It’s a real disappointment to follow the business climate indicator (BCI) table during the last months. As from April 2012 this index is stuck in a continuous downward course and not once in the thirteen month period, from April 2012 to April 2013, this indicator didn’t record a positive price. The continuous line of the […]EU: All economic indicators in free fall
April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It’s a real disappointment to follow the business climate indicator (BCI) table during the last months. As from April 2012 this index is stuck in a continuous downward course and not once in the thirteen month period, from April 2012 to April 2013, this indicator didn’t record a positive price. The continuous line of the […]Eurozone: The cycle of deficits, debts and austerity revisited
April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A European Union Member State’s government budget deficit may not exceed -3 % of its gross domestic product (GDP), while its debt may not exceed 60 % of GDP. If a Member State does not respect these limits, the so-called excessive deficit procedure is triggered. The procedures against member states for excessive deficit or debt […]The European Internet is not neutral and neither is the Commissioner
April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
How many times were you out with friends and wanted to show them a new cool video on Youtube through your smart phone but buffering was unbelievably slow? What about the time you had a cheap pay-as-you-go subscription and you wanted to save money using Viber to call your friends for free instead of giving […]Hostages to a rampant banking system
April 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission presented yesterday its European Financial Stability and Integration Report (EFSIR) at a joint conference with the European Central Bank (ECB) in Brussels. Overall, the report concludes that “despite improvements, the financial crisis continued to exert a significant impact in holding back economic growth in 2012”. Earlier today, Friday 26 April, the European […]Eurozone has definitely overcome its structural uncertainties
April 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Reading the latest statistics on EU member states government deficit and debt, issued by Eurostat, the EU statistical service was a revelation. For the first time the Service noted that, “Eurostat has no reservations, nor did it make amendments on the data reported by Member States”. It was a relieve knowing this after all those […]Berlin’s governing elite leads Eurozone to recession to win the September election in Germany
April 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As if everything was rosy and growing in the Eurozone, the German federal ministry of Finance issued yesterday a press release demanding that everybody in the euro area continues on the same line of economic policies, targeting financial and fiscal consolidation by using severe austerity measures mainly in deficit countries. For Germany proper Eurostat found […]Whose interests are protected by the new Mortgage Directive?
April 23, 2013 by 4 Comments
At a time when very few European consumers decide to look for a mortgage to buy a new home and the European lenders very sparingly grant such loans, the European Commission found the opportunity to launch its new initiative on a Mortgage Directive, supposedly to better protect consumers. Under the experience of the past four […]Everybody for himself in G20 and IMF
April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The G20 meeting of this last weekend evolved in the shadow of the confrontation between the US Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew and the German Federal minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble. Obviously the subject of this antithesis was the reluctance of Eurozone to apply the American recipe for economic growth. That is the issue of […]IMF: European banks do not perform their duty to real economy
April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
During this week everybody took an interest on Europe’s and more so on Eurozone’s financial standing. During the last two days Jörg Asmussen, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, the International Monetary Fund and the European Council Presidency came out to either criticise or reassure everybody that the European financial and banking system […]G20 to Germany: Abandon miser policies
April 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Tomorrow Thursday 18 April, the 20 ministers of Finance and central bankers of the largest economies of the planet will meet in Washington DC to discuss and agree on policies over world financial and real economy affairs. The meeting takes place just hours after the International Monetary Fund issued its regular World Economic Outlook (see […]Tourism offers much to the EU gets a little
April 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The summer giant of European tourism woke up again from its winter hibernation and is about to favour the crisis and unemployment stricken southern regions of the Old Continent and not only. For a brief period of one week or so the entire population of countries in the misty and grey north travel southwards to […]Germany and France only care about keeping their borrowing cheap
April 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The two days of unofficial meetings of the Ecofin and the Eurogroup councils staged in the historic scenery of the Dublin Castle completely missed their targets. For one thing today’s main story, by Suzan A. Kane, on the European Sting proves that the much-advertised target to arrest the €1 trillion tax evasion in the EU […]Eurozone dignitaries play with people’s life savings
April 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The informal Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings in Dublin today and tomorrow will discuss but are not expected to come up with decisions on two burning and closely interrelated financial issues. It is about the relaxation of bank secrecy legislation in certain EU member states like Austria and Luxembourg and the procedures to be followed from […]Galileo and EGNOS programmes back in orbit powered with €70 billion
April 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Irish Presidency of the European Council secured a major breakthrough agreement on the development of Europe’s global satellite navigation system. According to a relevant Press release, “The Irish Presidency has secured agreement with the European Parliament on an EU Regulation on the implementation and exploitation of European satellite navigation systems. The purpose of the […]EU ready to relinquish its internal tax havens
April 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The upcoming Ecofin and Eurogroup meetings in Dublin on 12 and 13 April may be informal but they are expected to introduce a ground breaking policy initiative. The new idea is that the 27 European Union countries should mutually abolish their banking secrecy rules and practices vis-à-vis the tax authorities of all member states. In […]EU is officially in recession
April 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union, confirmed yesterday with its regular third estimate, that during the last quarter of 2012 the Gross Domestic Product fell by 0.6% in the Euro area and by 0.5% in the EU27, in comparison with the previous three-month period of the same year. Eurostat’s third regular GDP estimation […]Eurozone retail sales fall shows recession
April 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, retail trade volume in February compared with January 2013 fell by 0.3% in euro area and remained stable in the EU27. However in comparison with the same month of 2012, the drop in retail sales was much larger. In detail, in February 2013 compared with the same month […]Facts and prejudices about work
April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Union and more so the Eurozone countries change fast into service sector economies, increasingly favouring the transfer of the heavy production burden of industry and agriculture to the developing economies. This is not necessarily a negative development given that labour in services is generally less demanding, at least physically, and it is rather […]Is Eurozone heading for disinflation?
April 3, 2013 by 1 Comment
It will be very interesting to hear what the governor of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has to say tomorrow in his monthly Press conference, about the fast falling inflation rate and the even faster growing unemployment in Eurozone. Unless he sticks to the letter of ECB’s Statutes and insists, that unemployment does not […]Uncovered liabilities of €5 billion may render EU insolvent
April 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The deplorable tactics of practically all European Union governments to hide the problems under the carpet, for the next administration to confront them, couldn’t leave Brussels untouched. In this way the European Union budget for 2013 has been loaded with a huge burden of €16.2 billion of unpaid 2012 bills, a fact that threatens the […]European Union: More taxes out of less income
April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In the fourth year of the ongoing financial and real economy crisis, with government social spending severely cut and bank credit to households and businesses continuously shirking, tax increases remain the only sure thing in life. According to a study by two Eurostat authors, Elisabeth Joossens and Laura Wahrig, taxes in absolute terms surpassed the […]Eurozone recession subsides
March 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to the €-coin index the euro area growth remained negative for the 18th month in a row in March 2013, after the index turned negative in October 2011. The index measures the level of economic activity in the entire Eurozone and predicts GDP developments some months before the official data appear. The only positive […]Is the West gradually losing Africa?
March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At a time when the West on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean is consumed with its internal financial problems as in the European Union’s Eurozone or just exhausting the limits of government borrowing as the US does, the BRICS countries are expanding their presence in the world, taking advantage of their economic strength […]Germany hides its own banks’ problems
March 28, 2013 by 1 Comment
The insistence of the Brussels, Berlin and Paris authorities that Cyprus is a special case and the rest of the Eurozone banking system is safe, has only superficial value. Markets do not believe that. It’s not only that the Greek, Italian or even the Spanish banking systems are in deep trouble. The problems are not […]EU car manufacturers worry about an FTA with Japan
March 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), had expressed reserves over the EU Council and Commission initiative to start negotiations with Japan in order the two sides to conclude a far reaching Free Trade Agreement (FTA). ACEA was founded in 1991 and represents authentically the interests of the fifteen major European car, truck and bus manufacturers […]Eurogroup president swallows statement on savings confiscation
March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Even if last weekend’s negotiations over the Cyprus problem were so demanding and exhausting for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch minister of Finance and President of Eurogroup is not excused for having said that the solution agreed for Cyprus will be from now on the standard arrangement for any future financial bailout or rather bail-in in […]Why and how Germany had it again its own way in Cyprus
March 25, 2013 by 1 Comment
The final agreement reached between the Eurogroup and the Cypriot authorities contains two pivotal elements. The first is a draconian downsizing of the tiny country’s overgrown banking system. The second and less important element is “an independent evaluation of the implementation of the anti-money laundering framework in Cypriot financial institutions, involving Moneyval alongside a private […]Managers’ pay under fire
March 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Parliament approved on Thursday 21 March, new rules capping fund manager bonuses. Undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS), which gather assets from ordinary retail investors and pool them to buy bonds, shares or other financial products, must from now on operate under stricter rules, to protect investors in them properly, said […]EU prepares a banking union amidst financial ruins
March 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
There was no better opportunity than now, to observe how unfounded and shallow the institutional structure of Eurozone was, probably for the big guys to do whatever they liked. At a time when the Cyprus banking sector threatens to drive the whole island to a shipwreck, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission are […]Eurozone in trouble after Nicosia’s ‘no’
March 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The comparison of repercussions from the Greek ‘yes’ and the Cyprus ‘no’, to the troika of EU-ECB-IMF proposals, concerning the bailouts of the corresponding economies, may produce political and financial implications for many Eurozone governments, the EU Commission and the International Monetary Fund. The Greek ‘yes’ is presenting very difficult problems in the longer […]Cyprus tragedy reveals Eurozone’s arbitrary functioning
March 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Monday’s night statement by the Eurogroup President, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, on Cyprus was the perfect field for a full PhD research, on the way decisions are made in the European Union. The problem is that until some years ago this kind of decision-making when wrong, and it usually was, had negative consequences only on subsidies paid […]EU Summit consumed by the banks
March 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Spring European Council made yesterday a timid step towards the introduction of more social content in the austerity programmes currently applied in the EU and a giant leap forward in constituting the EU banking union. The relevance and the practical implications of the texts on each one of those two issues included in the final […]High-technology manufacturing saves the EU industry
March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to a study by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, high and medium technology industries saved the manufacturing sector from a much larger fall during the difficult crisis years from 2008 until 2010. Still, the industrial sector has not yet fully recovered and in January 2013 compared to December 2012, seasonally adjusted overall industrial production fell […]
