see if they can get away with the theft, and if they do then to replicate elsewhere in the EU periphery, for a start.

From ekathimerini.com (2/16/2013; emphasis is mine):

Shock in Cyprus as bailout brings bank account haircut

The Eurogroup reached on Friday night an unprecedented decision for bailing out Cyprus that dictates a haircut on all bank accounts on the island’s banks with immediate effect, while cash withdrawals are not allowed for the time being, generating unrest.

Along with loans adding up to 10 billion euros from the European Support Mechanism, Cyprus will have to find another 7-7.5 billion euros from privatizations and from a 6.75 percent one-off haircut on all bank accounts with a balance up to 100,000 euros, rising to 9.9 percent on accounts exceeding 100,000 euros.

Already bank customers are gathering outside major and cooperative banks, Skai television reported on Saturday morning, as angry depositors demand their money.

Depositors will get shares of the banks they are clients of in return for the capital lost, of the same value as the haircut their accounts have suffered.

This is estimated to fetch some 6 billion euros to the state, bridging most of the gap between the 10 billion euros the ESM is offering to Cyprus and Nicosia’s requirements of an estimated 17 billion.

This is the first time in the eurozone that a levy has been imposed not on the interest of bank accounts but on the capital itself. In addition to that there is a levy on interest, too, and an increase in the 10 percent corporate tax that has been one of the main driving forces behind Cyprus’s financial progress after the 1974 Turkish invasion, generating growth by attracting foreign direct investment.

Notably, the account haircut does not affect bank accounts in Cypriot bank branches based in Greece, according to sources from the Greek Finance Ministry.

Tax on interest will amount to between 20 and 25 percent.

Changes will have to be ratified by the House of Representatives, the republic’s parliament within the weekend, while an emergency cabinet meeting is taking place on Saturday morning in Nicosia to assess the situation.

Finance Minister Michalis Sarris has postponed his official visit by two days and will now go to Moscow on Wednesday.

Cyprus state broadcaster CyBC reported on Saturday that German Finance Minister actually entered the Eurogroup meeting on Friday proposing a 40 percent haircut on Cypriot bank accounts. Sarris stated on Saturday that this had also been the proposal of the International Monetary Fund.

Sarris stated in Brussels that in view of the threat from the European Central Bank for banks in Cyprus to shut down and chaos to ensue, the increase in interest taxation and the haircut to bank accounts became necessary. “A disorderly default, that was a genuine possibility, has been averted,” he said.

“It allows our economy to proceed decisively to a new beginning.”

He also noted that after the dramatic meeting of the eurozone ministers a further slashing of salaries and pensions has been avoided and confidence in Cypriot economy is restored. He qualified the bailout funds loaned to Cyprus as sustainable and manageable and will not constitute an unbearable weight on the next generations. “It spreads the load on this and on the following generations,” he said.

IMF head Christine Lagarde said "the Fund has always said it would support a solution that is viable, and this agreement fulfills this condition, so my recommendation to our board will be for contributing in the funding of the package."

Opposition leader Antros Kyprianou, the General Secretary of leftist AKEL, accused the government of not consulting the other parties, saying that "the government bears full responsibility for developments in the economy as instead of choosing the road of consensus it has decided to go it alone."

Cyprus's parliament is set to vote on the measure on Sunday. The "threat" is the same old, same old, which was used by Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson when they demanded $700 billion to save the US banks in fall 2008 (at that time, extraordinarily big amount of money): "It would be chaos and catastrophe otherwise."

The governments world over say the same thing, with slight variations. In case of the Japanese one, the line was "We didn't tell you about core melt, or extent of damage at Fukushima I Nuke Plant because if we had done so it would have been chaos and panic...blah blah blah..."

The banks in Cyprus won't open until Tuesday.

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Zero Hedge: Two Spaniards Self-Immolate Due To Financial Problems

"Strong recovery" of the global stock markets in 2012 surely indicates a robust rebound of the global economy, in the minds of central bankers and politicians in the so-called developed nations, from Bernanke to Draghi to Shirakawa, from Rajoy to Obama to Abe.

But people on the street don't seem to buy into that idea, as their lot hasn't particularly improved. It has gotten decidedly worse, apparently, for the two Spaniards, as Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge writes (1/5/2012):

Two Spaniards Self-Immolate Due To Financial Problems

First it was a German, then an Italian, and now, two months, later, the European self-immolation wave has spread to the country that many expect will be the next one to follow Greece into effective debt default. El Pais reports that an impoverished 57-year-old man who set himself on fire in Málaga Thursday, and subsequently died of his injuries at Carlos Haya hospital. He had third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body and suffered a multi-organ failure. The victim, thought to be of Moroccan origin, had worked in construction for years but was out of a job now, said people who knew him. In the last few months he had been scraping a living with the small change he made guiding cars into parking spaces near the hospital, an illegal practice that is usually overlooked by authorities. The police, who have not yet located his relatives, are not ruling out the possibility of an accident just as the man was lighting up a cigarette. Just two minutes before the event, he bought a pack of cigarettes from a local newsstand whose owner asked him how he was doing.

“I don’t even have enough money for food,” he replied. The man is thought to have been homeless at the present time, and seemed even more depressed than on other occasions, said the stand owner.
Several taxi drivers came to the rescue with their vehicles’ fire extinguishers when they saw the man go up in flames on a side street from the hospital. A few hours after being admitted into the emergency room there, he was transferred to a specialized burn unit in Seville, where doctors were unable to save his life.
He was the unlucky one - as BBC follows, another Spaniard also lit himself on fire on Thursday night, in the same city, but lived.

Another man is being treated in the same hospital apparently after setting himself alight in Malaga on Thursday.

The 63-year-old was found with serious injuries beside his burning car under a road bridge, police said.

No other details were given of that man but, according to Spain's El Mundo newspaper, preliminary investigations indicated that the fire had been lit intentionally.
...
Spanish media have reported a number of cases in recent months of people facing poverty in the country's recession killing themselves.

Considering it was an identical act of self-immolation in Tunisia that set off the Arab Spring in the winter of 2011, Europe has for shown far more resiliency to socio-economic collapse than many had expected, although this is not unexpected: after all, Europeans, and especially Spaniards, still have more to lose than gain by rising up against a reverse Robin Hood globalist system bent on taking from what's left of the middle class and giving to the status quo banking oligarchy. Or so they think: the big strawman, is and for the past 150 years has been the welfare state myth.

Then again, now that Spain has almost drained its entire social security fund, and replaced it with worthless ECB repo material, i.e., Spanish bonds, will Spaniards finally wake up and realize that while they were snoozing, their government spent 90% of their pension and retirement money to prop up the Ponzi for one more year. And instead of committing suicide, or even patching up various symptomps, shouldn't the people of Spain, and all of Europe, finally address the real underlying cause of their misery: a dysfunctional government, which contrary to indication, is merely a puppet in a banker-led globalist system?
If not, how many more people have to burn themselves to death before it becomes clear?

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EU set to relax regulations on food imports from Japan starting Nov. 1

From Japan Times, citing Jiji Tsushin News (10/24/2012):

BRUSSELS — The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said it will relax regulations on imports of Japanese food starting Nov. 1.

The regulations were introduced in the wake of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

During an interview in July, Maria Damanaki, EU commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, expressed the commission's willingness to loosen the restrictions, saying the danger of Japanese seafood "is around zero."

The commission plans to reduce the frequency of sampling tests of Japanese food to 5 percent of import volume for all items from at least 5 to 10 percent.

The EU has required Tokyo and 11 other prefectures across the nation to conduct tests on food before exports are shipped. It plans to limit the regulation to certain items about which safety concerns remain, including tea leaves and some kinds of mushrooms, for the 12 prefectures with the exception of Fukushima.

Yomiuri Shinbun (10/22/2012) has a bit more details as to what food items and which prefectures:

• Agricultural products imported to the EU from Japan which no longer require certificates: all food items and animal feeds except for 8 items including tea leaves and mushrooms

• 
  

• Prefectures to which the EU's new rule applies: Tokyo, Shizuoka, Yamanashi, Iwate, Miyagi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa

I guess the EU does not know or chooses not to know that vegetables, meat, fish produced or caught in locations in Iwate, Miyagi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Chiba are being found with radioactive cesium exceeding the 100 Bq/kg safety limit of Japan or very close to it, and it is not last year but this year. However, since the EU import so little food supply from Japan anyway (9,000 tonnes from all Japan in 2010, says the EU), I suppose it is acceptable to the technocrats at the EU.

So, what are the 8 food items that the EU still requires the certificates? Let's check the Delegation of the European Union to Japan site. It has this news, dated October 22, 2012:

Food safety: Commission reviews measures on imports from Japan

EU News 501/2012

22 October 2012
Brussels

Experts meeting in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) endorsed a Commission proposal to revise rules on import conditions of food and feed originating from Japan following the Fukushima nuclear accident. Existing restrictions for food and feed imports coming from the prefecture Fukushima are maintained whereas control measures have been eased for several other prefectures. For the prefecture Fukushima, the existing measures applying to all food and feed, with the exception of alcoholic beverages, are maintained until 31 March 2014. Based on over 40,000 samples of products harvested in the second growing season after the nuclear accident, the restrictive measures in place have been eased for 11 prefectures (Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Saitama, Tokyo, Iwate, Chiba and Kanagawa). An interim review is foreseen before 31 March 2013 for crops where samples of products for the second growing season (March-November) were not available in time for this review. For the control at import, a reduction of the frequency of controls to 5% will apply. Based on the monitoring results from the 2013 growing season, it is foreseen to undertake a review of these measures shortly before 31 March 2014. The measures will be published at the end of this month following the adoption of the proposal by the Commission and are foreseen to enter into force on 1 November 2012.

Well, we're no wiser. There is no mention of 8 food items, and I have little enthusiasm in delving into the EU press releases from last year. Maybe that's the wishful thinking of Yomiuri.

I did check the EU's statement from March 24, 2011, and I had to laugh at this passage near the end of the statement:

According to the latest information, the Japanese authorities have taken the necessary measures to ensure that food (and drinking water) testing above their established acceptable levels of radio-activity is neither sold to the Japanese public nor exported.

Well it was sold to the Japanese public. Yokohama City was busy last year feeding school children with radioactive beef because the business-minded mayor of Yokohama couldn't pass up a bargain of buying premier domestic beef at a discount. As for exports, the French authorities caught green tea from Shizuoka that had over 1,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. This year, green tea from Tochigi was found with 24 becquerels/kg of cesium, AFTER it was brewed, indicating the dried tea may have had 100 times that.

Trivial details, for the political class.

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(OT) Friday Humor: European Union Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Peace? In Europe?

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's fiercely eurosceptic UKIP party, added: "This goes to show that the Norwegians really do have a sense of humor." (Reuter's article, below)

The Norwegian committee should have asked citizens in Greece and Spain at least.

The same committee awarded the current US president the same prize for his presidential campaign in 2008. Past recipients for Nobel Peace Prize include Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, Dalai Lama, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

To be on the candidate list for a Nobel Prize, someone has to nominate the person or entity to the committee. I wonder who nominated the EU.

As the Reuter article below notes, Norway is not part of the EU, and is doing very well. The article also duly notes an infuriated Greek citizen.

From Reuters (10/12/2012):

(Reuters) - The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting peace, democracy and human rights over six decades in an award seen as a morale boost as the bloc struggles to resolve its economic crisis.

The award served as a reminder that the EU had largely brought peace to a continent which tore itself apart in two world wars in which tens of millions died.

The EU has transformed most of Europe "from a continent of wars to a continent of peace," Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said in announcing the award in Oslo.

"The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest," Jagland said. "The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU's most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights."

Jagland praised the EU for rebuilding Europe from the devastation of World War Two and for its role in spreading stability after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

While welcomed by European leaders, the award will have little practical effect on the debt crisis afflicting the single currency zone, which has brought economic instability and social unrest to several states with rioting in Athens and Madrid.

On the streets of the Greek capital, where demonstrators have burned Nazi flags to protest against German demands for austerity, the award was greeted with disbelief.

"Is this a joke?" asked Chrisoula Panagiotidi, 36, a beautician who lost her job three days ago. "It's the last thing I would expect. It mocks us and what we are going through right now. All it will do is infuriate people here."

The prize, worth $1.2 million, will be presented in Oslo on December 10. It was not immediately clear who from the EU would be there to collect the cheque and what it would be spent on.

CONCEIVED IN SECRET

Conceived in secret at a chateau near Brussels, what is now the European Union was created by the 1957 Treaty of Rome, signed with great fanfare in the Italian capital's 15th century Palazzo dei Conservatori.

The six-state 'common market' it founded grew into the 27-nation European Union ranging from Ireland's Atlantic shores to the borders of Russia.

At the time the Cold War was in full swing after Soviet tanks put down an anti-communist rebellion in Budapest. Western countries led by the United States had formed NATO and the Kremlin responded with the Warsaw Pact.

But the EU is now mired in crisis with enormous strains between capitals over the euro, the common currency shared by 17 nations and created to further economic and monetary union.

Politicians in Germany, one of the main forces behind the foundation of the EU, were delighted with the award.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, said it was a "wonderful decision". French President Francois Hollande, whose country has with Germany formed the EU's main axis of power, said it was an "immense honor".

Helmut Kohl, the chancellor who reunified Germany and pushed the country into the euro, said: "The Nobel Peace Prize for the EU is above all a confirmation of the European peace project,"

After centuries of war on the continent the EU has been at peace within its borders, but its effort to stop war in former Yugoslavia -- an initiative hailed by one minister as "the hour of Europe" -- was a failure.

The British government, less committed to the European ideal than other EU members, made no comment on the prize. Ed Balls, a senior member of the opposition Labour Party, remarked sarcastically: "They'll be cheering in Athens tonight, won't they?"

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's fiercely eurosceptic UKIP party, added: "This goes to show that the Norwegians really do have a sense of humor."

"I FIND THIS ABSURD"

In Madrid, Francisco Gonzalez expressed bafflement. "I don't see the logic in the EU getting this prize right now. They can't even agree among themselves," the 62-year-old businessman said.

In Berlin, public relations worker Astrid Meinicke, 46, was also skeptical. "I find it curious. I think the EU could have engaged itself a bit better, especially in Syria," she said, near the city's historic Brandenburg Gate.

In the home of the peace prize, many Norwegians are bitterly opposed to the EU, seeing it as a threat to the sovereignty of nation states. "I find this absurd," the leader of Norway's anti-EU membership organization Heming Olaussen told state broadcaster NRK.

Norway has twice voted "no" to joining the EU, in 1972 and 1994. The country has prospered outside the bloc, partly thanks to huge oil and gas resources.

Among those tipped to win was Russia's small Ekho Moskvy radio, a frequent critic of the Kremlin. Editor in chief Alexei Venediktov conceded the prize to a worthy winner.

"We are only 115. They are 500 million. It is an honor (to lose to the EU)," he told Reuters.

(Reporting by Alister Doyle, Terje Solsvik and Reuters European bureaux; Writing by Giles Elgood; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

The award money of $1.2 million is probably enough to hire one or two technocrats at Brussels for a year or so.

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Europe Has 150 Nuclear Reactors to Decommission in Two Decades

It may cost up to $1 billion to dismantle one reactor, so the potential total of $150 billion. Where does the money come from?

The US is kicking the can down the road by extending the license and doing nothing, for up to 60 years, even after the reactor is shut down. (See the New York Times article from March this year.)

(On the other hand, Spain just got $125 billion from EU to recap its banks...)

From The Washington Post WONKBLOG (6/9/2012):

How hard is it to dismantle 150 nuclear reactors? Europe’s about to find out.
Posted by Brad Plumer at 09:31 AM ET, 06/09/2012

Last year, after the tsunami and reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, many European nations decided to phase out their existing fleets of nuclear power plants. Germany and Belgium are aiming to end all atomic generation by 2030. Switzerland is shooting for 2035.

Yet the mere act of shutting down those reactors is going to pose a huge challenge in the years ahead. According to a new report from GlobalData, Europe is on track to decommission nearly 150 nuclear power plants in the next two decades. Some, like those in Germany, are being mothballed for political reasons. Others, in France and Britain, are simply getting old. Yet dismantling a nuclear reactor is an arduous, time-consuming task — typically costing between $400 million and $1 billion per plant. And it’s not clear that Europe is fully prepared for the onslaught of retirements.

In a recent issue of New Scientist, Fred Pearce offered a handy step-by-step guide on how to take apart a nuclear reactor. There are thousands of tons of radioactive material to deal with — not just the spent fuel rods, but also various materials that have picked up lower levels of radioactivity. That includes, potentially, the reactor vessel, the fuel-rod casings, various bits of scrap metal and even old clothing. That waste can’t just be carted off to regular landfills; it needs to be disposed of properly. (Here’s a graphic breaking down the various types of waste.)

Very broadly speaking, there are three main ways (pdf) to decommission a nuclear reactor. The first option is to remove the fuel, disassemble the surrounding structure and find a safe place to store all the different radioactive bits. One problem with this option? Not every country in Europe currently has proper waste facilities set up, Pearce reports.

Alternatively, workers could simply take out the fuel, drain the plumbing and then lock up the reactor, letting the isotopes decay until the plant itself is less radioactive. After 10 to 80 years, the whole structure will be easier to dismantle. The third option, meanwhile, is to bury the reactor in a “tomb” of concrete and hope that no one cracks the structure open for the next 1,400 years. The U.S. Department of Energy took this approach for two old reactors at Savannah River in South Carolina.

All of these methods are time-intensive. As of 2012, some 138 nuclear reactors have been shut down (pdf) around the world, but only 17 have been fully decommissioned. It took England two full decades to finish its decommissioning of the Sellafield site after the nuclear reactor there was shut off in 1981.

What’s more, the process is costly: GlobalData estimates that it will cost at least $81 billion to decommission Europe’s reactors between now and 2030, with the biggest markets in France and Russia. Pearce suggests that some countries, such as Britain, may not currently have enough money budgeted for the task — in part because many of its reactors are custom-built and likely to cost more than expected to tear apart.

These sorts of headaches could be one reason why the United States is taking a different approach to its aging plants. The GlobalData report notes that U.S. utilities and regulators have announced plans to extend the lives of 71 nuclear reactors by another 20 years. Between now and 2030, only five U.S. commercial power reactors are expected to be decommissioned. (That’s in addition to the 28 commercial reactors that the United States has already shut down.)

Granted, the United States still has plenty of challenges — as Matthew Wald recently detailed for the New York Times, funds for decommissioning are lagging here, as well. But those problems are somewhat smaller than what Europe will be facing in the next two decades.

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UK Home Secretary: "We'll stop migrants if euro collapses"

From UK's Telegraph (5/25/2012):

Theresa May: we'll stop migrants if euro collapses

The Government is drawing up plans for emergency immigration controls to curb an influx of Greeks and other European Union residents if the euro collapses, the Home Secretary discloses today.

In an interview in The Daily Telegraph, Theresa May says “work is ongoing” to restrict European immigration in the event of a financial collapse.

People from throughout the EU, with the exception of new member countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, are able to work anywhere in the single market.

However, there are growing concerns that if Greece was forced to leave the euro, it would effectively go bankrupt and millions could lose their jobs and consider looking for work abroad.

The crisis could spread quickly to other vulnerable countries such as Spain, Ireland and Portugal, although Britain is regarded as a safe haven because it is outside the single currency.

Details of the contingency plan emerged as the euro crisis deepened further yesterday.

Catalonia was forced to turn to the Spanish government for a bail-out and speculation mounted that Bankia, the troubled Spanish bank, would need £15  billion in state support. European markets fell again as the euro dropped in value against other major currencies.

The Home Secretary says that the Government is already “looking at the trends” to determine whether immigration from beleaguered European countries is increasing. While there is no evidence of increased migration at present, she adds that it is “difficult to say how it is going to develop in coming weeks”.

On the subject of whether emergency immigration controls are under consideration, Mrs May says: “It is right that we do some contingency planning on this [and] that is work that is ongoing.”

The introduction of immigration controls within the EU would undermine a key part of the single market. However, it is allowed in “exceptional” circumstances under European law.

Controls are most likely to include restrictions on people seeking to work in Britain, who could be made to apply for visas.

Several European governments introduced temporary immigration controls when countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic joined the EU, to stop an influx of workers. France also threatened to reintroduce passport controls at the Italian border following an influx of Libyan and Tunisian refugees during the Arab Spring.

David Cameron has already said that Britain has made contingency plans to deal with the break-up of the single currency.

They involve preparations to evacuate Britons from Greece if civil disobedience spirals out of control, and for banks to take steps to protect

The last paragraph looks incomplete, but that's what is there at The Telegraph.

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Japanese Ambassador to Italy to Italians: "Japan Has Recovered!"

I have no information as to how the word "recovery" is defined in the post-"cold shutdown state" declaration Japan.

From Jiji Tsushin (3/1/2012):

東日本大震災から１年がたつのを前に、ローマ市内で２９日、被災地の復興状況や日本とイタリアが直面する課題などを専門家が討論するシンポジウムが開かれた。河野雅治駐イタリア大使はあいさつで、イタリアなど「（各国の支援という）絆に圧倒された」と謝意を表明。「日本は復活した」と述べ、日本への観光や投資復活を呼び掛けた。

As one year anniversary of the March 11, 2011 disaster approaches, a symposium was held in Rome on February 29 where experts held discussions on the recovery of Japan's disaster affected areas and on the issues that Japan and Italy face. In his speech, Ambassador Masaharu Kono thanked Italy by saying "We were overwhelmed by the "kizuna" [tie that binds; it originally meant "a leash to tie down or restrain animals"] (in the form of support from various countries)". He declared "Japan has recovered", urging for the resumption of the tourism to Japan and investment in Japan

Many Japanese nauseate when they hear the word "kizuna".

Meanwhile, the EU's ban on Japanese food import remains, at least until October. Some recovery.

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US 10-Year Treasury Bond Yield Falls to 60-Year Low, As World Is Getting Unhinged

If it's any comfort to the Japanese, the world (at least OECD members) seems to be joining Japan in getting out of control one way or another.

For the EU and the US, it is over the sovereign debt crisis that could lead to a global banking crisis, a la Lehman, this time potentially much bigger. The apparent safe haven bid is on the US dollar and the US Treasuries, which drove down the yield on 10-year bond to 1.896 percent earlier today.

The supposed trigger for today's move is the resignation, though planned, of the ECB board member Juergen Stark because of conflict over the central bank's bond buying program.

Earlier this year before March 11, Japan was one of the two countries (the other is China) who pledged to buy European debts to support the Euro regime (and support their export industries). I wonder if it is still doing that.

From Reuters (9/9/2011):

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Treasury debt prices rose on Friday, taking benchmark yields to the lowest in at least 60 years as investors looked for a safe haven on revived worries a European debt crisis could have a significant global impact.

Stocks plunged on Friday, losing over 2.5 percent and bolstering the safe-haven allure of U.S. government debt, with few investors looking to go into the weekend short Treasuries due to the uncertainty surrounding the European debt crisis.

The worries over Europe were sparked by the planned resignation of European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board Member Juergen Stark. The ECB confirmed a Reuters report that said Stark was quitting because of a conflict over the central bank's bond buying program.

"The Stark resignation just kind of raises an eyebrow at a time when there's already concerns about what's going to happen next," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

A debt swap meant to help Greece avoid default and win time to repair its tattered public finances hung in the balance Friday, with expectations of take-up by private creditors slipping amid fierce European pressure on Athens.

"There is a real danger that a European default or bank failure would lead to a global banking crisis akin to that seen after the fall of Lehman Brothers," said Paul Dales, U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

Benchmark 10-year notes were trading 19/32 higher in price to yield 1.91 percent, down from 1.98 percent late Thursday. Benchmark yields touched 1.896 percent, marking the lowest since at least World War II.

(The article continues.)

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#Fukushima I Nuke Accident: EU's "Stress Test" For Nuclear Reactors Just like US's "Stress Test" for Wall Street Banks

To "learn" from the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident, as the IAEA is to recommend, no doubt, the EU is going to conduct the "stress test" for the 143 reactors in Europe to see how Europe's nuclear facilities are able to withstand natural or man-made disasters.

Caveat?

The test is voluntary, and as one German MEP (member of European Parliament) contends, the check is "largely in the hands of operators".

Sound familiar?

It's just like the so-called "stress test" devised by the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to assure the world that the US banking system was safe and sound, in the wake of September-November 2008's financial disaster that crashed the financial markets and triggered the worldwide recession. The "test" was not "voluntary" but the Treasury and the Fed handpicked which banks to do the "test". The banks knew exactly what they would be tested for, because for the most part they were the ones who told the regulators what parameters to test.

That should be very familiar to the Japanese, too. In Japan, at least in the past, when the fire department or the public health department conducted safety checks on the public facilities (hotels, restaurants, etc.) they used to "warn" those facilities days in advance about the inspection date and what to inspect.

Globalization is truly here.

From BBC News (6/9/2011):

MEPs split over nuclear 'stress tests'

MEPs have clashed over plans for "stress tests", which are due to be carried out on nuclear facilities in the EU.

There were angry scenes during the Commission statement on 9 June 2011, which caused Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger to appeal for calm.

Mr Oettinger was outlining plans for the tests - ordered in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster - which are designed to see how Europe's nuclear facilities are able to withstand natural or man-made disasters.

The so-called stress tests will be performed on Europe's 143 working reactors and other atomic installations and will consider a range of factors, including seismic activity, flooding, and power loss at reactors.

But German Green MEP Rebecca Harms dismissed the plans as a "paper check" designed to "downplay the risks of nuclear power".

Ms Harms attacked the voluntary nature of the tests, saying it left the checks "largely in the hands of operators".

Her comments were dismissed by fellow German MEP Herbert Reul, who described Ms Harms' opinion as "naïve".

Mr Reul praised the commissioner, saying that although the plans were "not 100% what we wanted", they would not be improved by other MEPs "complaining and harking on about it".

British conservative Giles Chichester protested about the "internal German discussion", and asked MEPs to focus on "the European issue".

Germany has recently announced that all of its nuclear power plants will be phased out by 2022, becoming the biggest industrial power to give up nuclear energy.

However Germany's nuclear industry has argued that an early shutdown would be hugely damaging to the country's industrial base.

Meanwhile countries including the UK, France and Poland have all announced further development of nuclear energy.

I wonder if there's an equivalent of "Saturday Night Live" in Europe. I hope they will make a wonderful spoof of this nuke plant "stress test", much like the SNL spoof on Geithner's "stress test" for banks. In case you missed that SNL skit from 2009, here it is.

(h/t Robbie001 for BBC News)

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Extend and Pretend Greek Version: Greece says debt 'absolutely sustainable'

Not just in the US or Japan, but a truly global phenomenon. And always blame greedy foreign bankers for everything.

From AP (4/20/2011):

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greece's finance minister said the crisis-hit country can deal with its mountain of debt and insisted that renewed access to bond markets is still possible in 2012 despite spiraling borrowing costs.

"I believe that Greece's debt is absolutely sustainable ... But that is based on the implementation of the (2011-2015) adjustment program," George Papaconstantinou said Wednesday.

Papaconstantinou spoke as the country's borrowing costs remained high on speculation that Greece will have to restructure its debts. The difference between the interest rates on Greek and German 10-year bonds is over 11 percentage points, a staggering difference given the two countries use the same currency and operate in the same interest rate regime.

The Greek government has repeatedly denied it is considering such a move and has promised to forge ahead with an ambitious privatization program worth euro50 billion ($71.5 billion) through 2015 that has already run into strong union opposition.

Union are planning a general strike May 11, while a powerful electricity workers' union warned Wednesday it was considering rolling strikes ahead of that date.

Papaconstantinou again denied that restructuring is on the cards.

"It is a very interesting debate but we don't care to join in," he said. "(Restructuring) would carry great dangers for the economy, (pension) funds and households."

The spike in Greek borrowing rates, he argued, was due to a "cacophony" of conflicting statements by European finance officials on the restructuring issues. High borrowing costs have locked Greece out of bond markets.

The finance ministry later said it had asked prosecutors to investigate whether brokers for an unnamed foreign investment bank bear criminal liability in connection with market movements Wednesday at the Athens Stock Exchange -- which dropped 2.62 percent -- and the Greek bond market.

The article continues.

More on Greek debt from Zero Hedge:

Greek 2 Year Bonds Now Yielding Record 22%, Price On 10 Year Bonds 59 Of Par

Just a quick reminder that the world continues to burn: the yield on the Greek 2 Year bond has just climbed to 22%, an all time record. The actual price is 74.25%. And far more jarringly, the 10 Year is 59 cents on the euro. A 40% haircut is now effectively priced in by the market.

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P.I.G. Countries Plead for Help

Portugal, Ireland, Greece are pleading for more help in their sovereign debt crisis. Considering that Japan is in no shape after the devastating earthquake to make good on their promise to buy euro bonds, I guess they're on their own, at the mercy of Angela Merkl..

From AP (3/11/2011):

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The eurozone's weakest states on Friday pleaded for more help from their richer neighbors at a summit in Brussels, where leaders worked to thrash out a "comprehensive response" to the crippling debt crisis by the end of the month.

Markets remain unconvinced that countries like Greece, the crisis' first victim, will become financially self-sufficient anytime soon, despite a long series of brutal austerity measures.

"We are on track with our program, we have taken the pain to make our economy more viable," said George Papandreou, the prime minister of Greece, as he arrived in Brussels. "But now we need European decisions, strong European decisions to calm the market."

In his call for more assistance and understanding Papandreou was joined by newly elected Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. "I've come here with two days in government with a very strong mandate from the Irish people for an improvement in the terms of the EU-IMF deal," Kenny told journalists, referring to the country's euro67.5 billion ($93 billion) bailout funded by the International Monetary Fund and other EU countries.

Meanwhile, Portugal -- seen by many as the next most likely candidate for an international rescue -- announced additional tax increases and moneysaving measures to convince other eurozone states that it is doing its part to survive the crisis.

The pleas by now have a familiar ring. More than a year into the debt crisis, Europe still faces much the same problems as a year ago -- except that after endless promises, negotiations, and two bailouts, jittery markets now appear at the end of their tether.

They'd better hope China will come through with their promise..

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(#Libya) US Denies Landing of the Plane Carrying Gaddafi's New UN Ambassador, Invites Gaddafi's Envoys to EU/NATO Meetings

and Obama is hosting a TV-viewing party to cheer for his favorite basketball team.

What's wrong with this picture?

The US is picking the sides on Libya by denying the landing of the plane carrying Libya's ambassador to the UN, not to the US, just because he was appointed by Gaddafi. Has the US severed diplomatic ties with Libya? No, it hasn't. There was a talk of "reviewing" the diplomatic ties, but that was as far as it went, reviewing.

Then the same US is apparently behind inviting the Gaddafi's envoys to the EU and the NATO meetings, according to Al Jazeera, while the liberal wing of the European Parliament has invited the opposition envoys.

Can you say "incoherent"? Can you scream "What'cha doin'??"

That's nothing new ever since Obama somehow became the president of the US, but this guy never ceases to disappoint.

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(#Libya) Opposition Meeting with Swiss, French, Gadaffi's Envoy Meeting Portuguese

(Update) The opposition's meeting with France was with Alain Juppe, foreign minister of France, and they were invited by the liberal faction of the EU Parliament, according to Reuters Africa.

--------------------------------------

(Note to the Opposition: Demand Stingers...)

Swiss, French meeting the Opposition;

EU, NATO (and Portugal) meeting the Gaddafi government.

Interesting.

Tweets from Sultan Al Qassemi:

Al Jazeera: the French President will receive representatives of the Libyan National Council tomorrow.

Al Jazeera: AFP: the Swiss President receives a representative of the Libyan National Council.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports:

9:31pm

Portugal's Foreign Minister Luis Amado has met an envoy from Tripoli in Lisbon, according to a statement emailed to reporters.

The meeting was arranged in agreement with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and was part of preparations for a meeting of EU foreign ministers later this week to discuss the situation in Libya, the
ministry said.

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(#Libya) More on Libyan-EU Meetings

#Gaddafi's envoys are to meet the EU and NATO officials on Thursday and Friday, says Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. (WTF??)

More from Reuters (3/9/2011):

ROME, March 9 (Reuters) - Libyan government emissaries have flown to Brussels to talk to European and NATO officials meeting on Thursday and Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Wednesday.

Frattini's comments, to a parliamentary committee hearing, came after reports that another plane had flown to Cairo carrying a message from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"Two aircraft of the Libyan regime appear to have left Libya for Brussels with the intention of enabling emissaries of Gaddafi to meet representatives taking part in the meetings of the EU and NATO tomorrow and the next day," Frattini said.

He noted that the visits to Cairo and Brussels suggested that the situation was very fluid and he cautioned against taking any action which might be premature.

"I don't know what will be said in Cairo, I don't know who will meet whom in Brussels but these movements are a fact that we have to take account of," he said.

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(#Libya) Libyan Officials In Talks with EU Officials in Brussels (Sellout Time?)

(Update - more info from Reuters on my newer post; Gaddafi's officials are to take part in the EU/NATO meetings.)

That's #Gaddafi's officials, from what I can figure. Cutting deals to sell out anti-Gaddafi Libyans for the sake of "stability" (aka "status quo" favored by the so-called "democratic "West), perhaps?

Restore "stability" and prevent "human sufferings", I guess would be the noble aims that the officials - Libyan and EU whose member states heavily depend on oil from Libya - try to achieve. Never mind that there has been a one long "human suffering" (42 years) for the sake of "stability" of oil supply to Europe.

6PM in Tripoli is 8AM PST, 11AM EST in the US. Hmmm. That explains the sudden, violent reversal in the price of gold. (See the intraday chart of GLD, a gold ETF.)

From Al Jazeera Libya Blog (3/9/2011):

6:08pm

Confirmed to Al Jazeera: Libyan envoys are meeting with European Union officials in Brussels.

1:37pm

Al Jazeera is getting reports that three of Liyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's private planes have taken off from a military airstrip near Tripoli.

Karl Stango-Navarra, a journalist based in Valletta, Malta, told Al Jazeera that the three jets are flying in three different directions.

"One is suggested to be Vienna, the other is supposed to be Athens in Greece, and the other is Cairo, Egypt," Stango-Navarra said.

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China to the Rescue of EU in Sovereign Debt Crisis

I wonder how long it will take for the politically correct EU to declare China as part of Europe and offer a full membership. (Turkey should have offered to buy the euro debt.)

Bloomberg reports:

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said China has taken “concrete action” to help the European Union with its debt problems as he officiated the opening of a one-day forum in Beijing to discuss economic and trade relations.

...Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in October that China supports a stable euro and won’t reduce its holdings of European bonds. The Portuguese government said last week that China had made a “clear statement” of financial support during Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos’s visit to Beijing.

Japan's Nikkei Shinbun takes it to mean the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe will abate with the Chinese purchase of the euro debt, and euro will strengthen.

China got so close to overrunning Europe during the Yuan Dynasty (a Mongolian dynasty founded by a grandson of Genghis Khan) in the 13th Century. This time, the Chinese won't even have to fight a battle. All they need to do is to buy the euro debt on a discount and stick it to Germans. They can use US Treasuries as payment.

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IMF's Strauss-Kahn Wants Eurozone Growth, and Doesn't Want Eurozone Growth

It must be the translation, I hope.

According to AP, Director General of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in Greece Tuesday:

there was a need "to have something more dynamic, which is something where the center of the eurozone will be stronger because you can't have a single currency and not have at the same time a coordinated economic policy. And that's the big weakness."

?????

Now, can you figure out what the hell he meant? Did he speak Greek? Did he speak French? Did AP use Google translation? What am I missing?

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