We will not get to see the precise wording of Prime Minister George Papandreou's referendum because enough cowards in the Greek parliament in conjunction with blackmail by Merkel and Sarkozy have put an end to Papandreou's regime.
Thus, the on-off on-off Greek referendum is once again set to "off" this time permanently.
Equity markets reacted positively to the referendum cancellation and also to the surprise rate cut by the ECB, but the euphoria will not last (except perhaps for gold).
Please see ECB Cuts Rate .25 to 1.25% in Surprise Move; Draghi Says Exit of Any Nation From Euro ‘Not in the Treaty’; Half-Truths and Blatant Lies; Case for Gold for a a discussion.
Grand Plan Becomes Eurozone's Waterloo
Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank says The Grand Plan for Europe became the Waterloo of the Eurozone
The pre-Cannes meeting between Merko-zy and Papandreou did not change the mind of the Greek Prime Minister. The vote of confidence or more precisely the lack of it, is still going ahead and will probably culminate tomorrow, Friday.
This morning the Greek Finance Minister is indicating his displeasure with the PM by publicly opposing Papandreou - this is political posturing developing into a contention for the leadership of the political party PASOK. There is a brief rally in the market based on the idea, wrongly in my opinion, that the finance minister can and will take over and win a confidence vote, but the facts remains the same:
- Greece has been pushed too far and has not complied with the austerity it promised
- We are beyond any proper solution for this mess and only the 'blame game' remains with Greece potentially leaving the EURO inside of the next three months.
Note also that the influential newspaper Bild Zeitung this morning is calling for Greece to be thrown out of the EU and to have a German referendum on the bailouts.