There is no doubt that Europe is in disarray. The long standing malaise of high unemployment and economic stagnation has already mutated into critical political problems. The mutations of the European political ecosystem take various, unseen before forms. In the northern EU countries they invariably appear as extreme right or even semi-fascist political parties, inflated […]After the Italian ‘no’ and the Brexit, Germans must decide which Europe they want
December 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
There is no doubt that Europe is in disarray. The long standing malaise of high unemployment and economic stagnation has already mutated into critical political problems. The mutations of the European political ecosystem take various, unseen before forms. In the northern EU countries they invariably appear as extreme right or even semi-fascist political parties, inflated […]Trump’s blasting win causes uncertainty and turbulence to the global financial markets
November 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
So Donald Trump against all odds won the US elections and will become the 45th President of the United States of America. The latter had as a result to cause severe and immediate turbulences to the world’s financial markets which experienced serious losses in the first few hours of the elections. However, Trump’s victory speech that came right after […]Trump beats Clinton but Americans will learn the hard way that the US can’t change with an election
November 9, 2016 by 1 Comment
With a large part of voters disgusted from this US Presidential race, which reached unseen before heights of bitterness, hatred, toxic recrimination and another part of Americans ready to contest the result, had Donald Trump lost the race. In the end, he achieved a landslide win and will become the next President of the USA. […]UK economy in dire straits: leading banks now officially plan to Brexit too
October 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
At the morrow of the Brexit vote, back in late June this year, one of the first warnings on the possible disastrous effects of the UK leaving the European Union was all about the banking sector. The entire British financial sector was in the eye of the storm and the world’s main media outlets started to […]Draghi left alone with no hope of boosting EU growth as Merkel just focuses on next elections
September 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It was last Monday when the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) discussed with members of the economic and monetary affairs committee at the European Parliament (EP) about the EU economy in the aftermath of the UK referendum, revealing that the euro area economy shows notable adjustment properties to the global economic and political uncertainty. […]The EU seals CETA but plans to re-baptise TTIP after missing the 2016 deadline
September 27, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The trade ministers of the European Union, after their plenary meeting in Bratislava last Friday, may not have found a way to revive the interest around TTIP, but surely all agreed on one thing: negotiations on the EU-US free trade agreement will almost certainly not be finished before the end of Obama’s presidency. The key […]Mario Draghi didn’t do it but Kim Jong-un did
September 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday, Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, was unable to move the capital and money markets with his customary monetary policy Press conference in Frankfurt am Main. On the contrary, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, a global castoff, did it the next day just by pressing a button. However, it took […]Merkel refuses to consider the North-South schism of Eurozone
August 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European leaders who form the EU ‘directoire’ may get together as many times as they like, but still appear incapable of solving the club’s existential problems. Last Monday the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the French President Francois Hollande and the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met in Naples to relaunch Europe, after the Brexit. […]Gloomy new statistics signify no end to Eurozone’s economic misery
August 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The economic misery of the Eurozone doesn’t seem to have an end. According to a preliminary estimate by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, GDP growth in the 19 member state monetary zone during the second quarter of this year was as miser as ever. On top of that, inflation continues to oscillate around zero, while […]Will Europe be able to deal with the migration crisis alone if Turkey quits the pact?
August 4, 2016 by 2 Comments
The European Union keeps on focusing on the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement on the migration crisis despite being threatened by Turkey that the latter will step off the deal if the EU will not keep its last March’s promises. The European Commission is determined not to let Turkey leave so easily and aims at financially supporting refugees […]Deutsche Bank: the next financial crisis is here and the lenders need €150 billion from taxpayers
July 14, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last Monday David Folkerts-Landau, the chief economist of Deutsche Bank, the ailing largest lender of Germany, in an interview with the prestigious newspaper ‘Die Welt’ stated that European banks must be subsidized with €150 billion in rescue money to recapitalize. Obviously, it will be the taxpayers to once more provide the capital the euro area […]Biggest London City Banks ready to move core European operations to Frankfurt or Dublin?
June 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The United Kingdom last week has voted to leave the European Union and thus opened the most uncertain chapter of its modern history. The business side of the complicated Brexit drama is indeed where the whole world is currently looking at, as the main economic players are still trying to figure out the way they will be influenced by all […]Brexit: when the hubris of one man can set the UK, the EU and the entire world on fire
June 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This article was exclusively written for the Sting by Mr Panos Katsampanis, PhD candidate in European Studies at King’s College London University who focuses his political psychology research on voting behaviour at EU referendums. What started as a long shot promise back in 2013, when David Cameron committed to an EU Referendum sometime before 2017, if elected at May […]The IMF sees Brexit’s ‘substantial impact’ while the world’s economy holds its breath
June 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The International Monetary Fund last Friday published what will most likely remain its most detailed analysis on a “Brexit” scenario, calling the impact of Britain’s departure from the European Union “negative and substantial”. With only two days to go until the referendum, it is clear more than ever that the economic field now is where […]For how long and at what cost can the ECB continue printing trillions to keep euro area going?
June 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday Eurostat, the EU statistical service issued a Press release revealing that the GDP of Eurozone (EU19) and EU28 rose in the first quarter of this year by 1.7% and 1.8% respectively, compared with the same three-month period of 2015. On the yearly developments platform, there is more good news. The same source revealed […]Unemployment and exclusion brings EU cities to boiling point
June 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday Eurostat, the EU statistical service release its latest estimates about the April unemployment rate and May inflation in Eurozone, which unfortunately didn’t diverge markedly from the gloomy predictions of analysts. This week however, the same source published a very interesting survey about the labor market situation in EU. It’s a special report about […]Greece bailout programme: Full agreement after marathon negotiations on debt relief between IMF and Eurozone
May 25, 2016 by 1 Comment
The Finance ministers of the Eurozone met yesterday in Brussels to discuss mainly on the implementation of Greece’s ESM economic adjustment programme and have come to a final deal which will lead to the conclusion of the first review unlocking the second tranche of 10,3 billion euros. The Ministers gave a direct assignment to the […]Conflicting statistics and bad banks haunt the Eurozone
May 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, released its flash estimate of the GDP of the first quarter of 2016, finding it, in both the Eurozone and the EU28, to be 0.5% bigger in comparison to the previous period. In the fourth quarter of 2015, GDP had also grown by 0.3% and 0.4% respectively. Does […]Eurozone’s central bank leadership prepares for shoddier prospects
May 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It has become commonplace to state that the European economy still doesn’t fare well after six years of recession or practical stagnation. For good reasons however in the past few days the horizon looked particularly darkened. Negative statistical evidence and meandering statements by key people are indicative of that. Inflation or rather disinflation statistics, persistently […]Why the ECB had to clarify it caters for the entire Eurozone not just Germany?
April 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday morning this newspaper concluded that the “only EU institution with true European motives and vision remains the European Central Bank of Mario Draghi”. Just some hours later in that Thursday afternoon the European Sting was confirmed one hundred percent by Mario Draghi, the President of ECB, who said that “We have a mandate […]No hard drivers in sight to remodel the stagnating affairs of the EU
April 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It’s a tautological statement to say that the euro area is an economy which barely moves ahead, towards producing more jobs and incomes for the tens of millions of the unemployed and materially deprived. However, it seems that it’s worse than that. Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, said it plainly in […]Who cares more about taxpayers? The US by being harsh on major banks or the EU still caressing them?
April 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The world economy remains more or less motionless or even recedes six years after the financial meltdown, because the banking industry has not yet decided what’s best for its interests. Continue leveraging itself (borrowing) on central bank liquidity in a stagnating environment, or start deleveraging and send the world to another deep recession, if not […]Can Greece’s devastating economy deal with the migration crisis?
April 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission’s assessment on the Action Plan where Greece describes how to cope with migration deficiencies regarding its external border control reveal that the Southern country has shown remarkable improvement but there are still many points that need to be addressed and improved. What is more, the Commission made clear on yesterday’s press release […]No recovery for EU economy in sight and a Brexit can aggravate things for everyone
April 4, 2016 by 1 Comment
The Eurozone economy doesn’t seem able to gain a sustainable growth path, despite the hundreds of billions that, lately, European Central Bank has injected into the financial system. Analysts say, though, that ECB’s intervention came too late. There is more bad news for the real economy coming from the prices front. Last week, Eurostat, the […]For how long will terror and economic stagnation be clouding the European skies?
March 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Some days ago the European statistical service, Eurostat confirmed that the inflation rate in the euro area for February was well into the negative part of the chart at -0.2%. This is an infallible sign that Eurozone remains in the stagnation or even the recession region of the economic cycle for a sixth year in […]Pumping more money into banks but leaving them unregulated doesn’t help
March 3, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On Thursday 25 February, this newspaper concluded that “the other major central banks in Europe, China, Japan and elsewhere appear ready to fill the gap that the Fed plans to leave in the ‘money for nothin’ game”. This week’s developments completely justified this prediction. The immediate result is a new appreciation of the dollar with […]Does Draghi have another ace up his sleeve given his Quantitative Easing failure?
March 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union, released a flash estimate for euro area annual inflation revealing a -0,2% inflation rate for February. The latter has worried the European Central Bank’s (ECB) officials and especially its president Mario Draghi. ECB’s Governing Council meeting which is taking place next week will have to reconsider […]Can the next financial crisis be avoided?
February 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The descent of prices in the world capital markets continued almost unhindered this past week and only last Friday financial, oil and commodity values gained some limited grounds. Altogether however, the major stock markets have erased trillions off their capitalization since last June, when the dark clouds gathered above the Chinese mega-cities of Shanghai and […]Draghi drafts a plan to donate more money to bankers, the era of ‘money for nothin’ is flourishing
February 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Central Bank announced last week that under its extraordinary Asset Purchase Program (APP), it has injected €712.3 billion into the euro area financial system until January this year. Out of that, €544.2bn are Eurozone government and public entities bonds, bought under the Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP). This last plan was decided in […]Is there a way out of the next financial crisis? Can more printed money or austerity save us all?
February 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Every time Mario Draghi, the President of the European Central Bank, tries to fight very low inflation and indirectly support growth and job creation in Eurozone with monetary measures, the Germans stand in his way. Last Thursday 28 January, Jens Weidmann, the governor of the German central bank the Bundesbank, did it again. In an […]EU to pay a dear price if the next crisis catches Eurozone stagnant and deflationary; dire statistics from Eurostat
January 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Amidst the historically worst first week of a year since stock exchange records exist, the Eurozone economy remains stagnant and appears clearly unable to offer itself and the rest of the global economy a sigh of relief. All along the first week of the New Year Eurostat kept airing quite disappointing statistics for the Eurozone […]The New Year 2016 will not be benevolent to Europe
January 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The year that just ended was rather nasty to the European Union and the New Year 2016 won’t be any better. The economic, financial and political problems culminated to the migration crisis in the second half of 2015, with Greece implicated in more than one of the abovementioned predicaments. The lagged reaction of Brussels to […]ECB money bonanza not enough to revive euro area, Germany longs to rule with stagnation
December 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
During the days ahead of last Thursday’s 3 December meeting of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, financial markets and market oriented media had been pressing for a stronger monetary accommodation (easing), than what President Mario Draghi finally announced in the afternoon of that day. As a result, the euro appreciated markedly with the dollar […]
