Portuguese President's Plight vs Barroso's Bullying Barbarism

The President of Portugal, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, has a problem, read here. His country is under threat from outside forces, its longest standing historical ally against such attacks, Great Britain, is now aligned with his nation's enemies. 

Worse still, a ringleader, rabble rouser and self-appointed spokesperson for those intent on starving his countrymen into submission to sovereign castration and long-term economic foreign servitude, is a fellow Portuguese citizen and mainstream political leader, (former?) Maoist and revolutionary,  José Manuel Barroso, who has been in the country's capital of Lisbon issuing dire threats, read here.

The President's problem is that the country is hopelessly in hock to the EU, entirely as a result of having fallen into the beautifully baited trap of the Euro. A budget has been passed for this year so grotesque in its implications that chaos will surely result. It has been referred to the nation's Constitutional Court for a ruling on its legality.

Speaking in Lisbon, the appointed President of the EU Commission, issued the following threat to the 27 member states of the EU:

"Power is currently shifting not only between states but also over and above those states.

"The internationalisation of the financial sector, for example, shows that only supranational regulation through the European Union can restore real decision-making power to European citizens. The key is to exchange formal sovereignty for real influence."

Can William Hague, at the Foreign Office in London, and David Cameron in Downing Street, allow this gauntlet, thus threateningly thrown down, to pass unremarked as they have done up to this very minute!

Are Greece, Ireland and Portugal prepared to default to the EFSF?

The posting beneath this links to the "Lenihan Letter" which supposedly legitimises "RULE BY TROIKA" in Ireland. It appears to have been constructed on some very shifting sands.

One presumes that as ever amounts advanced by the IMF are secured, but can the same be said for sums advanced and due to the EFSF and the ECB. Can even money advanced by the EFSM, to which the UK is party, also really be considered as being of any worth, if not what percentage still is?

Should the three countries now barely surviving under the boot of the Troika decide that the game is no longer worth the candle, which given the comment below is quite clearly the case for Ireland, the EFSF commitments will then become due from the Sovereign State Guarantors.

Such a default would be particularly nasty timing for France, which has just pledged billions for Peugeot to continue making cars few wish to purchase!

Questions for Merkel, Schauble and all Germans

Following the decisions on legacy debt, insisted upon by Germany at last week's European Council Meeting of the EU's 27 Member States in Brussels:

What are the debts today of Greece, Ireland and Portugal as compared to those debts at the point of their entry into the Troika lending programmes?
 

I will wager that for each country they are today greater by a considerable amount than they were when each country entered their programmes, therefore:

What has been the point of all the unemployment, poverty, hunger and mass emigration the Troika imposed austerity has brought?  

Therefore thirdly and lastly:

Why has Germany again decided to crush and subjugate the entirety of Europe as the answers to the first two questions must lead one to conclude is their plan.

Britain and Europe

   I have been writing about Europe almost every day for a long time, almost as long as successive British Governments and Conservative Party politicians in particular have been doing all they could to not even think about it.  Even PM Cameron, with his well aimed attack of yesterday, as reported in The Sun, linked here, now seems aware that this feigned indifference cannot continue!

   The boycott of the Fiscal Compact contrived by Cameron at the final EU summit of last year, appears to have served little purpose, with an FTT or Tobin Tax proceeding under enhanced cooperation.

   The next logical British step,  a boycott of the single banking supervisor procedures agreed this week could not be justified given the UK has no eventual commitment to ever join EMU. The Czech threat of a veto is encouraging but the pressure to again fall into line will probably eventually prove irresistable.

   The solution clutched at by Cameron in yesterday's Brussels news conference, a new EU settlement followed by referendum acceptance or continuation of the pre-existing status quo, carries absurdity and expediency to new and ever more dizzying heights.

  What then to do? As I blogged first thing this morning, the economy has already broken down, appointment of a capable, experienced and functioning Governor of the Bank of England is thus priority number one, as then posted I believe Nigel Lawson fits the bill.

Next to go, quite clearly, is the Chancellor, George Osborne. Nick Clegg if he wishes his party to be saved from annihalation must now make this a condition of his continuing support for the Coalition .

   A British Foreign Policy towards a splitting EU must then urgently be prepared. A senior Liberal Democrat could concurrently be given responsibilty to assist in preventing such a breakdown occurring and negotiating a new place for the UK within, or among, the remanants of the failed EU!

   Saving what remains of sterling's value from the fallout from the euro disaster needs a seasoned and smart individual heading the Treasury, regular readers of my blog know well enough whom I prefer amongst the very few such that the nation presently seems to have available.

   Meantime watch the results of tomorrow's local elections in Spain as the best guide as to how much more time we may still have available to prepare.

   For a good report on the crumbling societies in Greece and Portugal watch Dateline London from the BBC this weekend!

Portuguese Parliament Demonstrations dramatise next step in EU Torment

The mad efforts to save the foul and useless Euro currency by ruthless imposition of budget cuts and swingeing tax increase took another step last evening in Portugal; sparking demonstrations in front of the National Parliament which in turn provided an AFP copyright image that may come to signify the pointlessness of the misery of the  EU cisis, just as the My Lai massacre image did for Vietnam's agony, see it here.

Another of Europe's banks is swallowed

Read what little we are allowed to know from the link to the EU report from today, here.

Nothing of substance will be revealed, all money matters are now conducted in the EU behind a curtain of lies and a screen of secrecy; note this quote from the EU statement:

The non-confidential version of today's decision will be made available under case number SA.26909 in the State Aid Register on the DG Competition website website once any confidentiality issues have been resolved. New publications of state aid decisions on the Internet and in the Official Journal are listed in the 'State aid Weekly e-News'

More on Portuguese Local debts as opposed to busted banks is here.

Some reading for Nigel Farage before Sky News this morning!

As leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage MEP should be doing his utmost to inform the people of the UK of the economic annihalation the nation now potentially faces due to its disastrous entanglement with the EU! This morning in reviewing the Sunday newspapers on Sky News,  he will hopefully not fall back on his normal ploy of  self-deprecating, vapid self-promotion, matters are far too grave for that!

An article that might arm him with some facts on Greece is linked here it is titled
"The Eight Hundred Pound Greek Gorilla Enters The Room" from Tyler Durden on Zero Hedge and written by Mark J Grant, author of Out of the Box and onto Wall Street.

Even the lamentably awful UK Sunday press must have something covering Greece to give Nigel an opening!

Hopefully he might mention Portugal too, see my posts below.

Will Hague now build on the success of Prince Harry's tour?

The Foreign Office, as I suppose is fitting in a country that seems to have lost all sense of history, will probably be reluctant to build on the startling success of Prince Harry's trip to the opposite shores of the Atlantic Oceans! That would be a pity, not least with the Brazil portion of his tour, for while it would be a crying shame if our close ties to Jamaica, the principal nation state of the West Indies, were further reduced, as it is reported their government now desires, nevertheless greater economic gains lie with the former.

To consolidate links with the rapidly growing economy of Brazil, we should first look to the plight of the nation from whence many Brazilians originated. It is possibly unnecessary to point out to the Foreign Office that the alliance between England and Portugal, still exists today and is the longest standing such alliance in the world having been bound by Treaty in 1373 read here.

Following the crushing of Greece, the German jackboot that already lies across the throat of Portugal, will steadily have pressure applied to ensure further resistance (after the recent sale of its electricity grid to the Chinese, read here and here,) is ruthlessly rooted out.

As I tried to illustrate in the photograph below, in my final posting of last evening, the reason for the longstanding alliance between what is now the UK and Portugal lies in our community of maritime interests which derive from our geographical positioning along the Eastern shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. The concerns and constant corruption of middle Europe and the nations to the east are normally none of our concern. So should it be once again.

Britain must come to Portugal's aid as the EU attempts to economically strangle it into submission and servitude. Whether that is best accomplished from within the evil mess that the EU has now become, or from the outside must still regrettably be a matter decided by the thoroughly useless bunch of politicians presently in Government and the usual inept careerists in the Foreign Office.

Some hope for Portugal - next EU victim after Greece

Look West!

From Here!




Europe offers the Atlantic Maritime Nations Nothing - Never Has!

The Troika are now trashing Portugal

The markets and broadcast media seem much concerned with Greece, understandably enough, but Portugal and Spain must not slip from view. This is a pan-European crisis and all member states will soon be disastrously affected in one way or another.

The Seattle Times, has a report from yesterday from Portugal, linked here. The following is how the article begins:

Portugal's jobless rate jumped to a record 14 percent at the end of last year, the national statistics agency reported Thursday in the latest grim sign of the bailed-out country's worsening economic problems.
The unemployment rate is the highest since authorities began compiling comprehensive national registers in 1950

That is quite frankly absolutely astounding for any of us who knew Portugal during or immediately after the overthrow of its last dictator in the mid-nineteen seventies, read here. Who could have guessed that the EU would bring that country so low, does President Barroso ever summon up the courage to nowadays return to the homeland he has helped to wreck?

Olli Rehn on Portugal - exactly what he said for Greece. UK next?

Olli Rehn yesterday, quoted here:

“We are working together with Portugal in the context of the EU-IMF program, which Portugal is implementing effectively and which is on track,” Rehn told reporters today in Strasbourg, France. “I know that Portugal and the Portuguese people are facing major challenges, but it’s important that the country is showing political unity and resilience in order to overcome these challenges. The Portuguese people can trust that Europe stands by the Portuguese people.”

Update 0800 GMT Olli Rehn next pans to sort the economies of ten more EU countries according to EUobserver this morning, including the UK, read here, from which I quote:

....Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK as in need for further "in depth" scrutiny of their macro-economic policies.

"If it turns out that imbalances exist and that they are harmful, this new tool is a meaningful step towards correcting the imbalances which built up over the years. Sound fiscal policies and early detection and correction of risky economic imbalances are necessary conditions to return to sustainable growth and jobs," EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said.

Portuguese recession deepens.

Reuters reports the worsening situation in the next country on the Euro Group's hit list of countries for immolation. The bright spot is that interest rates have fallen somewhat, following the ECB's liberal spraying of infinite amounts of practically free money to the EU's rotten banking sector, but that of course will do nothing to ease the real problems, neither by providing growth nor in creating employment.

Iberian Peninsular prepares for Troika and more downgrades.

Portugal will suffer the further torment of a Troika visit this week yet it is Spanish Banks this evening, fifteen of them from S&P, who receive the latest credit downgrade while Fitch seems to have concentrated on Santander! Read here and here.

The crazed folly of the EU project continues towards the abyss, with ever less hope nor prosperity for Europe's largely de-democratised citizens!

100,000 protest in Lisbon - EU is cracking at the seams!

The bemused if not brain dead idiots who have guided their "project" to this inevitable end clearly now have run out of ideas as to what to do next.

The report of the protests in Lisbon is here. This demonstration comes ahead of a review, in the coming days, of the EU imposed economic destruction undertaken by those who control the fate of this once independent nation. It will be recalled that the austerity programme was negotiated by the country's civil servants, of the same ilk as eurocrats, between the fall of one government and the election of another, all brought on by the flawed construction of the euro currency.

Portugal was once proud that as a country they considered themselves England's longest existing ally, something that apparently now counts for nought as Britain too exists only to fulfill the whims of whoever it is that controls the EU and thus directs their controlled robotic pygmies in Brussels!

All of Western Europe this Sunday lies frozen and helpless, dependent upon Russian Gas while littered with lifeless supposed electricity generating windmills and without one single elected national politician prepared to step out of line and proclaim the EU as dead, while taking actions for once in the interests of his or her own citizens!

RBS head of European Credit Strategy, Gallo, predicts hard default fot Greece & Portugal!

The video interview with Margaret Brennan of Bloomberg may be viewed from this link.

After China's grid grab still some juicy bits of Portugal left! French trade & elections.

Reuters has some encouraging news for those wishing to pick over the bones of the next EU victim - Portugal, read here.  Meantime a future prime pick for distressed selling of assets could be identifiied from the same source, as Reuters reported on the disastrous French trade gap for 2011, read here. The latter article has the following telling quotes:

...Farm produce and luxury goods such as handbags and perfume were the exceptions, France's customs office said on Tuesday, in a dismal year for exports that contrasted sharply with bumper returns in neighbouring Germany.
It said there was a deficit of 69.6 billion euros, at the lower end of government forecasts but still 35 percent higher than in 2010.
In Germany, the main engine of European growth and a global exporting superpower, data due on Wednesday is expected to show a trade surplus of around 156 billion in 2011.
The imbalance has become an issue in France's presidential campaign, with President Nicolas Sarkozy blaming a relatively higher cost of labour.

One cannot but help wondering how merging with Germany is going to help this situation, nor why President Sarkozy considers the German Chancellor as a campaigning asset, as she appeared on TV in that role yesterday evening, by his side.

ECB Bond Purchases & Spanish Exposure to Portugal

Two interesting charts this evening from Acting Man, linked here.

Insurers demand lump sum payment up front for Portuguese bonds

Reuters has the latest on the ever unfolding euro disaster here. A quote:

Banks and others offering default insurance to holders of Portuguese sovereign debt have begun demanding huge up-front payments rather than allowing costs to be spread over the term of the contract.

On Monday, this meant that it cost a whopping 3.95 million euros to insure 10 million euros in bonds over five years, payable now.

Portugal rates race upwards to scupper EU strike bound summit

In a Brussels shut-down by a General Strike, President Von Rompuy rang a little golden bell to announce things were progressing nicely and that the leaders would discuss growth.

In the real world Portugal's tenyear interest rates which has been at 14.4% at the start of the day had risen by more than two per cent and were heading above 17%. Two year rates on the other hand were more than 400 basic points up at 21%. See a chart from the Wall Street Journal blog report.

Meantime Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, who won leadership of his party with the pretence of being opposed to the EU and promising he would offer his countrymen a referendum as to whether they should continue in the corrupt non-democratic conspiracy, arrived a the summit planning to cede more power to the EU in a Treaty to which his country would not belong, but towards the costs of which would commit to fund!

Portugal next to buckle - NASDAQ report

The report from Nasdaq just re-posted from Emerging Money, confirms what this blog has been pointing out repeatedly for a long time, but most particularly these past few days, when most attention has been turned upon Greece.

There is in fact not that much difference in CDS consequences of default between the two EU crippled countries, Reuters this evening reminding us, link here, as follows:

The current average market value of a portfolio of Portugal's bonds, weighted for the different amounts it has issued, is about 63 percent of face value, and an event which triggered a payout on credit default swaps would cost the sellers of protection about 1.4 billion euros.

On a similar basis the market value of Greek debt at the moment is about 28 percent of face value and if a CDS payout were triggered it would cost sellers about 1.7 billion euros.