23/08/2012
We started off yesterday morning with the bulk of the media cribbing off
Bild, all about plucky Samaras wanting extra time, and not wanting to leave the euro.
Then we ended the day with the bulk of the media cribbing off
Süddeutsche Zeitung, all about plucky Samaras ⦠this time giving his personal guarantee that the Huns would get their euros back. The "money-back guarantee" was
Spiegel's choice of phrase.
I did warn you yesterday that you weren't going to get anything more than theatre, and you really do wonder what yesterday was all about. Right from the beginning, it was already obvious that the nothing was going to happen until the troika report was ready in September, so neither Merkel nor Samaras were going to have anything substantive to offer.
Then, lo and behold! After all the action, the
Gruaniad closed the day with a report telling us that Greece's hopes of being granted more time "have received a setback when EU leaders refused to make a decision until next month".
Merkel and Juncker, we were gravely advised, "both warned that Greece's future depends on the verdict of its troika of lenders, who will announce in September whether Athens is meeting the terms of its existing bailout programme". This is from a
newspaper that has just shed 16 percent of its circulation in a year, and lost £76.6 million doing it. You can see why.
And now we move on to the Merkel and Hollande show - or should we call it the Merlande show? That's going to be more theatre -
Le Monde describes it as at the "centre of a diplomatic ballet" - so stand by to be entertained. You will certainly struggle to be better informed.
