Euro falls on rumours Greece is to quit the eurozone

[Gerald]

The euro has fallen by more than 1% against the dollar, following a report that Greece had raised the possibility of leaving the single currency.

German magazine Der Spiegel said eurozone finance ministers were holding a crisis meeting in Luxembourg.

The report has been denied vigorously by eurozone countries, including Greece and Germany.

However, the BBC has learned that ministers from four eurozone countries are indeed meeting in Luxembourg.

The countries - France, Germany, Finland and Netherlands - are said to be discussing EU issues, including the financial situation of Portugal, Ireland and Greece.

"The report about Greece leaving the eurozone is untrue," the Greek deputy finance minister Filippos Sachinidis told Reuters.

"Such reports undermine Greece and the euro and serve market speculation games."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13317770

Note: 6 May 2011 Last updated at 18:45 GMT

[Gerald]

I'm glad we have a strong SEK, to lean to, :yep:

[the_tyrant]

hey vendor, so are you going to go to Denmark to spend your money?

Its what us Canadians often do, we go to the states to go shopping

[Gerald]

hey vendor, so are you going to go to Denmark to spend your money?

Its what us Canadians often do, we go to the states to go shopping Denmark is okay to pass and check or make a voyage to, now, it was a while ago I sailed to the country, but it has happened, but our friends in the British Isles they will soon be joined, :yep:

[Bakkels]

I'm glad we have a strong SEK, to lean to, :yep:

I'm glad for you too, but I'm also glad alcohol here isn't as expensive as in your country :03:

[Gerald]

I'm glad for you too, but I'm also glad alcohol here isn't as expensive as in your country :03: Right, that's a big difference between these products, :03:

[Bakkels]

Right, that's a big difference between these products, :03:

Actually I heard a radio item a few weeks ago here about a ferry that goes from Sweden to Finland and is loaded with Swedish people that only take the trip to buy beer and alcohol in huge amounts (and I mean huge, like they take those trolly things with them used to load out the supply trucks at supermarkets). Especially on the way back that caused for some ... 'interesting' interviews :haha: I'd be doing exactly the same though :up:

[Gerald]

Actually I heard a radio item a few weeks ago here about a ferry that goes from Sweden to Finland and is loaded with Swedish people that only take the trip to buy beer and alcohol in huge amounts (and I mean huge, like they take those trolly things with them used to load out the supply trucks at supermarkets). Especially on the way back that caused for some ... 'interesting' interviews :haha: I'd be doing exactly the same though :up: True, in the past, not now, so where the BIG difference in price which is not today, but it is as you say there were large numbers who came in, and many had rubber legs as they walked or crawled off the ferry,:O: with the enlargement of the EU, so we prefer to travel to the Baltic states to fill up the repositories,instead, the Finnish ferry time is a bit strained now...:haha:

[Happy Times]

The euro has fallen by more than 1% against the dollar, following a report that Greece had raised the possibility of leaving the single currency.

German magazine Der Spiegel said eurozone finance ministers were holding a crisis meeting in Luxembourg.

The report has been denied vigorously by eurozone countries, including Greece and Germany.

However, the BBC has learned that ministers from four eurozone countries are indeed meeting in Luxembourg.

The countries - France, Germany, Finland and Netherlands - are said to be discussing EU issues, including the financial situation of Portugal, Ireland and Greece.

"The report about Greece leaving the eurozone is untrue," the Greek deputy finance minister Filippos Sachinidis told Reuters.

"Such reports undermine Greece and the euro and serve market speculation games."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13317770

Note: 6 May 2011 Last updated at 18:45 GMT

The Greeks are also at Luxenbourg and the lights are on trough the night at the Prime Ministers Office in Helsinki.:know:

This week has been the beginning of the end of the eurozone and maybe even EU.

[Gerald]

The Greeks are also at Luxenbourg and the lights are on trough the night at the Prime Ministers Office in Helsinki.:know:

This week has been the beginning of the end of the eurozone and maybe even EU. Almost the entire region within the EU've derailed, so it's just a matter of time before the house of cards collapses, at least it feels like,:doh: and hope they have lights in a long time, things like this get to suck on them..

[Bakkels]

Almost the entire region within the EU've derailed, so it's just a matter of time before the house of cards collapses, at least it feels like,:doh: and hope they have lights in a long time, things like this get to suck on them..

Well the EU hasn't derailed quite yet. Germany is economically on the way up again, and consequently so is Holland. The EU won't collapse, for the same reasons hardly any bank has collapsed since the crisis. Not even in America, where the free market is viewed as an even greater good than over here.
I'm not saying that's a good thing though, just an observation. If there's too much depending on an institution - be it a bank, or the monetary EU in this case - it will never collapse.
This is a time where we should rethink and redesign capitalism, but I see too little changes....
Anyway, I'm back to my movie :cool:

[Happy Times]

Almost the entire region within the EU've derailed, so it's just a matter of time before the house of cards collapses, at least it feels like,:doh: and hope they have lights in a long time, things like this get to suck on them..

Greece wants to get new terms for its debt or 200bn more finance from EU, they are probably threatening to quit otherwise.

It is all the same as the end result is the same, Greece will default and restructure its debts.

The same goes for Ireland and Portugal.

After that Spain, Belgium, Italy and France..:woot:

The reason that Netherlands and Finland are also present is that they are part of the triple A credit rated countries.

Probably EU comission asking us to pump more loans on this bubble.:nope:

[Bakkels]

You're probably right, but don't you think the Finnish or Dutch would pour money into it without getting anything back?

[Skybird]

This week has been the beginning of the end of the eurozone and maybe even EU.
I doubt both, but I would love to be proven wrong on both. Better an end with terror than this terror without end.

Maybe the transfer union will collapse indeed, but not in the forseeable future, political stupidity still is too determined to keep the illujsion alive, no matter the cost. Maybe after Germany has been successfully brought down by transfering billions and billions and billions while accumulating it's own debt burden and deficits. What many people overlook is that in Germany the decisive treshhold criterions for state debts beyond which most economists and historians agree a state can never recover but instead falls into an accellerating spiral - has already been exceeded longer time ago.

Germany has a debt burden of over 2 trillion now (http://www.staatsverschuldung.de/schuldenuhr.htm ) Roughly 30% of that was accumulated in the past 24 months. Early 2008, Germany was on the way towards an at least balanced budget, no new debts. Currently, the budget has a deficit of 3.8%, with a dramatic dependence of German economy on good exports and energy imports (at least the first being a showstopper in the long run).

Since social cuts are not popular with politicians and the left is in a up-pohase over here, I fear that the future will hold higher and higher taxes, and growing spendings alike, which more and more translates into exporioriation over here. Adding open taxes (Einkommenssteuer, sozialabgaben etc) and hidden consumer taxes (Mehrwertsteuer etc) taxes altogether, most of the ordinary middle class employees have to pay already two thirds of their income to the state, not just those roughly 48% that usually are quoted by excluding the hidden taxes.

Damn, I realise how many of those English economic vocabulary terms I am missing.

Some numbers on public and external debts and GDPs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt

[UnderseaLcpl]

I doubt both, but I would love to be proven wrong.

You won't be. Currency does not bow to the whims of politicians or nations. Money recognizes no master other than free trade. The EU is just one in a long line of failed experiments in messing about with free trade. The E.U. will fall, however noble its intention. Their attempts to socialize it and the obvious resultant failures have doomed them, and this is just the start.

[Bakkels]

You won't be. Currency does not bow to the whims of politicians or nations.

Yes it does, maybe not to politician or nations directly, but certainly to banks and other financial institutions. If you believe currency to be a entity on it's own, that can't be influenced by anyone, you believe in a fairytale. Currency is an abstract thing. What it's worth is only the worth we give to it.

The EU is just one in a long line of failed experiments in messing about with free trade. The E.U. will fall, however noble its intention. Their attempts to socialize it and the obvious resultant failures have doomed them, and this is just the start.

I don't think you have any idea what the EU actually is about. You can be pro EU or against it, but the fact is the EU was specifically designed to encourage free trade.
And that is what it does, whether one likes it or not

[Happy Times]

You're probably right, but don't you think the Finnish or Dutch would pour money into it without getting anything back?

What we are getting is our economy ruined, debt to pass for three generations and an attempt to shove a federal state upon us without any democratic process.:yeah:

Finland and Netherlands would have done just as well outside EU and Euro.

[Happy Times]

Seems im not the only one calling it a Ponzi scheme.:up:

Europe is running a giant Ponzi scheme

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee728cb6-773e-11e0-aed6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1LdP1ujJY

[Snestorm]

The Greeks are also at Luxenbourg and the lights are on trough the night at the Prime Ministers Office in Helsinki.:know:

This week has been the beginning of the end of the eurozone and maybe even EU.

Sounds good to me.

[Skybird]

Yes it does, maybe not to politician or nations directly, but certainly to banks and other financial institutions. If you believe currency to be a entity on it's own, that can't be influenced by anyone, you believe in a fairytale. Currency is an abstract thing. What it's worth is only the worth we give to it.

The Euro was pöolitically created. The dollar value gets inflenced by plltiicians - by printing tons and tons of it. If you ands James think currencies cannot politically ,manipulated or at last influenced, then youz are wrong. Another example how politicians impact on currencies, is wars. The more subtle manipulates of central banks also should not be forgotten.

James said it is only the market, I assume he meant "free market", whcih I claim does not exist anyway. Even a currency of a truly free market gets manipulated outside market mechanism by the eabove factors, or by speculations that hold no ground. It just has happened in Europe: the ECB refused to react to high prices for oil and precious metals, which were hyped in the past months by speculations becasue they hoped for high profits from overpricing when the ECB was expected to protect it. After the ECB denied that phrase that was expected, the porices went nose down and the dollar value went nose up, the Euro lost 2 cents within minutes after the prerss conference, and still is there. Which is better than the status before.

Speculation is the bone cancer of financial systems like ours.



I don't think you have any idea what the EU actually is about. You can be pro EU or against it, but the fact is the EU was specifically designed to encourage free trade.
And that is what it does, whether one likes it or not
I know what the EU was about. I myself have reminded of that often enough. Note, you think it still is like that, I however realise that after the fall of the wall the EU's ambitions have grown and become much more than just a union of cooperating economies. And that is where the trouble is, these new orientations of it. The fight between federalists who wanted a somewhat socialistically oriented "Federal States of Europe", and those who prefer the old defintion of deGaulle as a Europe of economically cooperating independent fatherlands that live peacefully together, started much earlier than just 1989, however.

The ideological basis and orientation of this Federal states project, as well as the obvious lack of citizen'S legitimation getting requested for it, is what defines the EU as an ursupator of powers and an ideological tyranny, and more and more often a tyranny by laws and rules that have nothing, really nothing to do with economics indeed. The EU naturally claims the right to dicatte the elected soveriegn parliaments of nations what they have to do and what not. More than 80% of the laws passed by the German parliament, are laws demanded by the EU, which just get waved through. The parliament villates the constitution of our country that rules that it shall do not right this: just waving things through, but to check and analyse them - and rejecting them wshen they are not for the good of Germany or are anti-constitutional. But it seems the EU is given immunity from this check.

The obvious big deficits in transparency, the lack of democratically given legitimation and the enormous private lobbyism interfering with and manipulating decision making in Brussel, has often been described and must not be explained once again, I think.

To hell with the EU. How precious it is you can see that indeed only its economic actions are being taken into account by others outside of it. But its ideological claims and ideas - the simple truth is all others are laughing about it, and nobody takes it serious, and some make best material profit by abusing it.

Let there be economic coordination and cooperation, that is the best factor to maxcimise the chances for peace and stability. Beyond that, one should kick the EU's butt and give it a bloody nose whenever it sticks its nose into things that must not be its interest at all and for which to do it has zero legitimation by the people of Europe.

But their are careers in the circus, and payments and psoitons to be defended, and earnings, and operetta titles and operetta glamour events - politicians will defend the EU with fangs and claws, because they are personally benefitting from it in so many ways, it gives them money and prestige and privileges.

That is not the EU I tolerate. Nor is that the EU that was wanted when it was founded.

[Skybird]

Seems im not the only one calling it a Ponzi scheme.:up:

Europe is running a giant Ponzi scheme

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee728cb6-773e-11e0-aed6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1LdP1ujJY

Good and true one! And written by somebody who should know it: the governor of the Argentine's central bank. He is 100% on target.

He calls it ponzi scheme, but I have a better title for it: Hütchenspiel (thimblerig).

[Gerald]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13317770

Note: Update record,7 May 2011 Last updated at 09:17 GMT

[joea]

Interesting. :hmmm: Maybe a good thing after all, true will be a pain to go back to changing different currencies but honestly I rarely travel to more than one EU country at a time.

[Armistead]

The EU will evolve and change as will the nations that are apart of it..

I can imagine John writing Revelations, stating the world will one day have no currency, that 10 nations will combine out of the old Roman empire to be controlled by a world leader. I can only think he mumbled to himself.

"Damn politicians."


Course if you believe that stuff. I find it amazing most cultures have a end times story. My guess is once a few smart men had a taste of politicians they knew the end would eventually come one day.


Me, I don't know what to believe, except to stockpile can goods and ammo.

[Jimbuna]

So if they drop the currency will they pay back all of said currency they recently received? :hmmm:

[Gerald]

So if they drop the currency will they pay back all of said currency they recently received? :hmmm: Not likely, the money must be generated somewhere ;)

[Jimbuna]

Not likely, the money must be generated somewhere ;)

What do you mean?

[Gerald]

What do you mean? Because the country has of course a difficult situation as it is with earlier laws on pension rights, etc., and now they've borrowed some and has a pressure from the IMF, to meet the inflation target, and to be able to withdraw money via taxes. .. so eventually you may be entitled to it may be a change, but I doubt it, you know how it is made with Portugal, and other countries in similar situations

[Jimbuna]

Bugga them....we are broke here in the UK....they should try working until they reach the age of 66 :shifty:

Where's STEED when you want him? :hmmm:

[Gerald]

Bugga them....we are broke here in the UK....they should try working until they reach the age of 66 :shifty:

Where's STEED when you want him? :hmmm: Yes,before it was up to 55 or earlier, :doh: ya now.

[Skybird]

Bugga them....we are broke here in the UK....they should try working until they reach the age of 66 :shifty:

In Germany they aim at 67 now, climbing. Some economists demand 72.

[Gerald]

In Germany they aim at 67 now, climbing. Some economists demand 72. 72 are a bit exaggerated, I think :hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

In Germany they aim at 67 now, climbing. Some economists demand 72.

'Apologies for the background noise'....my kids are looking at 70 regarding the age of retirement :damn:

[Gerald]

'Apologies for the background noise'....my kids are looking at 70 regarding the age of retirement :damn: I think you should work as long as you can, so you can drop a little more money and precious things for those who need it, a bit of an angel with a good heart who spread joy, Greece is your first visit to "easily" on the wallet, :woot:

[Jimbuna]

I think you should work as long as you can, so you can drop a little more money and precious things for those who need it, a bit of an angel with a good heart who spread joy, Greece is your first visit to "easily" on the wallet, :woot:

If I responded to that you would be offended...BOLLOCKS!!

[Gerald]

If I responded to that you would be offended...BOLLOCKS!! Thank you for your participation, :stare:

[Jimbuna]

Thank you for your participation, :stare:

Your most welcome :smug:

[Gerald]

Your most welcome :smug: Great news, btw are you in London area next week, :hmm2:

[Gerald]

Ireland is to get an interest rate cut on the emergency loans it has acquired from EU bodies, the BBC has learned.

Currently, Ireland pays an average rate of 5.8% on loans agreed with the IMF, fellow Eurozone countries and a special fund set up by the European Commission.

It is unclear how much of a cut this will entail, but a 1% cut could be worth up to 400m euro ($572m; £349m).

Sources say a special written procedure will be adopted ahead of the meeting of EU finance ministers on 17 May.

This speeds up the implementation of a rate cut as it would bypass the need for a full vote by all 27 EU commissioners on the matter.

Concessions?

Although Britain is not a member of the Eurozone, it would be involved in any agreement to change Ireland's bail-out loans.

That is because the UK pays into the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism as part of the EU Commission's budget affecting all 27 member states.

Britain is also making a bilateral loan to the Irish government of £3.2billion (€3.8bn).

Last November, Ireland applied for a package of loans from the IMF and EU worth €85bn - €17.5bn of which comes from Ireland's own National Pension Reserve.

It is unclear what type of concessions Ireland will have to make under the terms of any rate reduction.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13321551

Note: Update Record, 7 May 2011 Last updated at 12:22 GMT

[Happy Times]

Nigel Farage: Trapped Inside An Economic Prison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkEY7_gDCTc

Man that Britain should be proud of.

[Gerald]

Nigel Farage: Trapped Inside An Economic Prison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkEY7_gDCTc

Man that Britain should be proud of. :yep:

[joea]

Bugga them....we are broke here in the UK....they should try working until they reach the age of 66 :shifty:

Where's STEED when you want him? :hmmm:
Umm Jim you know that depends on the sector, public sector retire generally retire earlier as well in certain professions. Others though retire much later and I know personally of cases of people who work their *** off and resent paying for a corrupt government and for their compatriots who retire early.

[Gerald]

Euro zone heavyweight rejects demands from the market that Greece's debt of almost 340 billion to be reconstructed. While there is speculation that Greece are forced to leave the euro.

[Jimbuna]

Umm Jim you know that depends on the sector, public sector retire generally retire earlier as well in certain professions. Others though retire much later and I know personally of cases of people who work their *** off and resent paying for a corrupt government and for their compatriots who retire early.

I was referring to the State Pension...everyone pays a percentage of their earnings (National Insurance) towards that, so I consider it a level playing field.

Those that don't, can't or never have worked receive Pension Credits which entitle them to the same benefits at the same age so I guess some would argue that is unfair.

On a personal note, I retired at 50 but paid a butt load of additional contributions to enable the outcome to become a reality and will not receive my State Pension (like everyone else of my age) until I'm 66.

[Jimbuna]

Great news, btw are you in London area next week, :hmm2:

Afraid not, but I'll be in Chester in a fortnight.

[Gerald]

Afraid not, but I'll be in Chester in a fortnight. Close to Liverpool (M6)?

[Jimbuna]

About 24 miles IIRC.

[Gerald]

About 24 miles IIRC. And it would mean, in practice two hours of driving?

[Jimbuna]

I honestly couldn't say, I'm not sure what the road networks are like in the area.

Besides...not many people have cars in Liverpool, they've a tendancy to get stolen :har:

[Gerald]

I honestly couldn't say, I'm not sure what the road networks are like in the area.

Besides...not many people have cars in Liverpool, they've a tendancy to get stolen :har: You're an official service representative who represents the law and government, so .... that kind of basic knowledge is of course to be expected when foreign visitors come to the country, :D but an exception from my side can be allowed in your knowledge of road network,there is the advantage of renting a car, you lift the phone and get a new, :haha:

[Happy Times]

Why I Won't Support More Bailouts
By TIMO SOINI

When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the so-called bailouts of euro-zone member states. These bailouts are patently bad for Europe, bad for Finland and bad for the countries that have been forced to accept them. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. And unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body.

The official wisdom is that Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been hit by a liquidity crisis, so they needed a momentary infusion of capital, after which everything would return to normal. But this official version is a lie, one that takes the ordinary people of Europe for idiots. They deserve better from politics and their leaders.

To understand the real nature and purpose of the bailouts, we first have to understand who really benefits from them. Let's follow the money.

At the risk of being accused of populism, we'll begin with the obvious: It is not the little guy that benefits. He is being milked and lied to in order to keep the insolvent system running. He is paid less and taxed more to provide the money needed to keep this Ponzi scheme going. Meanwhile, a kind of deadly symbiosis has developed between politicians and banks: Our political leaders borrow ever more money to pay off the banks, which return the favor by lending ever-more money back to our governments, keeping the scheme afloat.

In a true market economy, bad choices get penalized. Not here. When the inevitable failure of overindebted euro-zone countries came to light, a secret pact was made.

Instead of accepting losses on unsound investments—which would have led to the probable collapse and national bailout of some banks—it was decided to transfer the losses to taxpayers via loans, guarantees and opaque constructs such as the European Financial Stability Fund, Ireland's NAMA and a lineup of special-purpose vehicles that make Enron look simple. Some politicians understood this; others just panicked and did as they were told.

The money did not go to help indebted economies. It flowed through the European Central Bank and recipient states to the coffers of big banks and investment funds.

Further contrary to the official wisdom, the recipient states did not want such "help," not this way. The natural option for them was to admit insolvency and let failed private lenders, wherever they were based, eat their losses.

That was not to be. As former Finance Minister Brian Lenihan recently revealed, Ireland was forced to take the money. The same happened to Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates, although he may be less forthcoming than Mr. Lenihan about admitting it.


Why did the Brussels-Frankfurt extortion racket force these countries to accept the money along with "recovery" plans that would inevitably fail? Because they needed to please the tax-guzzling banks, which might otherwise refuse to turn up at the next Spanish, Belgian, Italian, or even French bond-auction.

Unfortunately for this financial and political cartel, their plan isn't working. Already under this scheme, Greece, Ireland and Portugal are ruined. They will never be able to save and grow fast enough to pay back the debts with which Brussels has saddled them in the name of saving them.

And so, unpurged, the gangrene spreads. The Spanish property sector is much bigger and more uncharted than that of Ireland. It is not just the cajas that are in trouble. There are major Spanish banks where what lies beneath the surface of the balance sheet may be a zombie, just as happened in Ireland for a while. The clock is ticking, and the problem is not going away.

Setting up the European Stability Mechanism is no solution. It would institutionalize the system of wealth transfers from private citizens to compromised politicians and otherwise failed bankers, creating a huge moral hazard and destroying what remains of Europe's competitive banking landscape.

Some defend the ESM, saying its use would always require unanimity. But the current mess with Portugal shows that the elite in Brussels will seek to enforce unanimity through pressure when it cannot be obtained by persuasion. Abolishing unanimity is only a matter of time. After that we have a full-fledged fiscal transfer union that is obviously in hock to Brussels' anti-growth corporatism.

Fortunately, it is not too late to stop the rot. For the banks, we need honest, serious stress tests. Stop the current politically inspired farce. Instead, have parallel assessments done by regulators and independent groups including stakeholders and academics. Trust, but verify.

Insolvent banks and financial institutions must be shut down, purging insolvency from the system. We must restore the market principle of freedom to fail.

If some banks are recapitalized with taxpayer money, taxpayers should get ownership stakes in return, and the entire board should be kicked out. But before any such taxpayer participation can be contemplated, it is essential to first apply big haircuts to bondholders.

For sovereign debt, the freedom to fail is again key. Significant restructuring is needed for genuine recovery. Yes, markets will punish defaulting states, but they are also quick to forgive. Current plans are destroying the real economies of Europe through elevated taxes and transfers of wealth from ordinary families to the coffers of insolvent states and banks. A restructuring that left a country's debt burden at a manageable level and encouraged a return to growth-oriented policies could lead to a swift return to international debt markets.

This is not just about economics. People feel betrayed. In Ireland, the incoming parties to the new government promised to hold senior bondholders responsible, but under pressure, they succumbed, leaving their voters with a sense of democratic disenfranchisement. The elites in Brussels have said that Finland must honor its commitments to its European partners, but Brussels is silent on whether national politicians should honor their commitments to their own voters. In a democracy, where we govern under the consent of the people, power is on loan. We do what we promise, even if it costs a dinner in Brussels, a "negative" media profile, or a seat in the cabinet.

When in Europe's long night of 1939-45, war came to Finland with the winter blizzards, my mother was one of eight siblings being raised on a small farm in central Finland where my grandparents eked out a frugal living. My two young uncles rushed to the front and were both wounded in action during Finland's chapter of Europe's most terrible bloodshed. I was raised to know that genocidal war must never again be visited on our continent and I came to understand the values and principles that originally motivated the establishment of what became the European Union.

This Europe, this vision, was one that offered the people of Finland and all of Europe the gift of peace founded on democracy, freedom, justice and subsidiarity. This is a Europe worth having, so it is with great distress that I see this project being put in jeopardy by a political elite who would sacrifice the interests of Europe's ordinary people in order to protect certain corporate interests.

Europe may still recover from this potentially terminal disease and decline. Insolvency must be purged from the system and it must be done openly and honestly. That path is not easy, but it is always the right path—for Finland, and for Europe.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576310851503980120.html

Mr. Soini is the chairman of the True Finns Party in Finland