text stringlengths 1 330k |
|---|
If we move along and talk about why this is the case, well, two or three things become obvious. On the one hand, it is the perceived creditworthiness of these countries and also fears, not just of contagion, but also of a recession, as well. |
Take, for instance, the AAA rated countries across the European Union. There's nine of them across the region, as you can see, the ones denominated in red. But about six of them are within the Eurozone itself. |
What's really striking here is the difference that some of these countries have to pay to borrow money. For instance, while countries like Italy are suffering record borrowing costs, countries like France and Germany are actually enjoying the lowest borrowing costs that they've had in many, many years. |
If you factor in the difference between 1.8 percent and take a look at Italy's borrowing costs of 7 percent plus of late, well, that really gives you an idea of the cost of contagion across the Eurozone. |
FOSTER: In Greece, the new prime minister has won a vote of confidence in parliament, paving the way for more budget cuts. The governing coalition led by Lucas Papademos received overwhelming support. Two hundred and fifty-five lawmakers voted in favor, with 38 against. The government must now approve a new bailout pac... |
Mr. Papademos has already told parliament that staying in the Eurozone is Greece's only option. |
Greek banks are also being put to the test. Some German companies are questioning the reliability of their Greek partners, as Frederik Pleitgen now reports. |
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Operators react to an alarm in seconds at this security company in Hamburg. The firm has clients not only in Germany, but also in Greece. And what's alarming the boss right now is that some of his Greek clients, especially government institutions, are not... |
CARSTEN KLAUER, CEO, POWER SECURITY: In the past, they've paid, sometimes, two or three months too late. And today, it's half a year. |
PLEITGEN: Power security also provides guards for many firms in Hamburg's massive port, the gateway to the world for the German exporting juggernaut. |
German companies have created millions of jobs all over the globe. But business with Greece has been sluggish, to say the least. |
(on-camera): German export and industrial associations say they want to do more business with Greece and help the country back on its feet. But they say first, the Greeks must change their business culture and become more reliable partners for investors. |
(voice-over): With the Greek debt crisis and the social turmoil that came with the austerity programs initiated by the government in Athens, German firms doing business in Greece say credit lines are drying up and some feel the situation is so risky, that they will only deal with the country if they see cash up front. |
VOLKER TREIER, DIHK: We have German firms whose trading partners of the Greek state hospitals, for instance. And they are getting paid right now not by money, and they are getting paid by governmental bonds. And then the German trading partners have to resell these bonds over the markets. |
PLEITGEN: And selling Greek debt bonds is no easy task these days. But experts agree Greece needs massive foreign investment from countries like Germany to overcome the crisis. |
Lawyer Stavros Konas has been advising German firms doing business in Greece for decades. He says while the risks might be higher, the rewards could be, as well. But he acknowledges, first, Greece needs reforms. |
STAVROS KONAS, GERMAN-GREEK LAWYER'S ASSOCIATION: What Greece has to do is to have these companies, meaning very short positions, various -- to get the conditions and the cooperation must be better, stronger and faster. |
PLEITGEN: Power Security alone employs about 300 people in Greece, according to the company, and it has no intention of giving that business up. After all, the CEO says, they still have many Greek clients who do pay on the time. And with the current uncertainty and concerns about more protests, one industry that should... |
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Hamburg, Germany. |
FOSTER: Now, it is the competition to break up the Eurozone. We know you're all hard at work on your entrees to the Wolfson Prize. If you're looking for clues, perhaps listening to -- to one of the judges will help. We'll hear from the Wolfson Prize chairman after the break. |
FOSTER: Well, unemployment lines are growing longer here in the UK. And if you're under 24, the queue for jobs is more than a million strong. The UK's jobless rate now stands at .3 percent, the highest rate in 15 years, more than two-and-a-half million people are out of work. We need to check that percentage. More than... |
Britain is following in the footsteps of other European countries, including Spain. Its youth unemployment rate is now at almost 50 percent. |
Now, for the growing number of young people looking for work, competition is tough and it's not going to get any easier. One big fear is there will -- they will one day be added to the long lists of long-term unemployed before they've even got out of the starting gate, as Jim Boulden now reports. |
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A scarred generation -- that's the term being used in Britain and elsewhere when it comes to rising youth unemployment. Nineteen-year-old Tyrone Cunningham has finished school and is now trying to get his first job. |
TYRONE CUNNINGHAM, 19 YEARS OLD: The whole process has been tiring, because it's like you're applying for like 15 and you only hear back from one. The thing is that -- that the (INAUDIBLE) current I'm just waiting. And on the side I'm applying for like part-time jobs and maybe full-time to, you know, get my foot in the... |
BOULDEN: Of course, people have varying views on how to get young people into work. |
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The number isn't the issue. It's the fact the jobs are not there and a lot of people are not actually motivated to get jobs. |
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our generation doesn't really have the opportunities that the generation before had. So it's really difficult being a student and trying to think what am I going to do once I graduate? |
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think youth really need to get out and maybe do a little bit more than shout sometimes. I think there's this perception now that it's -- it's just too easy just to take the money, just to take Social Security and benefits. It's too easy for kids these days. |
BOULDEN: The International Labour Organization estimates around 40 percent of the world's unemployed in 2009 were between the ages of 15 to 24. The ILO projects nearly 13 percent of the world's youth won't have a meaningful job this year. In the U.K., that number is now close to 22 percent. In Ireland, it's closer to 3... |
Rajeeb Dey has been credited with matching young people with entrepreneurs and startup firms. |
RAJEEB DEY, FOUNDER, ENTERNSHIPS.COM: As you've seen today with the yet figures hitting over a million, it's a time where if people have had an inclination to set up a business, it would be a good time to be thinking about starting your own business and really making a job rather than taking a job. |
BOULDEN: Here in Britain, there are growing calls for skittish companies to take on more youth. But firms want the government to loosen the purse strings and to help pay to hire youth out of work more than six months. |
KATJA HALL, CONFEDERATION OF BRITISH INDUSTRY: We need to see some targeted measures to help boost growth, for example, young people. And that will cost a bit of money, but it's money well worth spending. |
BOULDEN: One bright spot is the 2012 Summer Olympics. Thousands of young people have been in training to give them the confidence and skills to apply for work around the Games. |
But with tough austerity measures imposed by the current coalition government, it means fewer government jobs in the future, to go along with fewer private sector ones. So, those looking to get their first step on the jobs ladder are finding ever more barriers to getting a decent job. |
Jim Boulden, CNN, London. |
FOSTER: Now, Spanish health care workers say austerity is costing lives. They've been holding a second day of protests against hospital closures and wage cuts. It's part of a program of cuts designed to bring down Spanish debt. Hundreds of people took to the streets in Barcelona earlier. |
Dan Rivers was there. |
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've had enough -- 16,500 doctors on a two day strike in Catalonia, furious at government funding cuts. Spain's battle to control its deficit is being played out in places like this. |
Dr. Elvira Busbe says she's taken a 20 percent pay cut and won't stand for another one. |
ELVIRA BUSBE, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: They closed the theaters. They closed, also, wards, no. So the -- the reduction of the duties, the reduction of our salaries, they are talking about to cut again in the social services, more or less, with 5 percent. So this is terrible. It's impossible. |
RIVERS (on-camera): Cutting any public service in Spain is controversial. But when it involves hospitals, it really provokes passions and anger, particularly when some people claim it means the difference between life and death. |
(voice-over): Natalia Fuertes hit the headlines this week for launching a private criminal prosecution against one hospital after her mother died because she was denied life-saving treatment for a stroke. The family was told operating theaters weren't available. |
(on camera): Do you think your mother died because of the cutbacks in services? |
NATALIA FUERTES, DAUGHTER OF STROKE VICTIM (through translator): She did not have the basic right of every citizen, to fight her condition, because she didn't have a surgery room available to her. I don't know whether she would have survived with that. She didn't have the chance to find out. |
RIVERS (voice-over): The hospital denies it's to blame, saying Natalia's mother was treated with the appropriate resources. |
But the union which has organized this strike says the austerity drive is having a direct impact on the patients' health. |
This union leader says that urgent cases are being prioritized, but patients with chronic diseases will suffer from substandard care because of government cuts. |
ALBERT TOMA, HEALTH WORKERS UNION LEADER (through translator): Cuts to health services are a key election battleground in this weekend's vote. The Socialist looks set to lose, but the center right People's Party is proposing even more austere measures on Spain's health care systems, both parties vying to show they can ... |
Dan Rivers, CNN, Barcelona. |
FOSTER: I'll be back in just a moment with the headlines for you. |
FOSTER: Welcome back. |
I'm Max Foster. |
More QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. |
First, the headlines. |
The pressure is building on Syria. Arab League ministers have been meeting in Morocco to finalize Syria's suspension. A new video from inside Syria purportedly showing a tank burning in the streets of Daraa. |
Separately, army defectors attacked a military intelligence complex with grenades and machine guns. |
Mario Monti has been sworn in as prime minister of Italy. He's also made himself finance minister, at least for now. Mr. Monti is tasked with ended the debt crisis that forced his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, out of office. He says he will present plans to lawmakers on Thursday. |
In Greece, the new prime minister has won a vote of confidence in parliament by a wide margin. Lucas Papademos took over from George Papandreou last week after much political wrangling. He told lawmakers earlier he was optimistic that the Eurozone can overcome its current difficulties. |
And the head of FIFA backtracks after telling CNN that he believes there's no racism in football. Earlier, Sepp Blatter said that players who think they've been abused should shake hands with their opponent after the final whistle and move on. But a short while ago, Blatter released a statement saying his comments were... |
Italy has brought in a new government, but will the techno trap -- technocrats be able to do what the politicians couldn't? |
The streamlined 16 member government faces a Herculean task, to pull Italy back from the brink of economic turmoil. |
Let's take a look at the major players here. Well, the new prime minister, Mario Monti, has given himself the economy portfolio, he'll need all the expertise he's gleaned from his time as a European Commissioner and as a respected economics professor. |
The infrastructure and industry portfolio has been handed to Corrado- Passera. He is the boss of Italy's biggest retail bank, Intesa Sanpaolo. And the new foreign minister is Italy's ambassador to the United States, Giulio Maria Terzi di Sant'Agata. Mario Monti described the formation of a new government as an extraord... |
MARIO MONTI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: (through translator) we have also obtained a great deal of signals of encouragement from our European partners and also from all over the world, everything, I trust, will translate, although we are going to have a difficult phase in terms of the markets. But -- but that side of the ... |
FOSTER: Well, joining me now for more on this is Giuseppe Ragusa. |
He's an economics professor from Rome's LUISS Guideo Carli University. |
Thank you so much for joining us, Professor. |
First of all, I mean what we've got here is an unelected bureaucratic cabinet. There's no politicians in it whatsoever. |
But is that a surprise? |
GIUSEPPE RAGUSA, ECONOMICS PROFESSOR: No, it's not a surprise. It was -- it was already clear a few days ago that no politician was going to be serving on Mario Monti's cabinet. And the reason is that the parties felt that the politicians' inclusion was going to be, in some way, a negative thing to the ability of this ... |
But you have to remember that this is a great government. This is as close as you can get to a dream team government. All the personalities involved in this government are accomplished academics, are accomplished businessmen or are public servants of extreme talent and extreme experience. |
FOSTER: And will it be the solution to immediate problems facing Mario Monti, number one, reassuring the markets? |
And, number two, getting political support? |
RAGUSA: Well, getting political support is going to be key. Of course, he -- I think he's warning today -- he's warning today already to send a signal to the market. |
But until this thing now can be heard clearly by the international community and by the markets, he has to be able to gather support around his cabinet. And he's going to be able to -- so he's going to be able to implement some of the reforms that we all believe Italy needs. |
FOSTER: But he's only going to have political support, isn't he, whilst it lasts? |
Even Berlusconi is suggesting that he could pull the plug on this if he doesn't like what he sees. |
RAGUSA: I think -- I think it's going to be key for this government to act quickly. And this -- this is a moment where Mario Monti is in a honeymoon stage. Everybody is loving him in Italy. He has great support, great trust in him has been -- has been put. |
So he has to act quick -- quickly. In 25, 30 days, he has to have a clear plan of reforms and he has to act in a very comprehensive way. He cannot only trying to address one of the many shortcomings of the Italian economic system. He has to act in a very comprehensive way, trying to bring -- present reform that is very... |
FOSTER: How long is he going to have this public support? |
We've suggested it already. It's an unelected cabinet. Italians, at some point, may have an issue with that in terms of democracy. But also, he's going to perform brilliantly in order to get the economic reforms through and maybe the public will question, at some point, this is a -- this is a -- a government that's bee... |
RAGUSA: Well, this is a -- this is a risk and why he has to act quickly. Probably all this trust, all this confidence that Mario Monti right now is commanding is going to erode pretty quickly. That's why he has to act very quickly. |
I don't think it has to do with the fact that this is a technical government. I think it has to do with the fact that Italy needs profound reforms. And any of this reform is going to entail some loss of -- a loss for many people. |
So that's why the confidence eventually is going to be eroded, not because it's not -- it's not elected -- he's not an elected official. |
FOSTER: Professor Ragusa, thank you for joining -- very much, indeed, for joining us from Italy. |
Well, it is the $4,000 question, how to break up the Eurozone. The British businessman, Lord Wolfson, is offering that bounty for whoever comes up with a feasible escape route from the single currency and the deadline for entries is coming up at the end of January. |
Derek Scott is the chairman, newly announced, of the Wolfson Prize and one of the judges who will sit on the panel. |
I asked him about what kind of entrees he was expecting. |
DEREK SCOTT, CHAIRMAN, WOLFSON ECONOMICS PRIZE: Well, I think the important thing is that because even those in favor of the euro are now recognizing that the present configuration may not last, it's a very, you know, appetent (ph) -- appetent time to -- to have the competition. |
FOSTER: And have you any idea what to expect, what sort of plans are likely to come in? |
Or is your mind completely a blank? |
SCOTT: No, I mean, we've said that we'll expect certain things to be covered, you know, what is the most appropriate reconfiguration of currencies, clearly issues of the denomination of debt, both private and -- and sovereign debt, all problems of contracts. |
So there's a myriad of things, both political and economic, that need to be did -- dealt with. But we haven't provided a -- an exhaustive list. That's really in the hands of whoever sends their applications in. |
FOSTER: You say the deadline, but actually, it may be too late, mightn't it? |
You know, you never know... |
SCOTT: Right. |
FOSTER: -- what might happen to you now in March... |
SCOTT: Well, no, it's possible... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.