German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has admitted that “too many people are coming” into the country illegally and vowed to begin deportations on a “large scale” as Germany is on pace to see more illegal migrants enter the country than during the European Migrant Crisis of 2016.
Read More: Breitbart
The European Union has lowered its forecast for economic growth this year and next, saying inflation is taking a heavy toll on people’s willingness to spend in shops – while higher interest rates are sharply restricting the credit needed for investment and purchases.
Read More: Breitbart
Residents of Finland began reporting a huge jet of flame from across the Russian border last month. Satellite images detected a massive heat bloom that turned out to be a Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant burning off millions of cubic meters of gas that were supposed to be sold to European customers.
Read More: Breitbart
Vladimir Putin’s Russia has once again halved Germany’s gas supply, a move that will further harm an already struggling EU economy.
Having only just seen the flow of gas from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline turned back on again after a nearly two-week maintenance period, Germany is once again facing a significant worsening of its already crippling gas crisis after Vladimir Putin’s government decided to once again half the amount of Russian gas it was supplying the EU state.
Read More: Breitbart
Germany is appealing to Canada to return a sanctions-affected turbine for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline, saying that failure to do so could give Russia a pretext for shutting off the flow completely.
Read More: CNS News
Reports have come to light that show that President Biden is willing to waiver sanctions against Russia, which will allow the building of an oil pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Read More: Breitbart
Germany’s finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, has admitted for the first time that Greece will need another bailout. Germany had been reluctant to publicly say this ahead of the countries elections in September. Any new bailout will be very unpopular in Germany.
However, it is believed that a third bailout will be considerably smaller than the previous two the country has received.
Read More: The BBC
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike fled Germany in 2006 over the family’s decision to home school their children. Homeschooling is banned in Germany, after school attendance was made mandatory in 1918, and homeschooling was finally banned outright by Hitler in 1938.
Uwe and Hannelore Romeike now live in Tennessee with their six children, and have been seeking political asylum. They argue that their right to choose the type of education they want for their children is not respected in Germany.
German home schoolers face significant fines, and even risk their children being taken into care.
The Romeike’s were initially granted asylum status in 2010, but the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement appealed the decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals. The Board overturned their asylum status.
The family now plan to fight the Board’s decision in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear the case on April 23.
The attorney for the family believe they have a strong case, arguing that a parents right to choose the form of education for their children is granted in Article 26, section 3 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights which reads: “Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”
Angela Merkel recoils from Greek showdown on Spain contagion fears – Telegraph.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been visiting Athens today, for the first time in three years. She comes at a time when Greece is looking for the next €31.5bn tranche of aid. Without the aid Greece will run out of money by the end of November. Recent figures show Greece has been in recession for 5 years, it’s economy has shrunk by 22%, and youth unemployment is currently at 55%.
Mrs Merkel was met with angry protestors and required 6,000 police officers to protect her. Greeks, and the Greek media, greeted her with Nazi insults.
Both the EU and IMF have been insistent that Greece steps up austerity measures in order to receive the money. However, Mrs Merkel came to Athens with a softer tone than Athens has previously heard.
There has been mounting pressure on Germany not to allow Greece to default, thus forcing her out of the eurozone. If Greece were to exit, then Spain would likely follow, and the euro would break up. Also tougher austerity measures could result in the collapse of the pro-Europe ruling coalition. If the Greek government collapses it would likely be replaced by either a far-right or far-left alternative. That could destabilise the entire region, affecting the Balkan region and Turkey, something no one wants to see.
It is likely Greece will receive the next instalment of money, however the €31.5bn will only keep Greece afloat a few more months. And as time passes both Spain and Portugal are edging closer to requiring more bailouts.
The eurozone countries, in their attempts to contain the debt crisis had ratified an agreement to create a permanent bail-out fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the permanent fund was to be €500 billion ($638.8 billion). However, some German lawmakers said that German involvement in the fund was in breech of their constitution. Today, Germany’s highest court ruled that the fund does not violate the German constitution, thus removing a considerable road block towards solving part of the debt crisis.
The court hearing has caused much uncertainty in European and global markets. Had the German lawmakers ruled to block the bailout fund, it would have sent panic through the global economy, and would have ended the bail-out fund as a rescue vehicle; Germany is the biggest contributor to the fund, as they are the largest economy in Europe.
However, the German court have placed a limit on Germany’s contribution to the European Stability Mechanism; Germany’s financial liability in the bail-out fund cannot be increased without agreement from the German parliament. Germany will not sign a blank cheque to Brussels!
George Soros: Germany should back growth or leave euro – Telegraph.
As the debt crisis continues in Europe, many of the same arguments are being made within the eurozone countries as to the best way forward. Italy and Spain are both edging closer to needing a bailout; and it will not be long before Greece will be requiring another bailout package.
However, the arguments between growth and austerity continue. Germany are reluctant to continue to pay the bills, without the proper checks in place. But will Spain and Italy be prepared to sign away political autonomy?
Now George Soros has said “Germany must back growth or leave the euro”. To back growth means Germany continues to bailout and lend more money – increasing indebtedness. Germany has made it clear it desires growth, but not by creating more debt.
However, if Germany were to leave the euro it would enable the Euro to devalue and ease the economic pain in the struggling nations.
Spanish bail-out impossible’, experts warn – Telegraph.
As the economic situation in Spain worsens by the day, many think it is only a matter of time before Spain will need a full bail-out.
However, economists looking at Spain’s borrowing needs, their crippled banking sector, and their ailing economy now believe the required bail-out would be more than the eurozone could manage.
Head of economic research at Open Europe, believe Spain will require around €650bn.
The situation may force Germany into finally deciding whether to work towards the break up of the eurozone, or the pooling of all the eurozone sovereign debt. The pooling of the debt would lead to a full economic union, and inevitably to much stronger political ties. With Greece likely to require yet another bailout before the end of the year, and the fall out from the current situation nudging Italy ever closer to the economic death spiral, it is only a matter of time before Germany will have to make some very difficult choices. The question is will the people of Europe accept the outcome, whatever that may be?
At the G20 summit in Mexico European leaders have agreed on a deal which will see Spain and Italy being bailed out using a €750 billion bail out fund. In the deal European governments will buy up Italian and Spanish debt, in effect transferring the debt to other countries within the eurozone; instead of bailing out the individual governments.
This is a step towards the issuing of eurobonds, which would in effect be under written by Germany
For further information: The Telegraph
The former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has spoken ahead of next week’s G20 summit in Mexico, about the prospect of a required bailout for Italy and France. Gordon Brown has called for the G20 to begin to draw up a “concerted global action plan” to deal with the crisis.
This comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, attacked the French President Francois Hollande for allowing the French economy to stall. She also echoed Mr Brown’s comments, warning that Hollande’s socialist policies could lead to France being enveloped by the debt crisis.
Last year, when officials began to speak of the contagion spreading to Italy and Spain, no solid measures were put in place, and now we are on the brink of Spain requiring a full bail-out (the bailout currently under consideration is only to bailout their struggling banking system). Spain and Italy were both labelled at the time as “too big to fail”. At that time the thought of a French bailout was unthinkable.
However, it is expected that the summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, will see world leaders continuing to pressure Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to Eurobonds. Mrs Merkel has left Germany for the summit, remaining steadfast in her tough austerity stance – in the face of French opposition from Francois Hollande, and with President Obama also backing the new French President.