Last Saturday we learned from his own lips that the President of the European Council Donald Tusk has “thick skin”. Of course, people who follow the political day-to-day of the Council already knew it. Tusk made this statement last Saturday from Turkey, a country where thick skin politicians are in abundance. The President of the […]Europe bows to Turkey’s rulers, sends Syrian refugees back to chaos
April 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday we learned from his own lips that the President of the European Council Donald Tusk has “thick skin”. Of course, people who follow the political day-to-day of the Council already knew it. Tusk made this statement last Saturday from Turkey, a country where thick skin politicians are in abundance. The President of the […]The 13th round of TTIP negotiations hits a wall of intense protests and growing concerns
April 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The week of the 13th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investments Partnership negotiations, which are currently held in New York City, did not start too well for the EU-US deal. About 35,000 demonstrators marched in the streets of Hannover last Saturday, a day ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the German city, to […]The EU risks trade relations with China over the Tata hype about steel
April 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It is indisputable that we are running a very important period regarding the trade relations between China and the EU. On the one hand, it is only today that the Commission’s online public consultation on future measures to prevent dumped imports from China is closing; a consultation which had earlier opened on 10 February. The EU is conducting […]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 […]EU-Turkey deal on migrants kicked off but to who’s interest?
April 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, 4 April, Greece and Turkey kicked off the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement. For migrants and refugees alike it foresees deportation from the Greek islands to Turkey, just some dangerous miles eastwards, over rough sea straights at times. Ankara is to receive from Brussels € 3+3 billion for that. During the past twelve […]EU and India re-open talks over strategic partnership while prepare for a Free Trade Agreement
April 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, on the 30th of March, the European Union and India officially resumed a long-standing conversation over their strategic partnership, holding the 13th EU-India Summit in Brussels. After four years of stagnation, the Asian giant and the 28-member bloc met to set out concrete priority actions for the strategic partnership in areas like trade […]US – Russia bargain on Syria, Ukraine but EU kept out
March 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
President Bashar al-Assad’s regular Syrian army aided by Lebanon Hezbollah fighters plus some Iranians, and of course under the air cover of Russia’s fighter jets last week pushed the ISIS murderers out of the ancient city of Palmyra. Reportedly, a Russian ground special force played also a role in this decisive battle, that probably constitutes […]Will the European Court of Justice change data privacy laws to tackle terrorism?
March 30, 2016 by 1 Comment
The next European Court of Justice (ECJ) meeting will take place on April 12 regarding the breaching of human rights by the massive interception of communication data. This hearing is very crucial as it is probable that the EU judges will decide to cut down on the power of UK surveillance laws since ECJ’s rulings are binding on UK courts […]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 […]Is there a chance for the West to win the war on terror?
March 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the night of 13 November 2015 in Paris, after the ISIS operatives had hit almost simultaneously a concert hall, a major football stadium and some restaurants and bars leaving 130 dead and hundreds injured, the French President Francois Hollande said “we are at war”. Last Tuesday morning the same kind of ‘armed forces’ and […]Latest leaked TTIP document confirms EU sovereignty may be under threat
March 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Days have passed since the Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström gave an ambitious push to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the supporters of the EU-US trade pact are now bound to see another possible sharp slowdown in the big ongoing negotiation match. A leaked document obtained by campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) reportedly revealed […]Merkel had it her way with the refugees & immigrants but can Greece and Turkey deliver?
March 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Early in the morning of 7th March, ahead of the first meeting in the series of the latest traumatic gatherings of the 28 EU leaders with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, this newspaper argued that the EU had to prove on that day it could remain in one piece. This didn’t happen then. Last […]Migration crisis update: What are the chances of a fair deal at this EU Summit?
March 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Everyone in Europe is putting all his money for the migration crisis ‘gamble’ on the EU-Turkey summit taking place this week on March 17-18 in Brussels. The 28 EU leaders had a bit more than a week now since the last summit to evaluate the proposals of the Turkish side and return to the table of negotiations in order to make a […]Federalist EU ‘naively’ believes Washington shares her TTIP high fever
March 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, fifteen days after the conclusion of the 12th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, the European Union Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström decided to make her point on the mammoth EU-US trade pact. While on a visit to her American counterpart, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in Washington DC she gave […]Who is to pay the dearest price in a global slowdown?
March 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
What happens in China is more important for the European economy than a meagre fall of unemployment in the Eurozone. Last Tuesday, China said its February exports dived by a record 25.4%, fuelling new fears for a bigger slowdown in the world economy. At the same time, a Press release by Eurostat, the EU statistical […]The EU has to prove it can remain one piece
March 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Today the European Union has to prove that it can solve its stalemate, which the immigrant and refugee flows from Asia and Africa have created. Some years ago nobody could imagine that an unseen before movement of people, could lead to the unraveling of the EU project. To deal with this problem, the 28 EU […]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 […]Syria: Why did the US now take the Russian offer for a truce? What next?
February 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The US-Russia plan for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, endorsed by the UN Security Council on Friday 26 February kicked off in the early hours of Saturday and two days after is still more or less observed. Understandably the cease-fire may collapse at any moment but the US and Russia seem determined to keep […]What have the banks done to the markets making them unable to bear cheap oil?
February 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday, a new steep fall of the price of crude oil by almost 5%, triggered another selloff in all the major capital markets of the world. The New York and the European stock exchanges lost anything between 2% and 3% of their capitalization. One may observe that this development is one of many of […]MWC 2016 LIVE: EC adds Brazil to partner tally
February 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission (EC) announced an agreement with Brazil to develop 5G technology, building on similar partnerships with South Korea, China and Japan. In a signing held at Mobile World Congress, the parties committed to a joint collaboration to “strengthen cooperation in this strategic area and to make sure that 5G does not develop in […]The Syrian knot cannot be cut without devastating consequences
February 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Brussels seems quite lost with what is happening now in Syria. The statement issued last Monday 15 February by the European High Representative Mogherini and Commissioner Stylianides on the atrocious and murderous attacks on hospitals and schools in Syria stands as an infallible witness to that. At this point in time, the foreign powers, regional or […]The right approach to addressing overcapacity problem from a Chinese perspective
February 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This article was written for the Sting by HE Ambassador Yang Yanyi of the Chinese Mission to EU The recent weeks have seen further worrying moves in Brussels. The European Commission opened new anti-dumping investigations on steel products originating from China, and the European steel industry organized a demonstration against so-called Chinese dumping on the […]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 […]The New EU-US “Shield” for data privacy is full of holes
February 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week the “post-Safe Harbour era” was officially launched. On February 2 the European Union and the United States have agreed on a new framework for transatlantic data flows, the so-called Privacy Shield. The two sides have now a brand new data-sharing deal, which will allow websites like Facebook, Apple and Google to transfer EU citizens’ […]Politics still matter in the US but not in Europe
February 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The Iowa US presidential candidate nomination race results in both the Republican and the Democrat vote, proved that in the US politics still matter. The populist, unpredictable and apolitical billionaire Donald Trump was largely defeated by Ted Cruz, a super conservative Texas politician. On the other side Hillary Clinton the champion of the American business […]“BEUC cautions against TTIP that would seek to align EU and US chemicals management frameworks”
February 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
As it happened several times in the past, the closer a TTIP negotiation round gets, the bigger the debate over the main questions intensifies. With the next round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks due to take place this month in Brussels, this time was the turn of the European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, to […]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 […]China’s 13th Five Year Plan and the opportunities for Europe
January 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Amid substantial interest of the global community about China’s growth and only a few months before the launch of the 13th five year plan of the country, a stimulating event took place in Brussels earlier this week analysing the aims of China’s new 2016-2020 development strategy. The event, which was organised by Friends of Europe, hosted two […]Migration crisis update: Greece could probably say goodbye to Schengen really soon
January 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It was two days ago when the European Commission’s draft report revealed “serious deficiencies” of the Greek government to comply with its obligations under the Schengen’s Agreement rules regarding the control of the migrant influx. If these suggestions are voted by the majority of the EU member states, then Greece will be given a 90 […]The EU bows to Turkey in view of the talks for a political settlement in Syria
January 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On 27 April 2015, in relation to the efforts to stem the refugee and immigrant flows to Europe, this newspaper predicted that “Turkey won’t cooperate”. Last Monday this prediction was not only confirmed but the European Union quasi accepted, that so far Turkey has done enough. The relevant passage of the Press release issued by […]Why are the financial markets shivering again?
January 25, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The major central banks of the world are currently in the middle of a precise but of dubious results surgical operation on capital markets. On the one hand, the monetary authorities aim at supporting the real economy by injecting more cash into the financial system. On the other, they try to mitigate the risky super […]WEF Davos 2016 LIVE: “Chinese economy has great potential, resilience and ample space for policy adjustment”, China’s Vice President Li Yuanchao reassures from Davos
January 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the afternoon of the second day of the World Economic Forum in Davos and amidst a wide worry about the financial turmoil that China’s and the world’s stock markets face, the Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr Li Yuanchao came to the rostrum to give a much anticipated speech. China’s New Normal […]
