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Welcome to the Athens News live news blog, where we will be covering all the developments on the second day of the second election campaign
2.20pm Political correspondent George Gilson has filed his Press Watch.
After lenghty talks about a possible coalition government crashed and burned, Greece now heads to repeat elections.
16 May 2012
A senior judge was put in charge of an emergency government on Wednesday to lead Greece to new elections on June 17 and bankers sought to calm public fears after the president said political chaos risked causing panic and a run on deposits.
European leaders who once denied vociferously that they were fretting over Greece leaving their currency union have given up pretence.
Germany's BdB banking association has joined the chorus calling for Greece's eurozone exit.
16 May 2012
Greece may be better off tackling its debt and structural problems outside the euro zone, the head of Germany's BdB banking association said on Wednesday, the first time a major representative of Germany's financial sector has publicly suggested Greece should exit the euro.
"More than two years after the first aid package for Greece it is hard to imagine how the country will escape its unfortunate situation," Andreas Schmitz told Reuters in an (...)
Austrian newspaper claims that Merkel's office rang Vienna to complain about public threats against Greece via the media
16 May 2012
An Austrian newspaper has reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's staff has complained to Austria about Finance Minister Maria Fekter's suggestion this week that Greece could be thrown out of the EU as a result of its economic crisis, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Oesterreich paper cited no sources for its report that Merkel's office called Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann's staff on Tuesday to ask whether Fekter was voicing a new (...)
Beneath the confrontational rhetoric, aides on both sides have been highlighting the similarities between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the new French leader, Francois Hollance
15 May 2012
Five years ago, Nicolas Sarkozy flew straight to Berlin after his inauguration and shocked his hosts with some blunt talk on planemaker Airbus, one of the most sensitive of Franco-German issues.
That first visit set the tone for the months that followed. German officials looked on in horror as the new French president reneged on budget pledges, announced plans for nuclear cooperation with Libya and claimed credit for influencing decisions by the European (...)
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