Last Friday 9 October the UN Security Council and its five permanent members unanimously decided to actually trade entire nations and geographical regions between them. To this effect they authorized the European Union to employ warships in the Libyan waters to “board ships for inspection, seize and even dispose of vessels suspected of being used […]The UN supports Europe’s military action in Libya and the Mediterranean; Russia and China agree
October 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday 9 October the UN Security Council and its five permanent members unanimously decided to actually trade entire nations and geographical regions between them. To this effect they authorized the European Union to employ warships in the Libyan waters to “board ships for inspection, seize and even dispose of vessels suspected of being used […]The EU to fight cross-border tax evasion with a toothless directive
October 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On Tuesday 6 October the powerful Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union, the well know ECOFIN group, took a decision advertised to be monumental. For the first time ever the 28 EU countries agreed to shed some light on the ‘tax rulings’, as well as at the ‘advance pricing arrangements’. These are […]Eurozone stuck in a high risk deflation area; Draghi expects further price plunge
October 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This newspaper has been following very closely the Eurostat statistics, including inflation, which paint an accurate picture of Eurozone’s economic condition. Then, not without good reason, during the last few months or even years the European Sting didn’t share the reserved optimism of Brussels about euro area’s prospects and unfortunately Eurostat confirmed this prediction once […]China is the first non-EU country to invest in Europe’s €315 billion Plan
October 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
China is the first non-EU country to contribute to the Juncker Commission’s €315 billion Investment Plan. Until today only nine out of the 28 EU countries have announced their participation in this major project aimed at reviving the sluggish European economy. Beijing has not yet specified the amount to be invested in the Plan but […]How dearly will Germany pay for the Volkswagen emissions rigging scandal
September 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Volkswagen emissions scam exposed by the US authorities last week has more substance than the vast and varied financial, commercial and legal consequences wherever in the world the company is present. VW has a great weight in the German car universe with its 12 brand names (VW, Audi, Porsche, the Volkswagen trucks Scania and […]Why the Greeks forgave Tsipras’ pirouettes around austerity and voted again for SYRIZA
September 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Sunday the Greek voters, at least those who went to the polls, gave to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not only a second chance to continue in the premiership, but voted also for Panos Kamenos a nationalist right winger, the junior partner of the governing SYRIZA-ANEL coalition. And this as if nothing had happened in […]A new crop of EU ‘Boards’ override the democratic accountability and undermine the EU project
September 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday 16 September the European Economic and Social Committee, an authentic representative of the European organized civil society, adopted an opinion aimed at improving the democratic function and the accountability of the EU decision-making bodies. The EESC acted at the request of the European Parliament. Actually, the Lisbon Treaty contains untapped potential to bring […]Two major EU projects falter; the Schengen Agreement now freezes and Eurozone fails to resolve the Greek enigma
September 17, 2015 by 2 Comments
The usually so cool north Europeans seem to have lost their composure when the first waves of refugees and immigrants reached their borders. Germany and Austria within a few days made full immigration policy u-turns and finally closed their borders. Both Chancellors, Angela Merkel in Berlin and Werner Faymann in Vienna, said last week they […]Germany loves a strong euro; the new Fiscal Councils can deliver despite the Greek chaos and a wider questioning of austerity
September 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday, 12 September, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis made some remarks after the informal meeting of ECOFIN (the EU ministers of Finance Council) in Luxembourg. The main item on the agenda was about completing the European Monetary Union. EMU is the most important EU project after the introduction of the single euro currency. He […]The battle for the 2016 EU Budget to shake the Union; Commission and Parliament vs. Germany
September 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday the European Parliament showed its teeth by angrily rejecting the cuts proposed by the Council to the EU budget for next year. The Commission also stated its concern at the Council’s budget cuts. Even though the Commission doesn’t participate directly in the negotiations between the Parliament and the Council, it acts as a […]How bad is the Eurozone economy? The ECB thinks too bad
September 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday this newspaper questioned the ability of Eurozone’s economy to continue growing even at the negligible rate of three decimal points of a percentage unit, as Eurostat found it for the second quarter of this year. It also pointed out that the danger of recession is increasing and that the risk of deflation (negative […]How close is Eurozone to a new recession which may trigger formidable developments?
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
According to the latest statistics published in August by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, the euro area economy grew by a meager 0.3% during the second quarter of this year. Despite the fact that the mere three decimal points of more gross product typically illustrate a positive development for the Eurozone economy, there are other […]A new global financial crisis develops fast; who denies it?
August 31, 2015 by Leave a Comment
During the last two weeks the world’s largest stock markets had a wild time not seen since Lehman Brothers went bust on 15 September 2008. The New York stock exchange in Wall Street lost more than 8% of its capitalization in a few days and then recovered some of the losses to close last Friday […]The new general election will secure Greece’s position in Eurozone; at least for some time
August 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The very next day that the Greek government signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a new stability support program of €86 billion with the European Commission, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras triggered an early legislative election. To do this he had to resign and according to the constitution, the President of the Republic […]Drowning in the Mediterranean this summer? Many happy returns
August 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This month the European Commission approved 23 multiannual national programs “under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). The total funding for the agreed programs is approximately €2.4 billion, for the period 2014-2020… 22 national programs were already approved in March, and an additional 13 programs will be approved […]Why France, Italy and the US press Germany to accept a cheaper euro and pay for Greece
August 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Since last March the European Central Bank has being pumping at least €60 billion a month into Eurozone’s financial system, under its ‘expanded asset purchase program’, aimed at reviving the stagnating price level and energizing the sleepy real economy. The objective is to bring inflation close to 2%; the target rate set by ECB’s monetary […]Is the ECB enforcing the will of the big Eurozone member states on the small? Can the euro area live with that?
July 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewing the political or economic events in retrospect always gives the observer a privileged position. This is the point where Benoît Cœuré – a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank – found himself at an interview last Monday. At some point he was asked if the ECB had suffocated Greece’s commercial […]Is Europe ready to cooperate with the rest of the world? Can Germany change its selfish policies?
July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
For a long time now the European Union is accused by the rest of the world for the severe austerity and recessionary economic policies it follows, also imposing them on crisis stricken euro area member states like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. This is so despite the fact that the Eurozone economy as a whole […]What the world will look like after the Iran and 5+1 deal; the US emerges as major power broker in Middle East
July 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The first to travel to Tehran after the nuclear agreement was struck last week between Iran and the 5+1 (France, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States plus Germany) are the German Vice Chancellor Zigmar Gabriel and Laurent Fabius the French minister for Foreign Affairs. Understandably, French and German dignitaries are more welcomed […]Does the Greek deal strengthen the Eurozone? Markets react cautiously
July 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Is Eurozone strengthened after the Greek deal? At first reading the answer is a straightforward ‘yes’ because the other option, the Grexit, the exit of the country from the euro area, would have reversed the theoretically irreversible participation in the monetary zone. According to the Treaties, on which the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) of […]Tsipras imposes more austerity on insolvent Greece; plans to win new early election soon
July 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
On 9 July this newspaper predicted that the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was adamant about keeping his country in the Eurozone. In order to do this the Sting foresaw that he was prepared not only to pay a dear price for a third bailout scheme (April 2010, June 2012 and July 2015) financed by […]Tsipras bewildered with Berlin’s humiliating demands; ECB expects political sign to refinance the Greek banks
July 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek indecisiveness and procrastination and the deep division of the euro area countries, with Germany upholding an intransigent position have led to the humiliation of Athens, during the Saturday and Sunday late night meetings of the Eurogroup (the council of the 19 ministers of Eurozone) and the Eurosummit (the 19 heads of Eurozone state […]Greece’s future solely in the hands of Tsipras; he can direct the poor country any way he likes
July 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Greece is obliged by today or the latest tomorrow Friday morning to submit to its Eurozone partners a new program with more severe austerity and deeper reforms, if the country wants to stay in the Eurozone. Alas, this is exactly the program the Greeks rejected last Sunday in a referendum. In case the Athens proposal […]Greece: Tsipras’ referendum victory does not solve the financial stalemate of the country and its banks
July 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
The imperative economic realities for the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will not be altered noticeably after his crushing win in yesterday’s referendum. His ‘no’ (OXI in Greek) option marked an overwhelming victory meaning that the Greeks rejected the latest offer from the country’s creditors. To be reminded, during the past five months the Greek […]Hardened creditors drive Greece to dire straits; Tsipras desperate for an agreement
July 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, his government and their depressed country are now in real dire straits. This is a much worse position than in any time during the last five years, a period in which Greece repeatedly faced total collapse and was rescued by a troika of creditors (the European Union, the European […]Greece’s Tsipras: Risking country and Eurozone or securing an extra argument for creditors?
June 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his governing left wing SYRIZA party, cornered between its populist rhetoric for greener grass and the realities of the dragging on negotiations with the country’s creditors, called for a referendum next Sunday 5 July without a clearly defined question, denying to exactly clarify where the ‘yes’ or the […]Why EU’s working and unemployed millions remain uncertain or even desperate about their future
June 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Statistical data for the Eurozone economy paint a rather misty picture. Labour costs, an indicator which can fairly describe the evolution of the total volume of wages, marks a distinct increase signaling a clear betterment of the situation of the working classes. On top of that, May inflation at 0.3% indicates that the rate of […]A Monday to watch the final act of a Greek tragedy; will there be catharsis or more fear?
June 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Today’s Eurogroup summit of the 19 euro area heads of state and government is convened by Donald Tusk, the President of European Council in order to bluntly present Alexis Tsipras, the Greek PM with a final ultimatum; ‘comply or leave the Eurozone’. Of course this initiative was not Tusk’s, given that his mandate is rather […]European Court rules that ECB’s OMT program of 2012 is OK; not a word from Germany about returning the Greek 2010 courtesy
June 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday 16 June the European Court of Justice issued a historic decision ruling that Mario Draghi was legally correct when on 26 July 2012 speaking at the Global Investment Conference in London said the famous phrase, “…the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will […]The West – the EU and the US – is writing off Turkey’s Erdogan
June 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
For the first time in the history of the EU-Turkish relations the European Parliament openly and loudly welcomed last week the heavy losses of the governing party in a general election. The MEPs actually rejoiced on “the most inclusive and representative parliament in Turkish modern history, reflecting the country’s diversity”, forgetting that it’s a hang […]The G7 adopted dangerous views about Ukraine and Greece
June 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last weekend the leaders of the G7 countries in reality acknowledged their impotency or probably unwillingness to effectively confront the expansion of the destructive and unlawful activities of the “too big to fail” banks and the shadow banking sector. After that, they decided that Ukraine and Greece have to go on bleeding in order not […]The hostilities in south and eastern Ukraine resume; where could they lead?
June 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The resumption of hostilities in south-eastern Ukraine is blamed by the West to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Moscow reportedly wants to help the pro-Russian separatists who prevail in the Luhansk and Donetsk region to gain control of Mariupol a key port in this area on the Black Sea. However, the heavy fighting that took […]ECB: Euro area should smooth out the consumption and income shocks of its members
June 4, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last Tuesday Brussels celebrated the return of the Eurozone inflation to positive grounds after five straight months of deflation (negative inflation). Some EU Commission economists, among others, assume that three positive decimal points of change of the level of consumer prices in May (0.3%), can signal the return of the economy to growth. Under an […]
