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Opening Bell: Tsipras on extremist conservatism, Ryanair's Danish dispute, Cowen's budgets

Officials in Athens and Berlin both aired their frustrations yesterday regarding the current stan...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.44 2 Jul 2015


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Opening Bell: Tsipras on extre...

Opening Bell: Tsipras on extremist conservatism, Ryanair's Danish dispute, Cowen's budgets

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.44 2 Jul 2015


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Officials in Athens and Berlin both aired their frustrations yesterday regarding the current standoff over Greek debt.

A conference call held by the eurozone finance ministers was cut short as Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that there was no point holding talks until after Sunday's referendum in Greece.

It seemed that there were grounds for a breakthrough in Greece and that the leftist government was prepared to offer concessions to European institutions to broker a deal, but this hope soon vanished.

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Addressing the Greek public in a televised address, Alexis Tsipras attacked European leaders and accused "extremist conservative forces" of trying to "blackmail" Greek voters.

There were also strong words from Berlin, Wolfgang Schäuble accused Greek politicians of looking for scapegoats, saying, "Seeking the blame outside Greece might be helpful in Greece, but it has nothing to do with reality."

While Angela Merkel said that negotiations are pointless until after the weekend's vote.

Polls from Greece offer conflicting readings, with the most recent showing that the pro-deal yes side now leads by 4 percent.

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Denmark's labour court has ruled that trade unions can take industrial action against Ryanair over the company's failure to enter a Danish collective bargaining agreement.

The Irish airline has claimed that it's operations in the country should adhere to Irish, not danish labour laws - the company has pledged to appeal this decision.

In March the airline's first flight from Copenhagen was grounded for three hours amid a dispute with unions over wages and working conditions.

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Brian Cowen is to make his first appearance at the Banking Inquiry today, the evidence today is expected to focus on his period as Minister for Finance.

During yesterday's evidence to the inquiry Charlie McCreevy insisted the policies he had as Finance Minister between 1997 and 2004 did not contribute to the bubble or the subsequent bust.

"You'd only apologise for things you got very much wrong. I don't believe that I did," he told the Inquiry.

"I think I did a very good job," he added later in the hearing.

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Willie Walsh, the head of IAG, the company currently offering to acquire Aer Lingus, was quick out of the traps yesterday to welcome the decision of the Davies Commission in the UK to favour a new third runway at Heathrow, but says the airline will not help pay for it and that passengers shouldn’t be burdened with the cost and that IAG will not help pay for it either.

The proposed runway, which the Commission favoured ahead of a second runway at Gatwick or a new airport in the Thames Estuary, is forecast to cost up to £18bn and is unlikely to be available before 2025 at the earliest

The British Government will decide in September whether to give the controversial project the go-ahead, but Prime Minister, David Cameron has to wrestle with the commitment he gave five years ago that a third runway at Heathrow would not happen under his watch.

The development is not only of interest to Irish passengers travelling to and through the London area, but also from a planning perspective and environmental perspective as daa is currently planning to lodge a planning application for a new second runway at Dublin Airport before end of the year.

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The Waterford-based beef processing company, Dawn Meats, has got the green light from the EU competition authorities to proceed with its acquisition of an initial 49 percnet share in its French meat processing counterpart, Elivia.

Dawn, which operates 17 meat processing plants across Ireland and the UK and employs more than 3,000 staff in eight countries will effectively become a joint venture partner of Elivia which operates 23 meat processing plants, principally in western France and has 2,600 employees. 

The initial investment is reported to be costing Dawn about €40m, it has the option to increase its share to 70 percent over the next four years.

The acquisition will double Dawn’s annual turnover to €2bn within the same period but is not without its challenges: beef consumption is currently falling in France; Elivia has been loss-making in recent years and Elivia is understood to require up to €100m in capital investment

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Bank of England has warned that the rapid growth of Britain's buy-to-let market represents a threat to the country's economy.

Landlords hoping to let properties are taking out mortgages at a rate which is significantly faster than all other sectors, and the Central Bank is concerned that a bubble is forming.

Bank officials say that they will monitor the situation, but that it is currently not necessary for the bank to intervene to take the heat out of the market.

 


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