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 […]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 […]Our present and future tax payments usurped by banks
March 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to Eurostat, the EU statistical service, tax payments in absolute terms, kept rising in the Eurozone after 2009 and surpassed the pre-crisis levels in 2011. Given that all along this period most of the euro area member states applied austerity measures, by cutting social spending, it is common knowledge by now that the extra […]
Germany loses leading export place
March 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to the prestigious German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), the country lost its leading position in the list of exporting nations. It was not only China that surpassed Germany in terms of exports of goods, but also the US exported more products during 2012. DIW is one of the leading economic research institutions […]EU decides “in absentia” of civil society
March 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Economic and Social Committee and other European civil society organisations and networks organised this year’s Civil Society Day on Wednesday 6 March at the EESC premises in Brussels. The main and burning conclusion from this event was that the EU decision-making procedures are taking place “in absentia” of any legitimisation by civil society […]European tourism remains a strong growth factor
March 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The mighty European services industry offers more jobs and employment despite the ongoing financial crisis. Tourism, being the largest service sub-sector offers a strong support base to the recession stricken Eurozone economy. Yesterday the European Commission published a Eurobarometer survey on the tourism industry, with very encouraging findings. According to this survey, “Tourism’s robust and […]Commission’s spending totally uncontrolled
March 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago the European Court of Auditors established that the money spent on EU projects to enhance energy efficiency (€5 billion since 2000) did not achieve targets. More recently, the CoA also found that “The effectiveness of EU funding for municipal waste management (€10.8bn in the period 2000-2006) infrastructures was limited, due to […]The Ecofin Council creates officially the clan of ‘undead’ banks
March 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Today 5 March 2013, in Brussels, without much publicity the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the European Union, known as the Ecofin Council, is expected to discuss, inter alia, the new draft rules on bank capital requirements (“CRD 4”), including future rules on bankers’ bonuses. Those issues go in pair, in a way that […]Switzerland to introduce strict restrictions on executive pay
March 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, speaking recently during the 11th Annual Conference of the European Financial Services, revealed his frustrating experience from this years’ Davos gathering. On that occasion Barnier had the opportunity to meet the leaders of the world financial industry. Talking with them, he said he understood they are […]Inflation keeps falling in Eurozone
March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The downwards trend of Eurozone’s inflation rate is an infallible witness of the strong competitive base of home production on both fronts, that is manufacturing production and services. According to Eurostat, the EU statistical service, “The euro area annual inflation rate was 2.0 % in January 2013, down from 2.2 % in December 2012. A […]Commission considers anti-dumping duty on Chinese solar glass imports
February 28, 2013 by 1 Comment
The European Commission launched today (Thursday 28 February), an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China. According to the relevant official announcement, “The initiation is based on a complaint lodged by the association European Union ProSun Glass, which claims solar glass from China is being dumped in the EU at prices below market […]How wealthy people transmit this advantage to their children and grand children
February 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical service, published data on poverty and social exclusion risks for EU citizens in 2011, showing completely disappointing results. The interesting thing, however, is that Eurostat didn’t release similar data for previous years for comparison reasons. Given that the much-advertised by the Brussels EU bureaucracy, “Europe 2020 strategy”, has set as […]‘Free state aid’ for imprudent banks
February 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Over the past few years the Commission’s approval for government rescue of imprudent banks, under the EU state aid rules, has become a cliché. As if those rules do not exist, when it comes to banks. On every other state aid case granted by national governments to the private sector, the Commission remains adamant and […]EU Parliament raises burning issues over the FTA with the US
February 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee discussed for the first time, the much advertised joint announcement by the EU and the US, to start negotiations for the conclusion of a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. As the European Sting predicted the FTA negotiators would be confronted with two very old and very thorny issues. According […]German banks suffer of nausea amidst rough seas
February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Earlier this week, Dr Andreas Dombret, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, responsible for financial stability and risk controlling, delivered an open lecture in Hamburg, entitled “In the year 2013 – Challenges from a financial stability perspective” . Apart from the burning questions he posed for a number of Eurozone countries’ sovereign debt, […]The EU pollution rights trading system frozen
February 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The recent collapse of the European Union emissions trading system (EU-ETS) revealed the flimsy grounds on which the EU has built its policy against the climate change. The idea was to make polluting expensive but not much so. How thin were the foundations of this system started to clearly emerge, when the economic crisis knocked […]Draghi sees inflationary bubbles
February 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The governor of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, speaking yesterday in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, in an unexpectedly strong statement said that the euro area is still open to “potential inflationary bubbles”. He then added that “the possible effects of Euro exchange rates on inflation must be monitored […]The Commission breathless behind the horsemeat scandal
February 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The horsemeat scandal is still running free all over the European Union. Yesterday, a pompously named EU Commission group entitled, “Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health” (SCoFCAH), unanimously agreed in an extraordinary meeting, that the measures proposed by Commissioner Tonio Borg are adequate to counter the health and the fraud problem related to […]Financial Transaction Tax: More money for future bank bailouts?
February 15, 2013 by 3 Comments
The European Commission announced today the details of the implementation of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT), under the procedure of the enhanced cooperation. It must be noted that such a procedure may be launched at the request of at least nine EU member states. Incidentally, the eleven member states actually wishing to introduce a financial […]Consumers suffer three defeats
February 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
European consumers suffered three blows yesterday. After having being informed that their beef burgers contained uncontrolled horse meat and secondly that the EU is ready to allow in American GMOs and animal products with hormones, came the Commission to recognise, that safety rules in the non-food product markets are inadequate. On this last issue the […]Horse meat runs faster than authorities…
February 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Every now and then, at irregular time intervals, the European food production chain is shaken by scandals that make consumers feel quite unprotected against the greed and the remorselessness of some producers and traders. Everybody understands that there are huge holes in the control and the food products labelling system, probably except the competent (?) […]Trying to cure bank cancer with analgesics
February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last week the European Central Bank issued a press release welcoming the EU Commission’s initiative to regulate the banking industry’s setting of benchmark interest rates, like the Euribor. Interbank interest rate benchmarks are systemic and vital to the entire financial system. Any failures may cause losses for investors, distort the real economy and undermine market […]Commission goes less than mid-way on expensive euro
February 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Olli Rehn, the EU Commissioner for the Economy took the floor yesterday, over the euro exchange rate market developments. As he usually does, Rehn wanted on this issue too, to be seen as going mid-way between Berlin and Paris. The question to be answered is of course, if the euro is expensive or not? However […]
