Bundesbank President says EU assistance for Greece would be politically impossible

The Telegraph reports that Axel Weber, President of the German Bundesbank and a member of the ECB Executive Board, has said that any EU aid for Greece in response to its economic problems would be counterproductive. He told the German Boersen Zeitung financial paper, “Politically, it would not be possible to tell voters that one country is being helped out so that it can avoid the painful savings that other countries have made”. He added that such a bail-out “is not provided for and, as a general rule, I think such aid, whether it is conditional, or - even worse - unconditional, is counterproductive”.

EUobserver reports that ECB Chief Economist Juergen Stark said yesterday that the state of EU governments’ public finances could lead to further credit rating downgrades and market turmoil. The Commission is expected to give its assessment of deficit cutting measures in four EU member states - Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta - today. The FT reports that Portugal’s government last night unveiled its budget proposals for 2010 aimed at bringing the country’s budget deficit under control, which stands at 9.3% GDP in 2009.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Les Echos, ECB President Jean-Claude Juncker said “I have been arguing for stronger economic policy coordination within the Eurozone for many years, but I never managed to gain support from all Eurozone countries”. He added, “If we want to turn the Eurozone into an influential monetary, economic and political entity, then we must stop giving the impression that we focus only on budgetary consolidation. The time has come for us to set up an integrated strategy to get out of the crisis”.

thanks to Open Europe

Plus WHY EUROPEAN UNION IS NOT AN OPTIMAL CURRENCY AREA: THE LIMITS OF INTEGRATION

Rare were the media that notified their European readers/viewers/listeners of the ratification of The Imperial Treaty by the two Baltic states on the 8th of May. Following day their unpleasant neighbour Russia celebrated official victory over 3rd Reich and the Lisbon Twins made sure their parade was a bit spoiled by pushing EU further into the Empire-like form.

We will prepare appropriate tables later; for now the results will have to do:

Lithuania - seats in the Parliament: 141 YES 83_NO 23__ABSTAIN 0
Latvia - seats in the Parliament: 100________YES 70_NO 3_ABSTAIN 1

How many states will fall before June 12th?