EU Leaders to Push Greece on Bailout

European leaders racing to prevent their week-old debt crisis strategy from unravelling convene emergency talks today to tell Greece there is no alternative to the budget cuts imposed in the bailout plan.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, his hold on power weakening, was summoned to Cannes on the eve of a Group of 20 summit where he will hear from French President Nicolas Sarkozy that the “only way to resolve Greek debt problems” is through a deal hammered out last week in a six-day crisis-management marathon.

Papandreou triggered the latest upheaval in the two-year- long crisis by abruptly announcing on Oct. 31 a parliamentary confidence vote and his desire to hold a referendum on the rescue pact. Global stocks, the euro and bonds of debt-strapped countries tumbled yesterday as concern of a disorderly Greek default mounted.

“Uncertainty and fear is palpable,” Marc Chandler, chief currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York, said by e-mail. “The political cost of the economic austerity does not appear fully appreciated by policy makers or investors.”

Papandreou will join a group at about 8:30 p.m. comprising Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde as well as European Union authorities, according to a statement from Sarkozy’s office. They will have met at about 5:30 p.m. without Papandreou.
People ‘Perplexed’

Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said today in Tokyo that "everyone is perplexed" by Greece’s referendum decision and that the issue will be discussed at the Cannes summit.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, under pressure to cut Europe’s second-biggest debt load, convened a special meeting of advisers late yesterday to discuss budget-cutting plans. Like Sarkozy, Berlusconi held crisis talks with Merkel yesterday. His key cabinet ministers will meet today to draft measures for the country’s financial stability legislation, the Italian news agency ANSA said, citing government officials.

Italy and France’s 10-year borrowing costs climbed to the highest levels relative to benchmark German bunds since before the creation of the euro in 1999. Bund yields fell the most on record, with the securities outperforming all their euro-area peers, as investors sought the safest assets. Greek two-year yields climbed to a record high 87.28 percent.

A day after MF Global Holdings Ltd. filed for bankruptcy after bets on European sovereign debt backfired, financial stocks fell with Morgan Stanley sliding as much as 12 percent in New York trading.
Europe ‘Surprised’

Papandreou’s announcement, which Sarkozy said “surprised all of Europe,” threatens to overshadow a Nov. 3-4 Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France. European leaders had designated the talks as a stage to present their plan to stamp out the crisis and end the threat to the global economy.

“The referendum will be a clear mandate and strong message within and without Greece on our European course and our participation in the euro,” Papandreou told his ministers in Athens late yesterday, according to an e-mailed transcript. It will “ensure this course in the most decisive way”.
______________
Mercedes HID bulb
top rated e cigarette