guy: a new goal for greece. the country needs to get a plan together for a made deal with its creditors. we will look at reaction in greece and germany. francine: china fights back. the country gives banks more lending power by cutting the amount cash lenders must set aside. guy: european foreign ministers race to address the issue after a boat tragedy in the mediterranean. welcome to "the pulse." we are live from bloomberg's european headquarters. francine: the greek government has a new goal insight as it remains at with creditors. it needs to come up with a reform plan its creditors can agree on. guy: for more, we are joined from greece by our international correspondent, hans nichols in berlin. a reporter who normally is in greece, but i've got this completely wrong he is in london with us today, which is great. hans, walk us through the roadmap to may. hans: in many ways there's a lot of talk about deadlines. the european commission is saying that mid-may after that may 11 meeting, is the real deadline. mr.

greece insists on being part of it everywhere. greece believes that a new government that the greek people have elected is offering our partners, despite a significant political differences, a chance for pluralism and democracy to prevail within a monetary union that knows how to acknowledge errors and do what the united states has done with such great success in the 19th and 20th centuries. and what is that? create consolidation out of the crisis. in europe we like to think that we have achieved that, that we've learned the lesson, that we have consolidated, that we have created new institutions which are allowing our monetary union to evolve and develop the mechanisms that we lacked by which to counter a major earthquake shock like that of 2008. i do not believe we have done that. i believe in many ways we have proclaimed in name that which we have denied in practice. for instance, a proper banking union. this government with our quirky left wing backgrounds, i admit will come generation with our global and european partners tha

we need jobs and growth in greece. on the other hand, we need to think about further arrangements which could come afterwards. this is why it must be a coherent and strong exchange of views leading to a maturation in the process. hans: mr. dijsselbloem said that it was incumbent upon greece and that greece is going to be feeling the pressure to cut a deal faster than european partners. mr. schaeuble seemed to express some confusion on why we are here. he said there wasn't going to be a deal and we should just enjoy the city behind me. maybe i will do a little sightseeing. guy: that probably is justified. talk me through whether these guys are talking. what communication is, how it is working, what efforts are in place to improve communication? hans: there is this back channel hotline between greece and its creditors. it includes jean-claude juncker's chief economist, mr. paolo thompson from the imf, mr. benoit coeure from the ecb. you have that on the creditor side. on the greek side, you have the state finance ministe

mark:er let's look a greece. -- at greece. here with the more is bloomberg intelligence david powell. how important is this may 12 for the imf from greece? david: it is the largest for the month of may a colleague up over the next few weeks. the market would not take lightly if greece was not able to pay. it would not be the end of the world. it not the same as defaulting there is a whole series of measures that the imf goes through before labeling the country in arrears. it is really three months before the imf issues of public statement that greece arrears. caroline bank crew -- caroline: christine lagarde was not sounding too happy. tell us what a deal could be done with the creditors and when? david powell: there is a four-month extension agreed by the end of february that expires by the it of june. that's a soft deadline. the real hard deadline is july 20. that's when the bud of the ecb will mature it has to be rolled over -- that is when the bond of the ecb will mature and it has to be rolled over. it would be a default

this is the greece germany yield. i know we talked about greece, up we go. we are getting back quickly. brendan: what is driving the markets right now? i would argue we are in a pattern where every day greece is slightly worse off. i can't figure out which piece of news -- there is a lot of news and none of it is good. tom: we come down and we come back. it's will be an important agenda item ross all markets and all countries this week. greece is not just about greece. we need jon ferro. i look at the markets this morning. what's the why this morning? we try to get the finance ministers. guest: i listened to one man and that was the deputy prime minister of greece. he was looking at the endgame which could be a new set of elections. they are promising not to renege on their offices. you give them another decision to make. if they do come back and say we will make concessions. they want to stay in europe or it we could get closer to the endgame. they could be moving to a political decision, a referendum or an election. brendan: you've got both of the centrist

the last thing that greece needs. we should give them the benefit of having reached a primary surplus. their current income exceeds their current outgoing. jon: james bevan will stay with us. everybody talking to greece, we will use the spanish example. the spanish pmi numbers. 57.3. the prior reading was 56.2. a composite pmi of 66.9. they are some decent numbers out of spain. up next we will bring it back here to london. how to treat the most uncertain election in a generation. james bevan is a greater man than i and will discuss that. ♪ jon: let's bring you up to speed with some top stories. samsung profits beat estimates today. this friday, the company will debut its new galaxy s six model to luer back buyers -- lure back buyers. the bridgewater associate is said to have gained 14% through march. that is according to a person familiar. it was fueled by a bet against the euro. george osborne will hit back at labour claims that his policies have made families worse off. the two main parties continue to clash on ta

how does it tied to greece? hans: they make a to the foreign ministry but as they get the finance ministry, it will may short-term negotiations that much difficult for mr. varoufakis. long-term, it will make the prospect or likelihood of a third bailout for greece which would have to go through all 19 parliaments that are members of the eurozone that much more difficult. finland is almost of the right of germany when it comes to pushing for austerity for greece. these election results will move feeling to further to the right and further down the austerity road. jonathan: hans nichols. let's bring in our reporter to the conversation. if we get an election and they win it again, what changes? what happens? report of a be much more clearer. we will have hard talks. that reporter: it will be much clearer. we are moving into a euro environment or we are moving away from that pro-europe or a referendum and i think it will need much clearer where we are going. jonathan: what breaks of the deadlock -- the politics or e

>> greece needs another bailout. covering the next couple of years and attaching a tough condition to prevent moral hazard. that is the real problem we have. all the debates we are going through are not doing anything to improve the economy. what they need to do is a quick deal with the troika and stop the negotiations so we do not have the problem we were talking about. there is a big risk they may do the exit we have been fearing. jon: grexit is the buzzword. coming up we talk federal confusion. not even the u.s. central bank knows when rates will change. we will look at the chinese us stocks frenzy and the returns over the years. too much, too fast. it may be 1950 for david cameron. stay with us. ♪ >> welcome back. let's get you caught up with the markets. the equity benchmark is back through an all-time high in march with where we are. we have been watching chinese markets. you missed on a rally. overnight, of course, you have the basis points. there is the schedule payment. look at this. this is not over now.

greece can't do it. either greece needs money from europe which if they get money from euro, they don't have to default, or if they can't get money from europe, they have to recapitalize their banks. default, not technically, but probably would be a precursor to grexit. jonathan: can you have a second currency and stay in the eurozone? holger: these are weird fanciful ideas. they look good in academic discussions, but in practice they don't work. you need to have a currency. you could almost get by for a week or two, perhaps a month. either the euro which 70% it will continue to be, or 30% risk it will have to be a new currency. jonathan: let's talk about deadlines. if the deadline was an dead before 2015, greece has well and truly killed the deadline. it doesn't mean much anymore. i keep asking everyone what is the deadline? holger: there is no deadline. europe can wait. there is a deal on offer for greece. it is up to greece to decide whether or not it wants to sign. the one thing that will force greec

greece still has its redline. those are still not incredible -- credible to the european finance ministers. if greece is talking about a temporary deal, what we have heard over and over us that the institutions want the program to be completed. any talk of a temporary deal with a partial disbursement, i discount that just from everything berlin and brussels have been saying. guy: let's talk more about the political spectrum. watching very closely what is happening in greece. what lessons are the fringes drawing? hans: they look at the responsibilities and see it as a bit of a model. >> i don't like the word radical. i think what is forgotten and the eurogroup is common sense. i think they are negotiating good. they have support of the greek people. they are able to accomplish their program even if the negotiations are quite difficult. hans: he did say that he had spoken to mr. tsipras recently. he said, being prime minister is a lot more difficult. grease is figuring that out now. will there be enough time? i know

greece delivers nearly half a billion dollars to its creditors. we'll talk to "real money" ali velshi. >>> defense secretary ashe carter is meeting with the south korean counterpart in seoul this morning. russia and china oppose the move. >>> facebook faces a class action suit over privacy laws in europe. a court heard whether it should take the case. some 25,000 people are suing the country. >>> greece today is making its first big loan payment to the international monetary fund. there was doubt greece might have trouble paying this first installment, but as ali velshi reports from athens that doesn't look to be the case. >> greece has got to start paying back some of this money or at least the interest on it. it has received more than 280 billion euros in loans, and needed to make a payment today of about $500 million. this was an interest payment to the international monetary fund. greece had until yesterday tried to find options around paying this. trying to get russia to lend it the money. the finance minister had been in the united states ov

let's start off greece. wolfgang is clearly running out of patience and has run out of patience with greece. as soon as the dates come up your sense of how close the story now is? there is a big payment due on the 12th and they are running out of money. but a are. in june, it will be the crunch point. it gives us two months before some plan is put in place. there will be financial help from partners. if they don't, they are looking at the edge of the of this and we do not know what is down there. >> we don't and we have talked about it for the last seven years. the you get a sense from talking that is manageable. >> i think that is the view. banks around the world have covered it. the greek problems and the rest of the world are building up to a situation where we can isolate the worst comes to the worst. the kind of quiet -- the kinds of consequences for the global financial systems is not to say that it will not have problems. the core has concerns about the politics and the question in most people's mind.

that did not go over well with the powers that lent greece money, comtuesday april 14th, greece has a payment of more than 400 euro due at the end of the month, of more than 900 euro and in the month of may, greece has to pony up 2.1 billion euros for salary and pensions money not paid. the drama is not close to being over >>> ali velshi in athens. president obama met with jamaica's prime minister in kingston. he and portia miller spoke about the alliances between the two countries. he plans to meet with caribbean leaders. his visit is historic the first sitting u.s. president visiting jamaica in 30 years. tomorrow he heads to panama for the summit of the americas. >> reporter: for the last 10 years the united states watched as venezuela gained friends and influence throughout the caribbean through a generous programme of oil. it's donated or sold oil at cutrate prices to the tune of $50 billion through a programme. now, the tables have turned. the price of oil has plummeted, venezuela is in debt and it has been forced to cut shipments to the caribbean by a half, include including to

for more we go directly to athens, greece, where we are joined by greece finance minister yanis varoufakis. he is not only a political economist, but also something of a global celebrity. prospect magazine list semester much as the world's most leading thinkers it after french economist and before canadian author naomi klein. yanis varoufakis, welcome back to democracy now! can you tell us what you're calling for right now? how high are the stakes? >> i would like to phrase my answer in terms that don't resemble a hollywood movie and a kind of confrontation. the way i see it is this. greece has been in a class of a major crisis over the last five years. we had a serious recession that led to a depression. so the question is, how can we put in and to these never-ending downward spirals so as to stabilize the economy, create conditions for the return of a degree of social justice, and also repay our debts to our creditors. the official version was that greece was on the mend and austerity was working. our proposition to the greek people on which basis he were elected was the opposite. the me

the prospect of greece leaving the eu is very real. >> greece is involved in a game of brinkmanship. the players are vladimir putin alex severus -- alexis tsipras and the group formerly known as the troika, which includes the european commission, the ecb, and the imf. at stake is greece of austria's future in the eurozone. they must pay 360 million euros on the ninth of april. before then, alexis tsipras met vladimir putin. the decision was basically a negotiating chip to suggest to the west that the greek government has options if they are abandoned by the european partners. there are a number of cards they greece and russia can play to each other's benefit. russia can announce the lifting of sanctions to greece to allow the import of fruits and vegetables to resume. the sanctions placed on the entire eu by russia in response to the second placed on them. in return, greece could balk on the additional sanctions being applied by the eu. they could renegotiate their gas dealmaking natural gas cheaper for the greeks. one thing that is unlikely to happen is any kind of bailout from the

we will be talking greece. here's a picture of the markets. ♪ guy: diplomats stay put in switzerland as the iran negotiations continue. francine: greece admits a new list to its creditors clarifying economic plans. guy: seven u.k. party leaders get set for a debate for the first and only time. good morning. welcome to "the pulse." we are here in london. i'm guy jo

greece's problems may be about to get worse. i tell you when "real money" returns in a minute. >> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile planet >> al jazeera america brings you a first hand look at the environmental issues, and new understanding of our changing world. >> it's the very beginning >> this was a storm of the decade >>...hurricane... >> we can save species... >> our special month long focus, fragile planet >>> the greek prime minister was in moscow this week talking about an economic alliance with russia, and the conversation is leading critics to ask again if vladimir putin is trying to undermine european unity. >> reporter: from the far right french national front, to greece's radical left, syriza. kremlin. >> it's clear that there's a set of the links between the russian government and fringe parties across europe. >> reporter: like a shared dislike of european union dick tatts. europe's far left and right rail against brussel's encroachment on authority over issues like aust

this is not - greece's value is not going to be conceded for greece's creditors. this is going to be a bargaining chip. this is a dangerous game we are in the middle of limitations, the group is meeting today to discuss progress and word has it that the progress is limited. there's a lot to be done in putting up credible reforms. this could backfire in the sense of dwindling trust and good faith in serious negotiations that come up. >> greece is still part of the european union. russia is not. does the move risk creating strain between greece and the e.u.? >> well i think that as far as russia is concerned, anything that can create trouble for europe anything that can create trouble from the unified stance that europe is projecting with regard to the sanctions against russia anything that will create trouble is good news. the hint of a greek veto for example in extending the sanctions, would be a good thing. however - for russia. i think that we'll see a lot of posturing, a lot of grandstanding. but no side really wants to embark on this major realignment or major

at stake is greece's future in the euro-zone. greece must pay the i.m.f. about 460 million euros on april 9. then tsipras will meet puten in moscow. the decision to meet putin was a negotiating chip designed to suggest to the west that the greek government has options if they are beapeded by the yearpian partners. there are a number of cards they can play to each other's benefit. russia can announce the listing of sanctions against greece to allow imports of fruits and vegetables to revacuum. the sanctions were placed in response to sanctions being placed on russia. in return, greece could -- any additional sanctions being applied by the e.u.. they could renegotiate their gas deal making gas cheaper for the greeks. one thing that is unlikely to happen is any kind of blackout from the russians. their financial resources have been curtailed by the fall in the price of oil leaving their economy in a weak state. the danger that greece's euro area partners are intimidated by them warming up to russians. in my opinion, greece and its european creditors will agre

it is not going to be the solution for greece. greece needs a flexible debt arrangement. it is in a currency union. without -- it has a higher currency than it should have. francine: but this is a political situation. do you think there is enough here in terms of the greek reforms to keep them satisfied and go on for the next three weeks? >> i think it is a good start. buying time, not approve something like this, which can go into a little more detail because in front of a few weeks of payment, pensions, public salaries don't get paid would be a big disaster for greece. politically but also for the g.d.p. of the country which has already lost a quarter of growth. i think buying in a few weeks of time is politically very rational. and that's our best case scenario we don't believe in grexit. it means there is a political crisis. tsipras may have issues internally. it doesn't mean you exit. guy: stay with us. we need to talk about the fed as well. we don't be here but it is jobs day tomorrow. francine: it is. the u.s. will be on the air. guy: the jobs number after the brea

we are an investor in greece. one of the issues not only the payments they have to make to the imf, they have to make a payroll at the end of this month and pay their pensioner's. brendan: wilbur ross early ireland is trying to encourage foreign investment, how do you make these decisions in place that are seeing right now as beyond the pale? >> week spend a lot of time looking into countries, we invest in banks in those countries. tom: you realize they call their offices the death star? >> millennium falcon. brendan: that is the right answer, you may stay. tom: how do you do it, mr. lockhart? how do you get there so early? >> it is courage but looking at the macro trends. in ireland, it was more and more apparent that the government was going to take their medicine and he took it early. they cut back on their pay. and it worked. brendan: week one of earnings session coming up next. we will talk about how big banks performed. this is bloomberg television and radio, streaming on your tablet, phone, and everywhere e

, which will be meeting greece posco's need -- greece's gas need. essentially, apart from warm words, this is been a meeting which has promised tomorrow, when greece needs to take its medicine today. anna: what can he expect from today's meeting? >> we may get a bit more detail in flushing out what was agreed between tsipras and mr. putin yesterday. again, i suspect we will have more warm words about cooperation. culturally, historically, economically. mr. putin did observe that trade between the two countries was down 40% last year. there was a lot of ground to be made up. anna: thank you so much for joining us. prime minister tsipras having met with putin yesterday and today sits down with the prime minister of russia. that conversation is coming up a little bit later on today. we will continue to watch those developments and how that feeds into the conversation around the grexit and how it can do a deal to meet the requirements of its creditors. april 24 is the date in the diary that looms large. that is it really for "the pulse." keep it right h

he told us in an interview, he was not concerned about greece leaving the eurozone. >> do you think greece is leaving? stanley: i would care more if i was greek. if you mean do i care as an investor -- the banks don't always greet debt. my guess is there will not be contagion, but even if there is he can contain it, as soon as market participants see that, it will not be contagious. i do not get this theory that greek puts its self through misery, and spanish and italians are like, let's do that too. a rational response is for them to go to reform and become more embedded in europe. i would prefer to see greece stay in the eurozone for a lot of economic reasons, and maybe humanitarian reasons. as a market participant, i think it is overrated and analyze. d. caroline: the ecb once again extended aid to the greek banks. the ecb president's mario draghi will have a press conference following the central bank meeting. that will be here on bloomberg. let's have a look at the other top stories, nigel farage says that his manifesto pledges they are confident and serious. president obama intends t

what ever happens in greece greece remains part of europe. the european union. if greece stays in the eurozone it must create the conditions for it. whether greece has the money to meet its obligations is primarily a decision of the greek government. if greece wants support, we will give support. of course, within the framework of what we agreed. olivia: lucky for us, we have hans nichols with us from berlin. what did you hear their? >> a difference between the geographers and greece is part of europe and a member of the eurozone saying greece may not stay in the eurozone. yes, you can be in europe when you visit athens. are you going to pay in euros? it seems as though he and others -- they are disappointed with progress taking place at a technical level. there is disappointment. at this, there may come acceptance. we are getting closer to some sort of event. brendan: i got the sense yesterday that he is willing to let greece dangle in the wind a little bit. there was knows adjusting of what a concession might be. he kept on using the word "the program." do you

greece need $7 billion so it can pay upcoming debt. greece had an april date to agreed to reforms. mr. dijsselbloem: the deadline is more important to the greek side than the eurogroup. it's in matter of urgency to make sure there's enough money available to keep the government running. olivia: the talk is that the end of june is a more likely deadline. comcast could not overcome objections from federal regulators. bloomberg is reporting the company will walk away from the $45 billion merger with time warner cable. the two companies had been waiting for government approval for 14 months. antitrust lawyers at the justice department and staff members at the fcc indicated they were going to oppose the deal. they did not think the merger would help consumers. comcast's formal decision may come later today. the british trader blamed in part for the 2000 flash crash spent another night in london. navinder singh sarao has not come up with bail. what the future holds for sarao. >> it can go one of two ways. if he is found innocent, he will be the world's superstar trader. the most famous t

whatever happens in greece, greece remains part of europe the european union. if greece stays in the eurozone, it must create the conditions for it. whether greece has the money to meet its obligations is primarily decision of the greek government. if greece wants support, we will give that support but of course within the framework of what we agreed. alix: is germany really that inflexible? erik: on this issue he is right. the most important thing he said here is that they will stay in the eu. if you look at the treaty if they were to leave the eurozone they would leave the eu. you have to do some interesting gymnastics to keep them in the european union. he says that you can leave and so get your funds that come from brussels every year. he said that we won't be angry at you. he is also right to say, it lies with the greeks. if you take what the greek government says they want to do and put it in any other country, you will not succeed. alix: you work for the imf, you go to jan is varoufakis right now and say these are three things. what are they? erik: a pri

but greece is a minor country. it doesn't necessarily have to have economic consequences for the rest of the euro zone and mabets better if the euro zone leaves so i think this is very dangerous for depreast. going we have really strong economic numbers on the p.m.i. so good news for spain but bad news for greece. >> that's exactly what it is. the youthfulness of austerity but from the german perspective, it's worsened. spain is -- it also means that the spanish government is very much on the german side as far as pressuring greece. going how do you think it plays out? most greeks want to stay in the euro and they were not elected by mandate so to the take it out. again, -- what happens? >> i think the question at this stage islit be rather an accident? maybe both sides, depreast and the others depamible too much and we actually end up running against the wall instead of stopping at it. so i think an actual sfare i don't know would be much more -- and then it happens. there's no last-minute agreement even though bo

the image of greece as a bottomless pit. an image that causes must frustration amongst our global partners, while it engulfs our nation in unbearable hopelessness. now, track records matter. the track record of this program that we inherited from the previous government is a sorry one. to paraphrase kane's economic consequences of the peace, we are not going to sign up to targets. we know our economy cannot meet by means of policies that our partners should not wish to impose upon us. not just for our sake. but for the common european and global interest. ladies and gentlemen, in 2010, the greek state seized to be able to service its debt. while nominal gdp was falling. europe's banking system had become more orless involume vantsolvent. the credit krun kcrunch ensured that interest rates would go up. how did we deal with this problem? by means of the largest loan condition of a massive internal evaluation and program that was bound to shrink the incomes from which the old and new debts would have to be repaid. those loans w

greece want to remind them of strategic values and demand it has friends. is this enough to break ranks. >> before he became foreign minister emphasise suggested that greece could win a debt deal in exchange for something the creditors could want. >> if i was a negotiator for the greek debt the first thing i would do is a package negotiation. i would put other issues that are important in exchange for the issue of the debt. you can't negotiate solely on the issue where you are weakest. you have to use a weakness where you have a relative strength. both were out of favour it could put them close tor a deal. a hair cut on bank deposits in cyprus hurt governmentors, -- depositors. the question is whether a veto could be bought in june and break the european front >>> meanwhile, greece put a price tag on the damages caused by germany during the nazi occupation during the country, saying germany owes them $303 billion in world war ii reparations. the german economy minister called it dumb saying it settled his repatriation to greece in a post-war deal. >>> fight

i represent greece. greece. native greek. >> hold the microphone closer. >> i have two questions for you. greek media and international media reports a lot of the members of the greek government to the electoral process have been -- have demonized as representative of the german policy. according to the news. trying to impose. how do you perceive that? what is your reaction to this argument back also i think that also i think that the greek people need a clear answer to that the potential. do you think it is on the team is a big government and is don't reach any agreement >> look if you want to stay in politics and i do it by enthusiasm you have to know you will be good at it. if you don't think they'd witnessed in the kitchen. it is not a privilege. the media has been quite a lot. i have -- go meetings you can read all of this. perhaps a 22. please my fellow countrymen don't make creek. people in greek suffer much more than. i could tell you even in german media and not been pleased. i don't -- i have not learn

to let greece go. >> it's a good question. it's hard to get to the bottom of why all of this is happening. in the end it's the beginning of a few things, european countries didn't want to see it happen, or face criticism that may be some of the way in which the euro was set up was ill-conceived where it was a monetary union. no unified approach to budgets and financial discipline. later it became something else. there were european banks exposed to losses if greece were to default or leave the euro, now there's political upheaval across europe. the idea that if nationalism takes route as it does in tough economies, that europe itself will come apart culturally at the scenes. unclear as to how long greece will push had before the rest of interested." >> ali velshi reporting from athens. thanks a lot. that's all for this edition of "inside story". we want you to talk back to your television, visit facebook and give us feedback on what you hear on the programme. we invite you to follow us on twitter. or follow me and get in touch

greece defaults on loans and abandons e.u. greece may walk from the eurozone into the arms of russia for a fag bailout package there'll be a string attached to that and russia would have a sympathetic country acting in its interests from within of the european union and maybe greece would use veto and make life for russia easy ruin the european unity over sanctions against russia. that's the nightmare scenario that's what peep in the european union is worried about. >> to explain it like that it sounds clausible. we have been down this path so many times before. what are the chances of that happening, and, as you say, greece falling into the arms of russia after that? >> well as you say, it is plausible logically, and it is possible but there are a number of factors which would suggest that there are more likely scenarios that are going play out. for one thing greece said that it wants to resolve the economic problems within the european union, it doesn't want to have to go outside the european union to settle the issues it's

greece is part of that. tsipras said part of those should be lifted, but you actually have to go to the sanctions as part of nato and the euro zone. nothing came of that. you can imagine right now over holy week with, greek easter this weekend the government is going to be trying to figure out how it makes payments next tuesday and makes its next installment payment at the end of the month and convinces europe that it's worthy of yet another big loan. >> and pay its people. one more for you. if greece actually followed through on all of the requirements from the troika here to get its house in order wouldn't there be revolt on the streets in greece? didn't the people elect this government because it was sick of all this austerity? >> yep. that's exactly right. greece has got a big problem on its hands. two and a half months ago the greeks went to the polls and elected a government that said we're going to go and try and get the squeeze off of us. we're going to try for less austerity. we don't want to increa

stephanie: ganging up on greece. erik: google sales and profit come up short, but investors don't care. stephanie: how much do we really know about the british trader linked to the flash crash? erik: welcome to market makers. i matt miller. stephanie: i am scarlet fu. tgif. erik: think goodness it is friday. i will take it off with the bulletin here. frustrations boiled over today in latvia at the eu's meeting on greece. eu finance ministers hurled abuse. they have been waiting for greece to come up with a plan for economic reforms. that has to happen before greece can get the last of the bailout money and avert a default. their caucus did not seem to shaken up about the experience. >> we have not had full conversions yet otherwise we would have had white smoke coming out of the chimney, but we are confident we can have that. it is our view that we have no right not to achieve this agreement. matt: insiders and outsiders have accused him of dragging his feet for some time now and are speculation that greece will not

protests have been stepped up since greece's government was elected >>> greece put a price tag on damages by germany during the nazi occupation of the country, saying it owes greece $302 billion. the german minister called it dumb saying it settled its reparations to grease in a post war agreement >>> the greek prime minister arrives in moscow in moscow. there's thought that vladimir putin may make an offer of help. [ bell tolls ] >>> orthodoxy has bonded greeks and russians for 1,000 years. the russian church in athens is a reminder that it was greek missionaries in the past. this holy week a different mission was bound for moscow. greece needs money and friend to face a hostile creditor. face a hostile creditor. russia want to prevent e.u. sanctions, sanctions that prompted it to ban european products. >> russia will try to tempt greece through various deals and a unilateral suspension of the counter-sanctions. that's on greig agricultural products. but whether they can make a very tempting offer of let's say offering $30, 40 billion, which is the amount greece will neat in the future,

it is not just greece. i think we should be in a situation where both would want and desire a solution. and the ecb is simply telling them that we are running out of time. you cannot expect us to keep giving you more and more time. the ecb has been fantastic in the way it has managed the crisis over the past three years. they have given a lot of time to government and politicians with her omt back in 2013 to do the right thing. and politicians have government have simply not delivered. the sooner they come up with some sort of agreement, the better. but so far, europe had not missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. francine: very well put. if you look at the timeline -- but these keep on changing. we do not know how much money greece has. i was a report from one of our economists say may have until july the end because it is unlikely the ecb will do anything with the ela until he cannot repay the money is to the ecb. that comes july 20. would that be a fair assessment? >> i think so. i think they migh

mark: no reprieve for greece. christine lagarde's warning she wouldn't let greece's get a debt payment. christine lagarde: we have never had an advanced economy ask for that kind of thing, delayed payment, and i very much hope that this is not the case with greece. caroline: greece made a payment to the imf earlier this month and must now pay the group $1 billion in may. the company is still locked in talks with its creditors. the finance minister unisphere ficus was insistent that he was willing to compromise, and would stand firm on not towing the red line. youngest there are factors -- >> we know the government -- that our partners should not wish to impose upon us, not just for our sake but for the global interest. caroline: var this comes as the government faces its first protest rally. 4000 protestants defended on the main square in athens in a sign of brewing domestic discontent. mark: greece took center stage ahead of the meetings in washington today. christine lagarde outlined other risks, what she called

let's get more on greece's debt saga. we are joined now from greece by our athens bureau chief. are we getting any closer to some kind of agreement? i think we are having technical difficulties. we will get back to you in just a second. connectivity not our strong point today. we will talk about what greece has to do, the imf response. i am joined by jim one of our editors at large. he has covered the european economy for decades. jim: not decades, but almost as long as i can remember. francine: thank you for coming on. this is actually quite recent. it has only been this week that we've had a little bit of jitters on the market. why now? jim: because the crucial repayment dates are coming up and greece has been complaining -- people have been concerned about greece for running out of cash for two months now. they have pointed to march as the dropdead date. every week, they are getting antsy. there is really no hard data. whatever happens this month, next month, the key, there has to be a settlement by the summer. there's massive bond repayments due to the ecb in july. whether i

greece took a hit. our own economic failures, i'm insistent on that we took a hit on europe's behalf because of our economic and social failures that made sure we were the first domino to fall, and of course, due to the eurozone's design faults. our particular failures were exacerbated by the hit we took for the team. history will tell the story of how insolvencies in the greek private and public sectors were pushed under the carpet. portrayed as cases of illiquid illiquidity. history will register this was an abuse of the notion of solidarity. greece was never really bailed out. only 9% of the bailouts, loans that we took over the last few years went to the greek state. the rest went to the banking sector. finally, the historical record will show that the reform program that accompanies the loans was precisely wrong. if one is to rank all the cases of ma liglignancy in greece, from the worst case to the least offensive one, you'll find that the reform program over the last five years started from the b

greece does not see it the same way. for greece, they are linked especially for the greek people. it's not going to go away anytime soon. i think germany will have to revisit the issue in the near future. >> we are joined by our correspondent in athens. the german government has rejected the greek commands and call them dumb. they say athens is wrong to conflate its budget problems with reparations. why is the government raising this issue right now and what does it want to achieve with this? >> this is hardly a new claim from greece, but it is a new leftist government that is moving forcefully and rigorously as far as this claim is concerned. the prime minister himself has said -- he does he himself who raised the issue to angela merkel in face to face talk not too long ago. it's also the defense minister, his coalition partner, who is coming out and saying there is stunning evidence to bolster these claims even further. the government here is saying there is no game of linkage in its credit talks with creditors, but there's no doubt these atmospherics are antagonizing the talks.

i was in athens while you were here meting with the finn minister of greece. now greece has a situation in which if they don't have an agreement with the yoeb finance minister to get more money, they probably can't make the may 12th payment to you which is over then. >> i think it's very much what happens now. i hope the greek authorities put the working energy and brain power. they are not short of that on which reforms, by when. will be implemented to reach the redegrees. -- recessions. >> the way it happened, you had taken a hard line. that payment had to be made that payment had to be made on the day it is made. is that the same position you will take hon may 12th. >> you know, no advanced economy has asked for delays of payment. i hope that we do not innovate in that situation. i - you know, there are liquidities that need to be addressed. the best way is to start the good work now and commit to the greece. >> let's speak about wages, i'm sensing a shift in the united states, a smentmental shift. we saw a number of states with conservative increases. we a

greece has already run out of cash as of last month. it has been staying afloat by using class reserve -- using cash reserves. local governments municipalities. money is not for the financial ministers to spend. a recycling of cash cannot go on forever. standard & poor's expects that available bumpers will be exhausted sometime in may. greece will have to pay about 750 million euros to the imf. jon: thank you for joining us. bloombergs athens bureau chief. right now we are joined by -- i do not want to get into the political noise here it on to talk about getting -- about moving forward. what about the in between? the referendum? >> i think multiple options. politicians always take the path of least resistance, as long as you are going to get reelected. maybe the path for greek government will be to agree given that they are in a position where they are week. their electorate will turn against them. maybe the option will be for no agreement to take place. greek is taking the hot potato onto the public and saying can we vote on these par

ali velshi joins us from athens greece. hey. >> hey, greece made a $500 million loan payment today. normally you'd thing when somebody meets their loan payment things are starting to work occupant. greece's problems may be about to get worse. i tell you when "real money" returns in a minute. >> good evening, i'm antonio mora coming up after "real money" severe weather sweeps across the midwest, with reports of tornadoes touching down and doing damage. a dash cam video fills in blanks about what happened in the moments before a white police officer killed an unarmed blackman in south carolina. in a shift in u.s. of cuban relations, president obama considers removing the country from a terrorism list. that and more at the top of the hour. per cent >>> the greek prime minister was in moscow this week talking about an economic alliance with russia, and the conversation is leading critics to ask again if vladimir putin is trying to undermine european unity. >> reporter: from the far right french national front, to greece's radical left syriza. the parties have a suitor in the kremlin. >>

when greece reaches a current asset level. in the meantime, debt repayments would only happen when the economy is in recovery. it alleviates the greek debt burden but it also makes -- mark: isn't palatable to europe? lena: this is the key -- in the short term, it will be a politically friendly thing for your to kick the greek issue into the long run which is what will happen with the debt swap. allowing greece infinite access to the ecb through european reconstruction funds without any conditionality increases the risk of a return to this kind of systematic problem that led greece to the crisis. ♪ mark: welcome back. the foreign-exchange markets -- looking at the spot index. three weeks of decline, up this week by 1.5% as you can see from the charts on your screen over the last five trading days. this is the index that measures the dollar against its peers. investors right now are focusing on when the u.s. federal reserve will raise rates after minutes from the last meeting. they showed a split on the timing, some in june an

is greece really much more european faceing? >> i always worry a bit we tend to overplay those cultural historical things. yes, they do have a shared faith of orthodox christianity. they do have to some extent shared moments of history, russia among other nations help greece to secure their independence in fact. that is true there is a cultural reservoir to draw on. for modern greece membership of nato and the european union are absolutely central to its modern political identity. it's not possible really for greece to reshuffle all of the cards in its political deck to make a really profound change there, especially not when you consider the vast amount of money that it owes. >>> in other news today, a site in new york candles were lit where hundreds massacred by militants bodies have been bury buried and tikrit was overrun by the extremists in june. >> and weapons to a saudi led coalition fighting houthis. the houthis opposed to the president have taken control of large parts of the country in recent months. airplanes have str

to tie that into what is hap pg in greece, you're seeing the tail end of that in greece where the ecb can't fix the greek situation. ultimately, i think they come to a deal of some sort but the cracks from expanded central bank policy are really showing the clear signs of fatigue, basically, over in europe. >> dan, we just had an analyst who said that he'd look at this and put maybe 20% odds that the greeks don't actually come to some agreement and they find themselves back. >> i have been joking with a lot of clients about this in the sense that i find it hilarious that people, with all due respect to everybody, people putting a probability on this one. nobody has any idea whether it's 20% or 40%. i don't think anybody has a firm handle on this because, quite frankly, i don't think they have a firm handle on it. my gut feeling is they stay in. the one point i would advance is there was a good 2 1/2 years where i didn't have a single conversation with a cliptent about greece. as you noted in the open that changed last week and that started to come up more frequently, although not freq

what's going to happen with greece. there are so many global events that are going to have an impact on the ftse 100. >> which would have a larger impact on markets? grexit or if they push forward for britain to leave the eu? >> the brexit. i hope we can come up with a better word for that. >> but the market is obsessing for greeks now, for months i should say. >> the greece thing is punching above it's weight. it's 2% of viewers own gdp. in normal circumstances it shouldn't have become the issue it has become but it's the fears of contagion and a knock on effect and even in terms of the renegotiation of its debt. it's also the possibility of other countries coming to the table. >> i want to get your thoughts on the currency. the pound was at a one month high last week but how much political uncertainty do you need to factor in ahead of the general election? >> i think we're up to events at the moment in as much as it's increasingly looking like a coalition. that can change as we start to countdown and you can pretty mu