May 7, 2012 – ATHENS — A day after Greece’s two dominant parties collapsed at the polls, the leader of the center-right New Democracy party announced Monday that he had failed to form a governing coalition, pushing the mandate to the second party amid growing uncertainty about Greece’s political stability and staying power inside the euro zone. “We did everything we could but it just wasn’t possible,” the leader, Antonis Samaras, said in a televised statement. Greek law gives the front-runner three days to form a government before the baton passes to the runner-up. But a party official told the private television channel Antenna that Mr. Samaras had “not wanted to waste time at such a crucial moment for the nation.” President Karolos Papoulias is to meet with Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the second party, the Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. If Mr. Tsipras fails to form a coalition, the Socialist leader, Evangelos Venizelos, has a try. If he fails, the president of the republic summons the leaders of all parties in Parliament and tries to broker a broad coalition. If that also fails, the president appoints an interim government to bring the country to new elections in 30 days. On Sunday, the traditionally dominant parties, New Democracy and the Socialists, which both backed Greece’s latest loan agreement with its foreign creditors, did not get enough of the combined vote to form a majority in Parliament. Several smaller parties, whose fortunes rose on a rich harvest of protest votes, refused to join in a coalition with the larger parties. The lack of a government could cast Greece’s loan agreement with its foreign creditors into turmoil, with a $4.3 billion refinancing looming this month and a requirement from its lenders to cut $15 billion from the budget in June. Beyond a popular rejection of Europe’s austerity recipe for Greece, the election results also marked the end of a political era for the Socialists and New Democracy. –NY Times
French President ousted: Jittery stock markets remained stable across Europe today after the Socialists swept to power in France and uncertain election results in Greece left no party able to form a government. The French stock market the CAC-40 fell in early trading – but markets rallied and ended the day up 1.6 per cent. In Greece, where there was no clear election winner, stock markets plunged almost 8 per cent in early trading before ending the day 6.6 per cent down. –Daily Mail
Shake-up in Germany: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives were in danger of being ousted from power in another German state on Sunday after the opposition Social Democrats (SPD) said they wanted to form a three-way coalition with two smaller centre-left parties. The Christian Democrats’ (CDU) vote fell to 31 per cent, their worst result in the state since 1950, but they were still just the largest party in the rural region between the Baltic and North Seas, a projection by Germany’s ARD TV network showed. The SPD, which won 29.9 per cent in the northernmost state, said it wanted to form a coalition with the Greens and South Schleswig Party (SSW) that represents the Danish majority. The three parties would have 35 seats in the 69-seat state assembly. Merkel’s conservatives have been voted out of power in three states in the last two years. If knocked out in the traditionally conservative region of Schleswig-Holstein the CDU would rule just seven of Germany’s 16 states ahead of the 2013 federal election, when Merkel is seeking a third term. “She’ll probably lose another state premier and this will make things harder for her re-election campaign,” said Gero Neugebauer, political scientist at Berlin’s Free University. “She can’t be satisfied about the performance of her centre-right coalition.” –The Star
contribution by Stefan
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get ready for it…in the not to distant future the one world leader will arise and no one is going to be able to sell or trade without the mark…if you studied heard lessons on daniel revelations mathew 24 it wouldn’t be so hard to see….now more than ever John 3:16 is SO NEEDED! PLEASE PLEASE ! Take heed of it..it’s coming and no one is going to stop it, Jesus SAVES!
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I sense that Greece will be soon kicked from the EU as they refuse to accept the loan requirements to stay in the union..Much uncertainty in the future as France has switched a bit in its political views and if Germany starts refocusing its political agendas it could cause a bit of turmoil in the union..
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I just look forward to when this is all over.
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I am reminded that late in the Great Depression the NAtional Socialists became big in Germany because the only thing they feared more were the communists. The book Memoirs of Albert Spears brings some interesting first hand accounts of how the Nazi ‘s took power and how he became directly involved in their movement and why he did.
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I feel that all this money trouble, everywhere is part of a deeper scheme to control us all. As the monetary systems collapse we as humans become easier to control.
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Technically Greece can’t be “kicked” out of the E.U. – They can be asked to leave or leave voluntarily. Some of the politicians in the anti bailout parties are gambeling that the E.U. will continue to provide funds with comprimised austerity conditions.
The reality is that Germany with the only financial stable economy in the Eurozone is bailing out the ClubMed countries with their funds. The German Government has built up a firewall to enable them to leave the Euro common country and backup their banking sector.
A political shift in Germany may see them leaving the Euro currency and leaving the rest of Europe to sort themselves out.
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I saw France’s election results this morning before I went to work. Hollande beats Sarkosky because the people don’t want any more austerity. I see an economic big-boom happening in Europe. The shock-wave will travel around the world. To say that this isn’t good is an understatement.
Maranatha
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I am so sad to see how politicians mis-treat the finances all over the world; USA, Europe, Asia. Well, Asia still work somehow. I can see changes in my country as well, which is Sweden. Our infrastructure is being degraded every year. We need good alternatives to our very old nuclear power plants, but nothing is happening. Probably it will end in a disaster like Fukushima some day. I seriously fear that.
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Europe is going to fall apart. They have been managing to kick the can down the road longer than many thought but politically things are coming unglued now and it will be a steady downhill slide from here I think.
This will have a devastating ripple affect………… and the US will be hit hard from it, and it is already in trouble.
The dominoes are falling.
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babylon the harlot maybe?
The coming US elections over the next 6-10 years should be as much of a shakeup as people realize that they must make a choice in the directions the ‘powermongers’ take. As for the bundesbank- have they forced the chinese to revalue their currency yet? I’d suspect its the agenda they follow , not hte EUs’
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Germany is not as safe as people believe. There are huge trade imbalances. The Bundesbank is owed around 700 Billion euros by other central banks and it’s unknown if it will be paid back. Everyone owes money to everyone else in this system and it’s all unstable.
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Its all 6 of one and half a dozen of the other!
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JP Morgan Chase gambles away $3 billion dollars. Is anyone’s deposits safe?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577396511420792008.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEADNewsCollection&fb_source=message
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