Cypriot parliament votes against deposit levy

Cypriot woman shouts slogans as she holds a placard during a protest against an EU bailout deal outside the parliament in Nicosia (AFP Photo / Patrick Baz)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/business/cyprus-against-deposit-levy-501/

The Cypriot parliament has voted against a revised bank deposit levy. The tax was meant to shave 9.9% off any deposits over €100,000 and has since caused uproar in the country.

Thirty six deputies voted against the proposal to tax bank deposits in the 56-member chamber, while 19 abstained. One deputy was not present for the vote.

"The bill has been rejected," said house speaker Yiannakis Omirou, as thousands of protesters outside the parliament building in Nicosia erupted in cheers.

According to the proposal, a 6.75% rate was to be set for amounts between €20,000 and €100,000. Deposits of up to €20,000 euros were to remain untouched.

Passage of the bill was considered a prerequisite for a €10 billion European Union bailout for the Mediterranean island. EU finance ministers have warned that Cyprus' two biggest banks could go bust if a bailout deal in some form is not forthcoming. The government and opposition parties have scheduled emergency talks on the bailout for Wednesday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has threatened to end emergency lending assistance for Cypriot banks if a bailout deal was not ensured. However, following the vote, the ECB said it would continue to provide liquidity to Cyprus as needed “within the existing rules,” Bloomberg reports.

Cyprus has discussed the tax with its European creditors. Ministers from the 17 eurozone countries urged protection for savers with €100,000 or less and for them to be spared from the levy, after the prospect brought panic to the markets and had Cyprus dealing with the prospect of Russia withdrawing its rescue loan.

The Cypriot government’s original proposal was to tax all depositors, setting the rate of 6.75% on all deposits under€100,000 and maintaining a 9.9% tax on all deposits above that level.

In the meantime all Cypriot banks have frozen the accounts liable for the tax and stopped all transactions, including electronic and closed for a long weekend until Thursday to prevent panic.

Cyprus needed to raise €5.8 billion euros for its bailout program and was hoping to get the money in the planned bank deposits levy.

Despite the precarious position Cyprus has found itself in, a default might be preferable than a bailout under the present conditions, United Kingdom Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage told RT.

“The EU has been unhappy about so-called tax havens for a very long time. Ironically, whilst continuing to turn a blind-eye to many activities that go on in Luxemburg. I mean Cyprus finds itself right now in a very difficult, desperate position. But I would say that it is better to officially go bankrupt, to default on international bond obligations. And to do that best to keep a banking industry and to keep some confidence in that country,”he said

 

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Troika proposes 150 new reforms for devastated Greece - report

 

Demonstrators shout slogans during a demonstration against the government’s austerity measures in central Athens. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/troika-greece-new-reforms-435/

While Greece claims the deal on its new rescue package is nearly final, the troika will reportedly require the country to implement 150 new reforms within two years.

­The reform proposals by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – which comprise the so-called “troika” – include loosening of hiring-and-firing laws, changing minimum wage rules and abolishing professional privileges, Germany’s Spiegel reports.

To control the implementation of the reforms, the troika proposes keeping bailout tranches in a special frozen account, releasing them only after the reforms are introduced.

The report also suggested that the troika proposed a debt restructuring, meaning that creditors would write off some of their Greek debt holdings, along with a two-year delay for budgetary consolidation.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sharply criticized the idea, saying "that is a discussion which has little to do with the reality in the member states of the eurozone.”

He suggested, however, that Greece buy back some of its debt at discounted prices, Spiegel reported.

Private investors agreed to write off almost all of their Greek debt as part of a second bailout package, put together earlier this year.

Meanwhile, so-called "official sector" bondholders, including other eurozone countries, are still clinging to their share of Greek bonds.

The European Central Bank made it clear it would not write off its share of Greek debt, as this would mean financing Greece – which is forbidden, the report says.

Athens is looking forward to a €31.2 billion tranche from its current bailout package. Otherwise, the country may go bust as early as the end of November, according to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

Last week Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras asserted that almost all the conditions of the new deal had been agreed upon, saying the parties were still to discuss labor reforms and measures to reform products and services markets.

Earlier he had agreed to cut €6.5 billion in wages, pensions and benefits and to save €1.5 billion from reforms to the public sector. Some reports also said the pension age would be raised by two years, bringing it to 67, a move that would save Greece another $1 billion.

 

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One year after IMF bailout, Greece still big on military spending

(AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)

Exactly one year ago, the EU agreed to several extreme measures to combat the ongoing economic crisis, to mixed results. But despite its unique economic distress, Greece shows no sign of cutting back its considerable military budget.

­A year ago to the day, EU leaders met to tackle debt troubles that German Chancellor Angela Merkel described as Europe’s worst economic crisis since the end of WWII. The EU spent a month negotiating the deal, which was proclaimed to have saved Greece by writing off half the country’s debt, which at the time amounted to 160 percent of its GDP.

The second aim of the package was to protect other European countries from financial instability. The EU decided to more than double the eurozone bailout fund, also known as the European Financial Stability Facility.

A handful of nations expressed skepticism of the deal at the outset. Now, a year later, consensus has emerged that the eurozone crisis shows no sign of abating, and the financial and business climate across Europe has significantly worsened.

But as the crisis worsens, some nations, like Greece, have chosen to spend more money on the military while simultaneously slashing social programs.

A man holds a placard in front of riot police forces during a protest march marking a 24-hour general strike on October 18, 2012 near the parliament in Athens. (AFP Photo / Louisa Gouliamaki)

The Greek arms anomaly

­Greece continues to be one of the world’s biggest arms importers, despite having little chance of meeting the deficit reduction targets pegged to its International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout loan, according to a preliminary report by the organization’s debt inspectors.

The IMF report will likely recommend more austerity in Greece, in addition to 89 other stalled reforms Athens has failed to enact.

Despite the push for cuts in other spheres, the Greek government continues to spend a considerable portion of its budget on arms, amounting to 7 billion euros in 2011. From 2002 through 2006, Greece was the world's fourth-largest importer of weapons. Despite the country’s ongoing debt crisis, it remains the tenth-largest military importer.

As a proportion of its GDP, Greek defense spending is nearly double that of any other EU member. The country also has a less-than-transparent procurement process and a reputation for budgetary corruption, RT's Peter Oliver reports.

Long-running tensions between Greece and Turkey are believed to be the main reason behind Athens’ high levels of military spending. Following Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus, Greece has spent an estimated 216 billion euros on arms.

“Greece still considers that it is facing a threat from Turkey. And that we need to maintain credible military forces to deter that threat,” Thanos Dokos, the Director-General of the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy told RT.

Germany, one of Greece’s main creditors in the IMF bailout and a leading voice for eurozone austerity, is also one of Athens’ biggest arms suppliers. Greek military imports account for some 15 percent of Berlin's arms exports.

Vladimir Kremlev for RT

“In my point of view there's no justification that Greece continues to spend so heavily on military equipment. But of course it is export earnings for Germany, there are NATO interests there, so it's just being done and it's not being talked about too much,” political and economic analyst Maz Otte explained to RT.

“Once in a while it pops up, but German politicians aren't really questioning it,” he added.

With Greece plunging further into dire economic conditions, some have leveled charges of hypocrisy at Germany’s dual role as arms supplier and austerity advocate for Athens.

“For [Berlin], social spending cutting is the first thing that comes to their minds. Whereas to me as a Green, the first priority would be making cuts to the defense sector,”Franziska Brantner, German MEP from the Green Party said.

“I think there is elite in Greece both with in the political sphere, as well as the arms lobby that does keep specific percentages from every sale of arms,” journalist Loukas Germanos told RT. “These are the people who are sending that money abroad to Swiss bank accounts.”

With former Greek defense minister Apostolos Tsochatzopoulos in custody for charges of fraud and embezzlement, the country’s high military budget will likely remain a contentious issue. Economists estimate that if Greece had cut defense spending over the past decade to levels comparable to other EU nations, it would have saved some 150 billion euros – more than its last IMF bailout.

 

Health employees protest outside the Health Ministry in Athens against pay and budget cuts planned in the latest round of austerity measures. (AFP Photo / Aris Messinis)

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Thousands in Madrid protest 2013 budget cuts (PHOTOS)

 

Demonstrators raise their arms during an assembly outside Madrid's Parliament October 23, 2012, as the debate for the 2013 budget goes on inside.(Reuters/Susana Vera)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-budget-madrid-091/

Thousands have taken to the streets of the Spanish capital, just outside the Parliament building, to protest their government’s latest bid to further cut spending in 2013.

­Cordoned off by police riot vans, the crowd outside the government headquarters in Madrid yelled slogans lambasting further austerity measures and political corruption, demanding the resignations of the deputies of both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists.

"People in the street feel like [lawmakers] don't respect us," Noelia Urdialesa, a care assistant, told the AFP. "They are making cuts in health and education, affecting the most vulnerable."

Earlier in the day, students also staged an anti-austerity protest against new cuts to education that are expected in the 2013 budget, which will lead to larger class sizes and higher tuition fees.

Approximately $6.5 billion has been cut from education funding in Spain since 2010.

Politicians, meanwhile, are debating a new budget plan that would add an additional €39 billion in savings, as part of the plan to reduce spending by €150 billion between 2012 and 2014 with pay cuts and tax rises.

Speaking at the start of the debate, Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said the draft budget "aimed to combat the crisis," adding that it was a budget that would make "2013 the last year of recession for Spain."

But people outside do not believe that reaching such targets is even a remote possibility.

“Those deficit targets are impossible to meet. Everybody knows that, so the government is counting on the EU to ease those targets. But the problem is that easing the targets does not mean that the government will ease their austerity policies,” journalist Miguel-Anxo Murado told RT.

This is very difficult, as Spain’s economy continued to shrink in the third quarter, according to central bank estimates Tuesday. This is the fifth quarter in a row that Spain's economic output has shrunk.

In late September during similar protests, 38 people were arrested and 64 injured when officers clashed with protesters demonstrating against austerity cutbacks and tax hikes.

This time, no casualties have been reported.

More protests outside Parliament are planned for Thursday and Saturday.

 

Demonstrators gather outside Parliament as the debate for the 2013 budget goes on inside Parliament in Madrid October 23, 2012. (Reuters/Susana Vera)

 

A demonstrator (C) wearing a Guy Fawkes mask does the Nazi salute as he holds a placard depicting a EU flag with a swatiska in his centre as he takes part in a protest against government's austerity reforms and the public payment of bank's debts on October 23, 2012 in Madrid. (AFP Photo/Dominique Faget

 

Reuters/Susana Vera

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EU Censorship and the real reason behind banning alternative News

Press TV satellite ban unearths bigger agenda

Source Video: Press TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2z4c13ndmE

 Press TV along with other Iranian television and radio stations have been banned from broadcasting through the Hot Bird Satellite transponder. The IRIB multiplex was targeted and one of the frequencies that transmit Press TV through the IRIB Satellite is now off air.

The hotbird satellite system covers Europe and other regions. Viewers who have Hot Bird are unable to watch Press TV on their system. The channel has been taken off air by an order from the European Commission. The decision to take Press TV off the air was also influenced by pro-Israeli anti-Iranian pressure groups.

The US based lobby group United Against a Nuclear Iran was boasting on their website about how they piled pressure on European satellite services to remove the 19 Iranian stations off the air. Their campaigns have stretched from pressuring banks to oil companies to cut off all ties with Iran. They are a part of a bigger network that works towards increasing the sanctions against Iran.

In early 2012 Ofcom, the UK's media regulating body, decided to remove Press TV from the British satellite platform. And now several months later the European satellite provider Eutelsat has ordered the British based company Arqiva to stop transmitting channels from IRIB satellite.

I then contacted Arqiva's Head of Public Relations, Gary Follows, for an interview. He declined by saying they were currently not giving interviews on the subject. He later issued the same statement to IRIB saying:

Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission has also looked into the issue and cannot find a satisfactory reason for banning the Iranian channels. He believes there is a bigger agenda at play.

Press TV have now set up a facebook petition and urges supporters to join their campaign against the censorship. They believe Eutelsat's move was illegal and a blatant violation of freedom of speech.

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