June 4, 201 0
EU bailout plan under investigation
EU Observer article by Andrew Willis on the 'undemocratic' ways in which the bailout plan was put together so quickly in May:
"An influential member of the European Parliament has questioned the way in which EU leaders and finance minster's rapidly cobbled together a €750 billion eurozone rescue mechanism at the beginning of last month, referring to the process as "highly undemocratic".
...Sources say EU leaders meeting in Brussels on the fateful Friday, 7 May, were presented with a doomsday scenario, with analysts predicting skyrocketing borrowing rates for several peripheral eurozone states the following week.
As part of the resulting deal to protect these states and the eurozone as a whole, the European Central Bank was also forced to throw standard practices."
On top of this, the euro takes a pounding (euro hits 4-year low below $1.20 USD) as focus on sovereign debt moves to Hungary which appears to be on the verge of a meltdown. Wall Street Journal article by Ishaq Siddiqi and Andrea Tryphonides examines the problems pushing the euro down:
"European shares fell Friday, hit on two fronts after Hungary re ignited concerns about debt in Europe and the U.S. reported a disappointing reading on the job market. The euro sank, with traders citing official comments on Hungary's woes and rumors of derivative problems at Societies General.
... HSBC Bank caused jitters with a research note to clients in which it downgraded Europe excluding the U.K. to "underweight" from "neutral."
Greece's Golden Visa program
