Greece is back

With IBEX down close to -10 percent in two days, the Euro crisis is definitely back. Only now, it is not only SPain dominating the news. The Greek drama revived over the weekend. For all those who thought the Greek mess was sorted out; sorry. The composition of the Greek situation is quite different to the Spanish reverse inquisition. Ekathimerini describes the situation in a splendid way. Look forward to a very hot August in the Med area.

Greece retakes its position at the heart of the European debt crisis this week as its creditors assess how far off course the country is from bailout targets, raising again the specter of its exit from the euro.

Greece’s troika of international creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — will arrive in Athens tomorrow amid doubts the country will meet its commitments and reluctance among euro-area states to put up more funds should it fail.

“If Greece doesn’t fulfill those conditions, then there can be no more payments,” German Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler told broadcaster ARD yesterday, adding that he is “very skeptical” Greece can be rescued and that the prospect of its exit from the monetary union “has long ago lost its terror.”

After euro finance ministers failed to staunch a fresh low for the single currency last week with the approval of a 100 billion-euro ($122 billion) aid package for Spain, the troika will be tasked with determining the fiscal position of the nation where the crisis began almost three years ago. Greece is clamoring for more help as efforts to cut its debt to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 fall short.

The euro weakened to the lowest level in more than 11 years against the yen today after Spain’s 10-year note yields surged toward a euro-era record last week.

Full article here.