BBC News with Jonathan Whitely
The leader of Greece’s socialist party Evangelos Venizelos says he’s failed to form a coalition government following Sunday’s
inconclusive
elections. The continuing political uncertainty in Greece is casting doubt on the country’s future in the Euro zone as Mark Loan now reports from Athens.
Evangelos Venizelos is the third party leader to fail to form a coalition government. There has not been a consensus between the political leaders on whether Greece should adhere to or reject its international loan agreement and the cost cutting that it
entails
. Mr. Venizelos will now return the mandate to form a government to the president who’s expected to summon all party leaders in a
last ditch
attempt to form emergency government of national
salvation
. It is unlikely he would succeed and the expectation now is that Greece will head to fresh elections. This country is plunging further into the unknown.
The government of Spain has told the country’s severely troubled banks to certify an extra 40 billion dollars to cover potential losses. It also ordered independent
audits
of all property assets held by them. Robert Piston reports.
The primary calls of the weakness of Spanish banks was their
reckless
property and construction lending which filled the building of 2.5million homes that Spain properly doesn’t need. Today’s new plan to strengthen them forces them to insulate themselves from the danger that will be forced to write off all most half of all these loans. But some analysts fear the pain could be even worse and perhaps more worryingly the banks also face losses on mortgages and on loans to highly indebted companies as result of the serious weakness of the Spanish economy.