by Calculated Risk on 9/27/2011 08:41:00 AM
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Merkel: Germany will help stabilize Greece
From the NY Times: German Leader Reaffirms Backing for Greece
Promising that Athens would live up to its commitments, the Greek prime minister urged Europe to pull together to take the steps needed to head off a potentially disastrous escalation in the sovereign debt crisis.And from the Financial Times: Rolling blog: the eurozone crisis
In a speech to the same group of German business leaders, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would provide all the help it could to stabilize Greece.
...
Mrs. Merkel urged lawmakers to back the bill “in a spirit of friendship, a spirit of partnership, not in a spirit of imposing something.”
“If Europe isn’t doing well, then over the medium term Germany won’t do well,” she said.
Our Athens reporter, Dimitris Kontogiannis, has set out the main details of the property tax ...It sounds like the property tax will pass - and that the German parliament will approve the changes to the EFSF on Thursday.
• The new tax will apply, with a few exceptions, to all electricity-powered buildings
• Those who refuse to pay will have their electricity cut off...
• The government estimates the new tax could raise €2bn-€2.5bn a year...