Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Greek govt talks collapse, new election to be held

Euro plunges in US$

chart from xe.com

Original source

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece will hold a new election in June after days of talks failed to resolve the country's political deadlock, party leaders said Tuesday.

The Athens Stock Exchange plunged on the news, diving 4.86 percent minutes after the announcement before recovering somewhat.

The May 6 election left no party with enough votes for a majority in parliament and repeated efforts over nine days to cobble together a coalition government proved fruitless.

"The country is unfortunately heading again to elections," Socialist party leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said. "It is heading back to elections in a few days under very bad circumstances, because certain people coldly put their short-term party interests above the national interest."

The protracted political uncertainty has worried Greece's international creditors, who have extended the country billions of euros in rescue loans over the past two years. The election campaign was dominated by the debate over Greek's dismal financial state and the strict austerity measures taken in return for the bailout — and anti-austerity parties on both the right and the left made huge gains in the vote.

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May 15, 2012 by

Discussions of a Greek euro exit, or a Grexit, have become more prominent in Brussels after Greek leaders failed to form a coalition government since elections were held on 6th of May. But eurozone finance ministers on Monday reaffirmed their commitments to keep Greece in the euro zone.

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