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Stockholm stock market up on Greek tax vote

At the close of trading on Tuesday, the Stockholm stock exchange OMXS index had risen by 5.7 percent on the back of positive news from Greece.

Published: 28 September 2011 07:18 CEST

The index had started to move into the black already during morning trading but the increase accelerated when the Greek minister of finance Evangelos Venizelos announced that Greece would be receiving the emergency loan the country needs to avoid bankruptcy.

“”The disbursement will take place, and it will take place on time,” Venizelos said, according to news agency Reuters.

Venizelos also said Greece must endure more cutbacks, expected in October, to get the loan and to pass from a vicious to a virtuous economic cycle.

According to news agency TT it seems that the hitherto hesitant members of the governing party Pasok have fallen in line and will vote in favour of the cut backs.

The Greek parliament voted later Tuesday to back a hugely unpopular property tax, one of a several new austerity measures aimed at getting the country’s econonomy back on track.

The vote reduced the risk of a default and a Pan-European bank crisis and was well received by stock markets across Europe.

London’s FTSE index climbed 4.2 percent, the Paris CAC up 5.7 and the Frankfurt DAX ended the day up 5.3 percent.

In Stockholm, the banks were among the overall winners with an index rise of 8.4 percent.

Nordea rose by 9.9 percent, Swedbank by 8.9, SEB by 7.9 and Handelsbanken by 5.5 percent.

Energy firms also climbed strongly with Lundin Petroleum up 8.9 percent and Alliance Oil up 5.7 percent.

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Court turns down AfD-led challenge to Germany's spending in pandemic

Germany last year ratified the €750-billion ($790-billion) fund, which offers loans and grants to EU countries hit hardest by the pandemic.

The court in Karlsruhe ruled on two challenges, one submitted by a former founder of the far-right AfD party, and the other by a businessman.

They argued the fund could ultimately lead to Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, having to take on the debts of other EU member states on a permanent basis.

But the Constitutional Court judges ruled the EU measure does not violate Germany’s Basic Law, which forbids the government from sharing other countries’ debts.

READ ALSO: Germany plans return to debt-limit rules in 2023

The judgement noted the government had stressed that the plan was “intended to be a one-time instrument in reaction to an unprecedented crisis”.

It also noted that the German parliament retains “sufficient influence in the decision-making process as to how the funds provided will be used”.

The judges, who ruled six to one against the challenges, did however express some reservations.

They questioned whether paying out such a large amount over the planned period – until 2026 – could really be considered “an exceptional measure” to fight the pandemic.

At least 37 percent of the funds are aimed at achieving climate targets, the judges said, noting it was hard to see a link between combating global warming and the pandemic.

READ ALSO: Germany to fast-track disputed €200 billion energy fund

They also warned against any permanent mechanism that could lead to EU members taking on joint liability over the long term.

Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding said the ruling had “raised serious doubts whether the joint issuance to finance the fund is in line with” EU treaties.

“The German court — once again — emphasised German limits for EU fiscal integration,” he said.

The court had already thrown out a legal challenge, in April 2021, that had initially stopped Berlin from ratifying the financial package.

Along with French President Emmanuel Macron, then chancellor Angela Merkel sketched out the fund in 2020, which eventually was agreed by the EU’s 27 members in December.

The first funds were disbursed in summer 2021, with the most given to Italy and Spain, both hit hard by the pandemic.

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