The year 2014 is coming to an end and the major concern of the European Central Bank (ECB) and its president Mario Draghi was and still is the inflation rate that is way below the target of close but below 2%. The next monetary policy meeting of the ECB’s Governing Council will take place on […]Draghi’s top new year resolution: Quantitative Easing
December 26, 2014 by
The year 2014 is coming to an end and the major concern of the European Central Bank (ECB) and its president Mario Draghi was and still is the inflation rate that is way below the target of close but below 2%. The next monetary policy meeting of the ECB’s Governing Council will take place on […]“C’est la vie”? French recession and unemployment to linger in Eurozone
December 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It was last Wednesday when the financial information services company Markit published the Markit Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the month of November. This indicator revealed a weak growth outlook for the 18-country Eurozone while the disappointment of investors was apparent. November’s Eurozone economic growth The downslope of Eurozone’s growth continued in November […]Presentation of Juncker’s Investment Plan: Can 315 billion euros save the EU?
November 28, 2014 by 1 Comment
Jean Claude Junker, the president of the European Commission (EC), announced details of his 315 billion euros promising investment plan two days ago in Strasbourg. This three year project will use money from EU institutions in order to create a fund that will motivate investors to bring back their money in Europe and increase growth […]France pushes UK to stay and Germany to pay
November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Emmanuel Macron, France’s minister of Economy, visited London this week in an attempt to step up for his country’s future policy reforms. Among others, Macron announced that Britain must remain an EU member state and that Germany should invest in the EU. However, it was not mentioned anything about the fines that the European Commission […]EU growth in 2015 to be again sluggish; Can the Juncker Commission fight this out?
November 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It was last Tuesday when the European Commission (EC) met in Brussels to talk about the 2014 autumn economic forecast. Among others, the discussion was mainly about the sluggish growth and inflation, the impact of geopolitical crises in the EU economy as well as the significant economic performance of Ireland. Wrong growth forecasts The EC stated […]ECB to play down IMF’s alarms for deflation danger in the EU
October 31, 2014 by 1 Comment
It was last Tuesday when Peter Praet, Member of the Executive Board and chief economist of the European Central Bank (ECB), reported to two Belgian newspapers that there is limited risk of price deflation in the euro area. The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in the euro area and in the EU gained momentum after four […]France asks help from Germany but it will not be for free
October 24, 2014 by
France and Germany had a ‘meeting’ last Monday to discuss about the latter’s support on the problematic budget of France regarding the high deficit levels. This comes after the submission of France’s 2015 budget upon approval by the European Commission (E.C.). The Hexagone claims that slow growth must be fought at all costs. However, Germany is […]Five-year low inflation for Eurozone and now Mario has to finally wake up the Germans
October 2, 2014 by
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) governing council is gathering today in Naples to discuss the monetary policy just two days after the publication of the flash estimate of the annual inflation of the Euro area by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. The inflation is expected to be 0.3% in September, a 0.1% […]Europe again the black sheep at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
September 25, 2014 by
Last weekend the much anticipated G20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ meeting happened in Cairns, Australia. It was very supportive and positive as far as the implementation of the necessary measures to boost the global economic growth in terms of GDP by an additional 1.8 per cent till 2018. This will be done through investments […]Back to the basics for the EU: Investment equals Growth
September 18, 2014 by
It was only last Saturday when the European finance ministers gathered in Italy to decide how to bring back growth, a long-plaguing hoarse of the EU economy. They came to the conclusion that more investment programmes are needed to help the financing of infrastructure projects and development of the economy. Not a single project proposed […]European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, who gets it and who pays the bill?
September 12, 2014 by
The Budgets Committee of the European Parliament (EP) announced yesterday that they approved financial aid to the Netherlands, Greece, Romania and Spain, whose workers were laid off as redundant due to globalisation or the financial crisis. It seems that the applications of the authorities of each country to the EU were fruitful, however it remains […]It’s not summer holidays what lead to the bad August of the German economy
September 5, 2014 by
The second quarter was very disappointing in terms of GDP figures for Germany. The biggest European economy is facing tough times at the moment Russia imposes economic sanctions against the EU. It is now more than necessary for Germany to find a way to climb up to growth but its fiscal policy comes as an obstacle […]Bureaucracy in the member states again the obstacle for long due strong European Hedge Funds
July 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It has been a rough week for the European hedge funds industry. The deadline (22/07/2014) for the implementation date of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) has well passed and many fund managers ran to apply at the very last moment. Now it is time for the national authorities to review the applications and report whether they […]Is continuous sanctioning the way to resolve the Ukrainian crisis?
July 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The E.U. together with the U.S. decided to impose harsher economic sanctions against Russia last Wednesday. This action was expected since Russia continued to further scale its violent military intervention in eastern Ukraine despite the warnings that were given by the U.S. and E.U. U.S. sanctions focus on financial and energy sectors The U.S. are taking advantage of what is […]When will Eurozone’s unemployment rate stop being Europe’s worst nightmare?
July 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union estimated on Tuesday that the euro area unemployment rate was 11.6% in May; stable compared to April but reduced by 0.4% to last year’s measurements. The agency mentions that 18,552 million men and women were unemployed in May 2014; a decrease of 636.000 compared to May 2013. […]Will ECB win against low inflation by not following Quantitave Easing?
June 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
On the 5th of June, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided not to fully deploy all the tools of Quantitative Easing (QE) programme, which showed that the ECB is not yet ready to risk everything in order to deal with low growth and inflation rates. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) […]Macro-Financial Assistance: Europe’s way to control Ukraine?
June 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission (EC) paid out €500 million to Ukraine on Tuesday, a financial support to be the first loan tranche of the second Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) programme of the EU. While the crisis in Ukraine is still raging and the need for economic reforms is more crucial than ever, the EU is adding to International […]European Commission: Does Apple, Starbucks and Fiat really pay their taxes?
June 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission (EC) decided two days ago to conduct an investigation which will focus on the tax affairs of Apple, Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg respectively. Basically, EC’s purpose is to examine if the tax authorities of the aforementioned countries are in line with the rules of […]The EU slowly exits from “Excessive Deficit Procedure” and hopefully from ‘Excessive Austerity Procedure’ too
June 6, 2014 by 2 Comments
Earier this week, on the 2nd of June, the European Commission (EC) decided to recommend to the EU Council of Finance Ministers to close the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) for six countries. The reason why Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovakia must exit EDP is because these countries managed to lower their […]Quantitative easing: how Mario can tackle low inflation in Eurozone
May 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the major issues that the European Central Bank (ECB) struggles to solve is low inflation. It seems that it is not even close to the target that has been set; a rate of below but close to 2% over the medium term. April’s inflation data indicated a 0.7% inflation rate, a percentage not far away […]Regional competitiveness and growth: a Gordian knot for Europe
May 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A week has passed since the European Business Summit (EBS) 2014 where the European Sting was official media partner. On 14 May, one of the first sessions that took place at the library of Edmond Palace had the title “How do European regions contribute to competitiveness?”. European Sting was there to report this vital issue for Europe. The […]Crimean crisis: not enough to slow down European indices
May 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Two months and 19 days have passed since the commencement of the international crisis between Russia and Ukraine. Starting with the Ukrainian revolution which resulted in the President Viktor Yanukovych’s deposition and continuing with the formation of an interim government, Ukraine is now facing one of its most severe “battles” in its after-Soviet history. Europe […]European banking stress tests 2014: A more adverse approach for a shorter banking sector
April 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008 is mainly related to the banking sector. The capital adequacy of the European banks is an important aspect that European Regulation Bodies have to be aware of. During the past years the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Committee of European Banking Supervisors are setting up simulations that […]Greece returns to markets at a high cost to taxpayers, after four years out in the cold
April 10, 2014 by 1 Comment
The time that Greece has been waiting for, for quite a long time (4 years) is about to come. Athens is now floating in the capital markets a sovereign bond issue of about €2.5 billion and already unofficial offers from investors have reached €16bn. A very hefty multiple coverage so far of 6.4 times. The book of […]
