Greece...

michaels

antrobus wrote: »

You can apparently tell from the print code where a Euro note has been printed. Presumably, if it came to it, people wouldbe scrutinising the code, and rejecting those with the Greek 'N' code.

I suppose the Greeks could start printing Euro notes with false print codes to get around that difficulty. But that would be forgery on an epic scale.

I suspect it would effectively be fraud as soon as they pronted more than the ECB had licenced them to....But I'm thinking if they printed a big stockpile in secret and then exchanged them all for a tangible asset (gold?) in very short order before anyone cottoned on what was happening and then abandoned the EUR and their EUR debts leaving them with a nice healthy bank balance in gold to fund day to day purchases until the economy got back on an even keel....

Generali

antrobus wrote: »

Article 106 - The ECB shall have the exclusive right to authorise the issue of banknotes within the Community.

The National Central Banks of course, issue Euro notes under ECB authorisation. I have managed to establish that the Bank of Greece does have a printing works that prints Euro notes, and whilst it does not have the 'right' to print Euro notes willy-nilly, it has the physical capability of doing so.

However I imagine that certain things might happen to Greece if it committed such a gross violation of an EU Treaty. Not getting it's annual €5bn bung from the EU would be one of them, I'd have thought.

http://www.ibiblio.org/theeuro/InformationWebsite.htm?http://www.ibiblio.org/theeuro/bnk.printcode.htm

All very true but if I was a hard working Greek person having his salary paid into the bank each month then I'd reasonably expect that the ECB wouldn't make my salary worthless out of mere spite.

If the Greeks have the paper and the printing presses then there are an awful lot of banknotes that can be printed before the ECB can get their poo together to design new notes that the BoG doesn't have the plates for.

Froggitt

Generali wrote: »

As far as I can see it boils down to a very simple couple of choices:

1. Who runs Greece: the Greeks or The Troika?
2. If the Greeks want to go back to running Greece, how much pain are the Troika prepared to inflict and are the Greeks prepared to accept that pain.

They can spend as much as they want on whatever they want once they've paid back what they've borrowed to their creditors.


Until then, you pay your bills and your interest repayments that you previously agreed to. Otherwise your loan may be foreclosed.


Not too dissimilar from a Halifax mortgage.

Froggitt

Generali wrote: »

If the Greeks have the paper and the printing presses then there are an awful lot of banknotes that can be printed before the ECB can get their poo together to design new notes that the BoG doesn't have the plates for.

You really think Greece doesn't have "New Drachma" plates ready to roll? And possibly also a stash of new notes freshly printed?

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

All very true but if I was a hard working Greek person having his salary paid into the bank each month then I'd reasonably expect that the ECB wouldn't make my salary worthless out of mere spite.....

It would not be spite, and your expectation is not at all reasonable.:)

Generali wrote: »

...If the Greeks have the paper and the printing presses then there are an awful lot of banknotes that can be printed before the ECB can get their poo together to design new notes that the BoG doesn't have the plates for.

Nah, the Germans can send in the KSK and take out the press and destroy the plates. Problem solved.:)

antrobus

michaels wrote: »

I suspect it would effectively be fraud as soon as they pronted more than the ECB had licenced them to....But I'm thinking if they printed a big stockpile in secret and then exchanged them all for a tangible asset (gold?) in very short order before anyone cottoned on what was happening and then abandoned the EUR and their EUR debts leaving them with a nice healthy bank balance in gold to fund day to day purchases until the economy got back on an even keel....

I think someone would have noticed all those HGVs heading across to Switzerland if that were the case. And I imagine the ECB would have noticed the very first time someone turned up at a European bank and tried to deposit a few million euros worth of freshly printed notes.

Besides, there are certain difficulties in using gold as a medium of exchange these days. Even if Greece did have a secret stockpile of gold hidden away somewhere, there would be certain challenges involved in delivering that gold to effect payment.

mystic_trev

Greece will stick to its "red-line" promises to its electorate and not make concessions in its negotiations with creditors, says a government spokesman.

Gabriel Sakellaridis said at a press conference in Athens that labour and pension issues are non negotiable.

"We won't go beyond the limits of our red lines. It's clear that we cannot cut pensions."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32625968

I wonder how long it'll be before the rest of Europe starts 'sticking' up two fingers to Greece?

wymondham

Do you think things really will 'come to a head' in 2 weeks or further can kicking?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32699355

princeofpounds

[qUTOE]Do you think things really will 'come to a head' in 2 weeks or further can kicking?[/QUOTE]


Pensions and wages are the main payment in a two weeks timeframe. Unlikely they would default on that before their creditors.


Suspect this 'announcement' is designed to put pressure on the ECB not to reduce funding to Greek banks tomorrow.


The cash will run out either end June or in July when the big IMF and ECB repayments are due.

Generali

wymondham wrote: »

Do you think things really will 'come to a head' in 2 weeks or further can kicking?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32699355

I think that the can is being run towards at the moment and is about to be given another punt down the road.