International bankers, the IMF, the Eurozone and other horrors

Kipper Williams.

Martin Rowson on Greece crisis

Athens's hopes for quick bailout agreement dashed

guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 February 2012 22.13 GMT

Martin Rowson on the EU summit – cartoon

European leaders have met at the first EU summit not to be dominated by the Greek debt crisis

guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 March 2012 19.52 GMT

Hari and Jake

Kipper Williams

The World Bank has a new President:


Kipper Williams.

The government of the Netherlands has stood down because they're taking a lot of heat from their "Austerity" policy.

Meanwhile, in France, the first round of the Presidential election saw the incumbent, Sarkosy, come second to the socialist candidate (Hollande), but the far right also garnered 18% of the popular vote:


Kipper Williams.

So France has a new socialist President pledged to a programme of growth rather than austerity.

The elections in Greece have returned parties opposed to the 'austerity-for-bailout' package agreed a few weeks ago.

And local elections in the UK have cut a swathe through the ranks of Con-Dem councillors whose national leaders are pledged to a strict austerity programme.

Something is happening here....

Financial markets reeling after France and Greece elections

Election of anti-austerity François Hollande in France and hung parliament in Greece create uncertainty about eurozone debt crisis

Staff and agencies

guardian.co.uk, Monday 7 May 2012 05.39 BST


Asian stock markets have been pummelled by election results in France and Greece that heightened uncertainty about Europe's ability to solve its debt crisis.

The election of François Hollande in France and the Greek election result put Asian markets in a spin.
The results threaten the fragile political consensus that has kept Europe's currency bloc intact through more than two years of crisis and raise pressure on Germany to take a more growth-oriented approach to the crisis.

Signs of a faltering economic recovery in the US compounded the dour mood while oil slid below $97 a barrel. Japan's Nikkei 225 index plunged 2.6% to 9,134.26 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 2.4% to 20,582.24.

The Australian dollar fell to a four-month low near $1.0111 against the US dollar on Monday while the euro fell to its lowest since 25 January of $1.2955.

Election results in Greece sent tremors throughout Europe as voters punished the parties responsible for highly unpopular austerity measures instituted to prevent the country from defaulting on its massive debts. No political party won enough votes to form a government, leaving the political and financial future of the country in serious doubt.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy lost to the Socialist candidate, Franois Hollande, who has criticised the country's austerity program and wants to boost government spending.

Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong, said the election results were likely to heighten political instability and market volatility.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.8% percent to 4,316.20 and South Korea's Kospi shed 1.7% to 1,955.53.

"The issue is that in Greece the outcome raises the level of uncertainty a lot, because it's not clear who can form the government or in fact how long they will last, and what their attitude to the current agreements that the Greek government had reached would be," said Richard Yetsenga, Head of Global Markets at ANZ Research.

"The French outcome was as expected. The markets have already shifted to a view that austerity on its own wasn't the right policy mix and that other things needed to be considered."

Jeff Sica, president of SICA Wealth Management, said: "Austerity will not work to solve Europe's debt crisis. However, shifting austerity to higher earners and business will accelerate the debt crisis."

Merkel has invited Hollande to visit Berlin as soon he can for a meeting that would set the groundwork for a consensus on growth policies vital to the eurozone's future health.

"The Merkel/Hollande initiative will never materialise due to Hollande and Merkel being polar opposites with no chance to agree on anything," Sica said.

Steve Bell on François Hollande and Angela Merkel

Efforts to save the euro under threat after EU leaders' strategies collide with the wishes of voters in France

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 May 2012 00.17 BST

Steve Bell on the Eurozone summit:

Steve Bell on the IMF and Britain's weak growth:

Steve Bell on UK Prime Minister Cameron's intervention on the Greek elections:

Chris Riddell. The Guardian.

The Guardian's Martin Rowson on the Spanish banking bailout: