Chinese diplomacy delivered a good lesson to Europeans with the official visits of Premier Li Keqiang to Britain and Greece last week. In both cases the Chinese offered deals that the British and Greeks couldn’t deny. In London, the Chinese Premier got a deal with the Bank of England which appointed one of China’s largest […]Greece may offer to China a European gateway
June 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Chinese diplomacy delivered a good lesson to Europeans with the official visits of Premier Li Keqiang to Britain and Greece last week. In both cases the Chinese offered deals that the British and Greeks couldn’t deny. In London, the Chinese Premier got a deal with the Bank of England which appointed one of China’s largest […]Italy’s M.Renzi and Germany’s S. Gabriel veto austerity, ask EU leaders to endorse growth measures
June 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
At last there are signs of relaxation of Eurozone’s tight fiscal constrains to growth. Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Greece are not the only Eurozone members that display now a de facto rejection of the strict financial confines imposed on them by Brussels since 2010. France too and other EU member states seem quite reluctant […]Can Europe and the US reverse their nationalist and xenophobic drift? Is the West becoming belligerent?
June 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The appointment of the next European Commission President now clearly threatens the very unity of the EU. The two opposing camps have been well shaped around those longing for less or more Union. The first cluster is formed around the British Prime Minister David Cameron, who utterly opposes the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker, finding the […]Why youth unemployment is so difficult to counter
June 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
With the unemployment rate of the young under 25 around 2.6 times higher than the overall percentage of people without a job in the European Union, an existential and fact-based question arises; does the EU really need a next generation of workers and consumers? Or rather, have the decision makers, in the political and economic […]Falling inflation urges ECB to introduce growth measures today
June 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, announced yesterday its flash estimate for May inflation at 0.5%, down from 0.7% in April, thus raising concerns that Eurozone is irreversibly heading to deflation area and confirms fears that the single money zone is threatened by a too low inflation for a too long period of time. Falling […]The 28 EU leaders show contempt for the European Elections results
June 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Despite the fact that the European Elections sent a resounding message of disenchantment and distrust for the European institutions, the leaders of the member states of the Union, in their last Summit in Brussels earlier last week, practically refused to take seriously the communication of the citizens, who voted or abstained from the balloting. […]Pro-EU forces won a 70% triumph in the European elections
May 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Today, Monday 26 May, the morrow of the EU elections, Eurosceptic and extremist newcomers in the European Parliament finally won’t be able to turn the European Union into a different and worse place. At the time when those lines were being typed, reliable result albeit partial, had already confirmed that Eurosceptic and extreme right parties […]The EU Commission by serving the banks offers poor support to European mainstream political parties
May 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The 2008-2012 financial aka banking crisis and its devastating repercussions on the European Union, with deep recession and skyrocketing unemployment, are the main reasons why the EU political and economic establishment shivers ahead of the 22-25 May elections fearing a possible disastrous result. Eurosceptic extremists, nationalists and harlequins may occupy an increased part of the […]EU elections: The louder the threats and the doomsaying the heavier the weight of the vote
May 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
All mainstream political leaders of Europe in the socialist camp, the liberals and the center-right parties, invariably exorcise nationalism and populism, as the gravest threats to the EU project. They are quite right to do so. It’s not only the future of the EU which is at stake. Nationalism and populism already threaten the very […]Germany and OSCE support an east-west dialogue in Ukraine without exclusions
May 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The West has lost the ball in Ukraine, while the Kremlin ruler tries to make the most out of it. What happened in Mariupol and Sloviansk cannot be justified. West’s allies in the country, that is the extreme right-wing groups and the mercenaries also working for the local oligarchs, proved uncontrollable and untrustworthy. At the […]Draghi’s ‘quasi’ announcement of a new era of more and cheaper money
May 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Mario Draghi, the ECB President, was more than explicit last week, that the European Central Bank will live up to its duty and do in June whatever it takes to help the Eurozone economy grow again and push inflation a bit upwards, back in line with the institutional target, which is below but close to […]Who threatens the lives and livelihoods of Ukrainians?
May 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment
People who fail to recognize that the stalemate in Ukraine cannot be resolved unilaterally by military force are not only very dangerous but are political, if not common law, crooks. For example, the appointed by the Maidan ‘regiments’, Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a lieutenant of the corrupt ex-Prime Minister Jylia Tymoshenko, while in Odessa […]Can the banking union help Eurozone counter its imminent threats?
May 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The completion of European Banking Union project last month, the most important undertaking of the EU after the introduction of the common euro currency, is undoubtedly the result of a long negotiated compromise, and as such it has many drawbacks. Firstly, it doesn’t recognize the fact that Eurozone’s mega-banks were the main culpable party for […]Eurozone: Negative statistics bring deflation and recession closer
May 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
An avalanche of disappointing statistics on Eurozone was released during the last two days, supporting the view that the single money zone is stuck in economic stagnation. The Business Climate Indicator (BCI), Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), the annual inflation and a euro area bank lending survey, all those statistics for April show that the euro […]How the EU crisis hit countries saved the German and French mega-banks from bankruptcy and still pay the costs
April 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor, speaking in a Conference on working conditions yesterday in Brussels, revealed that during the past few years the working conditions in the EU have greatly deteriorated, despite the ambitious targets set for the 2020 EU Strategy. According to Eurostat data: *Around 60% of temporary […]The completion of the European Banking Union attracts billions of new capital for Eurozone banks
April 16, 2014 by 1 Comment
The European Parliament adopted yesterday with large majorities three legal texts completing the European Banking Union, two years after the initial decision to create a common system, at least in the euro area, of regular bank supervision and resolution of failing lenders. In two separate votes and an approval at second reading without a new […]The Brussels bureaucracy blocks the Youth Guarantee scheme
April 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The fate of the Youth Guarantee scheme, constituted to help the under 25s to get a job or a training within four months after leaving the education system, is very characteristic of the importance attached to labour matters by the European decision makers and the Brussels bureaucracy in particular. According to the European Economic and […]The ECB ‘accidentally’ followed IMF‘s policy advice for growth and job creation by printing more money
April 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, speaking in Washington DC last Wednesday 2 April stressed that the world economy, in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008-2012, faces a long period of slow and sub-par growth, “well below the solid, sustainable growth that is needed to create enough jobs and improve […]Eurozone closer to a deflation – stagnation trap
March 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In a six line and few words Press release, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, announced its flash estimate for March Eurozone inflation at 0.5% further down from 0.7% in February, setting wide open the deflation (negative inflation rates) trap for the 18 countries euro area. This fast disinflation (falling inflation rates) course started last October, […]Ukraine: Is there a political force able to undo the division?
March 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, the EU Foreign Affairs Council condemned the illegal referendum in Crimea and took restrictive measures against 21 Russian and Crimean politicians and military officers. Also on Monday, probably without understanding what they were doing, the 28 European Foreign Ministers had the unfortunate idea to discuss during the same meeting the present state of […]ECB readies itself for extraordinary monetary measures defying Germany
March 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In direct antithesis with the German Federal Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schauble, Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, raised yesterday the issue of the deflation risk (negative inflation, most prices fall) which could possibly engulf Eurozone. Draghi, after receiving the ‘Schumpeter Preis’ in a ceremony for the Schumpeter Award, at the Oesterreichische […]Close to final agreement on the EU Banking Union
March 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday’s Eurogroup and today’s ECOFIN councils are convened almost exclusively to discuss the details of the two remaining gaps in the legal and of course the operating framework of the European Banking Union, which are, the Single Resolution Mechanism and the Resolution Fund. The two legislative bodies of the European Union, the Parliament and the […]ECB ready to counter the rise of the euro?
March 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As expected by many, the European Central Bank left its basic interest rate unchanged at 0.25%. However, Mario Draghi, the President of ECB, raised the tone of the central bank’s readiness to confront possible unfavorable developments in the money markets. Presumably he has in mind the risks which may arise in international money markets, from […]Draghi indirectly accuses Germany of using double standards in financial issues
March 5, 2014 by 1 Comment
Last Monday, Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank appeared in his last hearing in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, before the present legislature dissolves in view of the May elections. In his introductory speech he seized the opportunity to underline a few things that some European […]De Gucht: More gaffes with the talks on the EU-US free trade agreement
March 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
European Commissioner Karel de Gucht, responsible for Trade, speaking after the informal Athens meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade), attended by the 28 Foreign Trade ministers, failed to accurately report the Council’s opinion on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that is the free trade agreement currently under negotiation between the Union […]Can the US deal a blow to EU and Russia together over Ukraine?
February 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Within 24 hours the agreement that the European Union brokered in Ukraine was turned into a worthless paper by around 200 MPs and some hundreds of heavily armed ‘protestors’ in Kiev. Given that the power behind this radical change in the Parliament couldn’t be Russia or the EU it has to be Ukraine’s proper oligarchs, […]Eurozone: Despite anemic growth and shaky banks marks record trade surplus
February 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday morning, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, reserved a pleasant surprise to the European decision-makers by announcing its estimates for economic growth during the last quarter of 2013, with all four big Eurozone economies found in the positive part of the chart. Of course this development was not a surprise for Germany, but for both […]Draghi proposes timeframe for full Banking Union in five years
February 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday Mario Draghi, the President of European Central Bank, proposed that the time horizon for the full mutualisation of all bank resolution costs among the EU Banking Union member states, should be cut by half from ten to five years. Also yesterday, in a different occasion, Benoît Cœuré, Member of the Executive Board of the […]EU Parliament and Council: Close to agreement on the bank resolution mechanism
February 10, 2014 by 2 Comments
During this past week the European Parliament had been working hard on its position over the bank resolution mechanism (the last building block to complete the Banking Union), in the context of the ongoing negotiations between the legislative and the Greek Presidency of the Council. In two consecutive plenaries the MEPs approved resolutions making a […]ECOFIN: Choosing between the re-unification of Eurozone and a stalemate
January 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Tomorrow’s Economic and Finance Ministers Council (ECOFIN) set to be convened in Brussels, the first under the Greek Presidency, will have the crucial task to decide on the construction of the European Banking Union. In view of that, the European Parliament sent a letter to the Greek Presidency of the Council, rejecting both the legal […]Parliament toughens its position on banking union
January 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament reiterated the tough position of the legislative in relation to the Single Resolution Mechanism for failing banks. The SRM is meant to complete within the next four months the enactment of a real European Banking Union, according to the MEPs vision. In order to emphasise the decisiveness […]The fatal consequences of troika’s blind austerity policy
January 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
When the ‘troika’, made up by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund was atypically formed first in spring of 2010 to bail out and audit Greece, its widely advertised purpose was to inflict an internal devaluation on this country. Later on the troika undertook to perform the same task […]The Commission neglects the services sector and favours industry
January 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
On 22 January the European Commission will present a Communication on an EU wide project, under the grandiose name of “European Industrial Renaissance”. Despite its name, the Communication doesn’t seem to have a strong connection with reality. Even the early pre-announcement of this Communication released on 20 December contains elements of futility. It says “While […]
