The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of Eurozone banks has completed its cycle of approvals by all EU institutions and comes into force as from next month. After one year from now, that is as from November 2014, the European Central Bank will be responsible for the health of Eurozone’s banking system. Under the provisions of […]ECB embarks on the risky trip to Eurozone banking universe
October 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of Eurozone banks has completed its cycle of approvals by all EU institutions and comes into force as from next month. After one year from now, that is as from November 2014, the European Central Bank will be responsible for the health of Eurozone’s banking system. Under the provisions of […]EU Banks still get subsidies from impoverished citizens
October 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Five years after the melt down of the western financial system, triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and the European taxpayers still pay the price. According to European Commission’s estimates the cost of government (aka taxpayer and all citizens) support to failing banks in Eurozone reached €4.5 trillion during the first […]What do Europeans believe about the crisis and the possible way out?
October 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Despite the falling level of citizens’ confidence in EU institutions during the past few years from 55% in 2007 to 44% in 2012, a recent Eurobarometer survey found that respondents insist that the EU is best placed to regulate banks, with 54% of the respondents supporting this view. This is a direct proof that Europeans […]The Parliament paves the way for the creation of the European Banking Union
October 18, 2013 by 2 Comments
Today, 18 October, is the last day for MEPs to table their amendments with the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Committee, in the process of formulating the legislature’s proposal for an EU mechanism to sort out troubled banks. This is the much debated bank resolution and recovery mechanism and fund. The Committee vote is planned for […]Eurozone and Britain heading in different directions
October 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, confirmed yesterday that its ‘flash estimate’ of September inflation at 1.1% is correct. In a brief Press release, the Service announced that, “Euro area annual inflation was 1.1% in September 2013, down from 1.3% in August. A year earlier the rate was 2.6%. Monthly inflation was 0.5% in September 2013”. […]The Ecofin deceives the SMEs with the EIB €10bn capital increase
October 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Shakespeare’s comedy play title “Much Ado About Nothing” best describes the 28 Ecofin ministers for Finance discussion on the EU Commission and European Investment Bank initiative, wishfully aimed at facilitating the access to finance for SMEs. The programme extends over the next few years and foresees an increase of EIB’s capital by €10 billion. This […]The European Parliament wants to stay in one place
October 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At last – it was high time that the European Parliament took the responsibility to determine its own agenda and of course to decide where it sits! For decades now legislators travel incessantly to and from between Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg, running after timetables and squandering taxpayers’ money in travel expenses and hotel bookings. Thank […]Why Europe is more competitive than the US
October 11, 2013 by 1 Comment
The commonly recited rough theory, that Eurozone economy is less competitive than the US, is not confirmed by core statistics. The European Sting has repeatedly stressed that Eurozone is by far a net exporter of sophisticated products and services, while the US suffers of a chronic and probably structural, foreign trade deficit. In this […]Who may profit from the rise of the extreme right in the West?
October 10, 2013 by 1 Comment
The European Parliament seemed abruptly awoken yesterday to an ugly reality, by recognising the rise of right-wing extremism in Europe, while discussing the murder of Pavlos Fissas, the Greek social activist slaughtered by the gangs of Golden Dawn. Of course the EU Parliament is not the only western top decision making body to suddenly discover, […]Asking for more restriction on intra EU immigration: Unproductive and politically dangerous
October 9, 2013 by 5 Comments
For the average EU citizen, the right of free movement within the Union’s borders, is the most important and visible attainment in the sixty year history of the European Union. Very few Europeans are in a position to appreciate the advantages of the free movement of capital and goods, while everybody understands and benefits from […]Lagarde: Keep feeding the banks cut down wages and food subsidies
October 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Lagarde to the world: Keep feeding the banks with zero interest rate cost money, further trim down workers’ rights in the developed world and reduce subsidies on foodstuffs and utilities in developing countries. This was in short what the managing director of IMF had to say, ahead of the 2013 World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings, when […]More capital and liquidity for the banks
October 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Benoît Cœuré, a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, after taking care of banks’ recapitalisation needs last week using taxpayers money, embarked yesterday in a new adventure to convince us all, that central banks with their unlimited liquidity supply to banks, do not help them exploit hard-working labourers and small and […]Parliament to ask for the suspension of EU-US deal on bank data
October 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The members of Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) of the European Parliament and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström will discuss on Wednesday 9 October the possibility to ask for the suspension or even the termination of the EU-US agreement on the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). This action will come as a response […]Parliament cuts own spending to facilitate agreement on EU budget
October 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Budgets Committee of the European Parliament made yesterday a new proposal on the 2014 EU Budget, that the European Council cannot deny. Law makers cut down the legislative’s own expenses, but reversed the Council’s proposed cuts in investments to stimulate growth and jobs. In detail Budgets Committee MEPs voted yesterday in favour of cutting […]EU agricultural production no more a self-sufficiency anchor
October 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The last deal to reform the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) this week between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council is a final recognition, concluded that European agriculture is not considered any more as the basic supplier of food for the Union’s 500 million inhabitants. It also recognises that farmers should receive aid […]Eurozone: Disinflation engulfs the industrial goods sector
October 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In three months, from July to September this year, inflation in Eurozone fell from 1.6% to 1.1%, with a brief stopover of 1.3% in August. The European Sting has been sounding the alarm for months now, over this fast deceleration of consumer goods prices. This trend is present all along this year, starting from […]The banks want now free capital from taxpayers
September 30, 2013 by 1 Comment
Benoît Cœuré, a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, delivered a speech today on “The implications of bail-in rules for bank activity and stability”. This was the opening speech at conference on “Financing the recovery after the crisis – the roles of bank profitability, stability and regulation”, staged by Milan’s Bocconi […]What is the IMF telling Eurozone about fiscal and banking unification?
September 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The International Monetary Fund questions the efforts of the European Union to establish effective fiscal discipline policy instruments and a smoothly functioning banking union in the euro area. In a survey entitled “More Fiscal Integration to Boost Euro Area Resilience”, the Fund analysts observe that “Crisis exposed important gaps in architecture of the euro area”. […]Bank resolutions and recapitalisations by the ESM may end up politically swayed
September 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Klaus Regling, the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), speaking yesterday at the European Parliament, when pressed by legislators, accepted that the wealthy ESM under conditions could function as a backstop and finance jointly with other sources, euro area bank resolutions and recapitalisations. Regling did concede that he was “open to considering other […]Water supply a human right but Greeks to lose their functioning utilities
September 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Since April 2012, when the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon was actually launched, one of the more successful such efforts was the ECI “on water and sanitation as a human right”. A citizens’ initiative is an invitation for the EU to legislate in areas within its mandate. It has to […]Brussels waits for the Germans to arrive
September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
European Council president Herman Van Rompuy in a four short lines announcement congratulating Angela Merkel on her victory in yesterday’s elections repeats her name twice, plus once in the title. This is rather too much in a fifty words official statement. The announcement written in the usual official language avoids celebrating the CDU-CSU victory but […]EU Budgets: Europe hoping for Xmas gifts
September 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union’s Council is now under pressure over the approval of EU’s 2014-2020 budget regulation, referred to as the EU’s Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF), planned to support EU’s expenses for the next seven years amounting to €1 trillion. The problem is however that the approval of the first EU budget […]The EU lets the bankers go on rigging the benchmarks
September 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission adopted yesterday additional “measures to restore confidence in benchmarks following Libor and Euribor scandals”. The new draft legislation complements the political agreement on Market Abuse Regulation proposed by the Commission last July and endorsed by the Parliament and the Council. Benchmark setting is not confined only to interest rates like Libor and […]Job vacancy data reveal better prospects for Britain, stagnation in Eurozone
September 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Job vacancy statistics is not a widely used analytical tool despite the fact that is follows more accurately a number of vital social and economic variables, like the robustness of growth or the steepness of fall of economic activity. They are also indicative of the structural effectiveness of labour market workings, of the efficacy of […]Is Eurozone heading for disinflation?
September 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Under different circumstances a drop of inflation to 1.3% could have been a cause for celebration. It’s not like that now. The fall of the inflation rate to that level in August is a rather negative development. However averages on many instances hide the truth. Eurozone countries in deep recession like Greece and Cyprus or […]EU deserves the title of the Syrian affair merchandiser
September 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
With the US-Russian agreement on chemical weapons in Syria the world economy and more so Europe avoided a new blow, at a time when the resumption of business activities, especially in the European south, prove to be more fragile than expected. There is no doubt that this development defused the tensions which run high after […]Why capital markets have no more reservetions about Eurozone
September 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Borrowing on international markets is not at all a straightforward activity. Things are even more complicated when it comes to long-term debt paper with maturities spanning to decades. This little theory tells a lot about Eurozone’s creditworthiness. As a matter of fact, during the last few weeks the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) borrowed from […]IMF’s Lagarde to Peoples of the world: You have to work more for the banks!
September 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, delivered a speech recently during this year’s Jackson Hole Symposium, praising the Unconventional Monetary Policies (UMP) followed by the central banks to save the world from a great depression, similar to the one of 1929. The risk was real as Lagarde noted but she didn’t […]Stricter rules and tougher sanctions for market manipulation and financial fraud
September 11, 2013 by 2 Comments
The plenary session of the European Parliament followed yesterday a motion of the Economic and monetary affairs Committee and adopted in ‘the first reading’ the text of a draft Regulation providing for tougher sanctions for financial markets manipulation. This is an ordinary legislative procedure repealing Directive 2003/6/EC. According to a Parliament Press release issued afterwards […]Women to save Europe’s own labour resources
September 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Labour market participation rates are socially sensitive variables and as such are slightly affected by short-term economic developments and modestly connected to cyclical changes. Because of that any attempt to follow the evolution of labour market participation percentages has to cover long periods incorporating more than one economic cycle. In view of that Eurostat, the […]Commission’s feeble response to financial benchmarks fraud
September 9, 2013 by 1 Comment
On Wednesday 18 September the European Commission is expected to propose a draft legislation on financial benchmarks to protect their setting from fraud and collusion. The stakes are so big that surpass the wildest imagination. For example Libor, the London market interest rate benchmark, is used as a base for interest rates settlements all over […]Draghi reserved about Eurozone’s growth prospects
September 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, during the Press conference following the meeting of the Governing Council, in answering a journalist’s question appeared quite reserved about Eurozone’s growth prospects. Despite the fact that ECB’s staff projections for 2013 have been revised upwards, estimates for 2014 growth potential are now downgraded. Not to […]Why lay people don’t expect anything good from G20
September 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
If restoring global confidence relied on G20 efforts to fight tax evasion and control money market funds (MMFs), then the earth could end up being a totally unsafe and risky place. Who can deny that it is like that today? Tax evasion grows fast and the same is true for financial profiteering. This last development […]
