It’s clearly a very bad moment for Europe; unfortunately much worse than our wise European leaders can grasp. The Greek issue is inescapably bringing to the surface the political incompetence of many key figures in Brussels and beyond. Dijssebloem and the peer were never prepared for the Greek stubbornness; most likely they were never ready to […]On Grexit: Incompetence just launched the historic Ultimatum that could open “pandora’s box”
February 17, 2015 by 1 Comment
It’s clearly a very bad moment for Europe; unfortunately much worse than our wise European leaders can grasp. The Greek issue is inescapably bringing to the surface the political incompetence of many key figures in Brussels and beyond. Dijssebloem and the peer were never prepared for the Greek stubbornness; most likely they were never ready to […]EU Summit’s major takeaway: a handkerchief cannot save Greece from austerity
February 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
After Wednesday’s Eurogroup where Greece’s Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, “agreed to disagree” with his European counterparts, Grexit enthusiasts had a reason to celebrate in the evening. However, they did not count for the modern Hercules, Alexis Tsipras, who came tieless to his first EU Summit yesterday in Brussels but with plenty and trendy new […]From Grexit to Brexit: UK industry now says the in/out referendum is good for your health
February 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
So it is like this. In politics you need to be a sheer opportunist. You have to grab every inch of opportunity available to polarise your electorate and get your message through. Britain’s Prime Minister Cameron, an old fox in UK politics, knows how to do this very well. Yesterday the annual conference of the British Chamber of […]German stock market is not affected by the Greek debt revolution while Athens is running out of time
February 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
More than a week has passed since the Greek elections and the main European markets, except for the Greek one, do not seem to be influenced to a great extent by the victory of the left-party SYRIZA. The attempt of the Greek Prime Minister to calm down not only the markets but also the European […]Russia to cut gas supplies again: can the EU get back to growth without a solid energy market?
January 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“Energy” is a word that may sound a bit alarming in the European Union nowadays. This happens because Europe has a problem: its energy supplies are not secure. The EU’s prospects of remaining a strong, independent economic and political player in the international arena will largely depend on whether the bloc will be able to […]Is the EU competent enough to fight human smuggling in 2015?
January 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
That the European Union is facing its big problem of exorbitant illegal immigration is not news. How can it be in a gigantic region of 28 countries spreading around the Old Continent? And most of all one of the top five coastline lengths in the world with some 70,000 km coasts bordering the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and […]Grexit no longer a threat but how to manage a “tutti frutti” government if not with fear?
January 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Every now and then a Eurozone crisis breaks out lately. This means two things: either the common currency project is too fragile or too many people don’t believe in it. Or both. Eurozone strong as a rock Well, to begin with, there is not one shadow over Eurozone’s “fragility”. The fact that we are still standing after […]France and Poland to block David Cameron’s plans on immigration
December 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron will probably remember last European Council summit, held in Brussels at the end of last week, not only for the delicate discussions on Russia and talks to improve the functioning of the Eurozone next June. His bid to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union was one of the hottest […]Bundesbank’s President Weidmann criticises France and the EU. Credibility at risk?
December 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Just a few days have passed since an official report by the Directorate General for Economics and Finance Affairs of the European Commission told the world that French economy is stagnating, and the second economic power of the Eurozone is still under the spotlight. It’s time for the Bundesbank to raise the voice against – […]France fails again the exams. Kindly requested to sit in on Commission’s class
December 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
France gets once more under the microscope. Apparently the second biggest economy of Europe is il for the past couple of years in trouble. Given its enormous political power historically in Brussels L’Exagone was getting away with it for quite some time but it seems that now the time has come for drastic medication. The Macron […]EU’s Mogherini visits Turkey “to step up engagement” and highlight interests
December 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As announced last week through an official European Union statement, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and two other senior EU officials are visiting Turkey this week. The High Representative of the EU, together with Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, […]France pushes UK to stay and Germany to pay
November 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Emmanuel Macron, France’s minister of Economy, visited London this week in an attempt to step up for his country’s future policy reforms. Among others, Macron announced that Britain must remain an EU member state and that Germany should invest in the EU. However, it was not mentioned anything about the fines that the European Commission […]Cameron’s Conservatives and UKIP are exploiting and cultivating anti-EU immigration sentiment but Labour party isn’t?
November 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Currently the significant success of the eurosceptic UKIP party in polarising the British voter in several social issues, like immigration, has set the agenda for other parties to follow. David Cameron and his conservative party has long seen that his electorate gets substantially motivated by anti-immigration campaigns. This is of course part of the general […]Europe votes against GMOs but the Council votes for TTIP
November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday afternoon good news came out of the European Parliament; good news for the anti-GM (Genetically Modified Organisms) movement and hopefully for the EU too. The Environment Committee of the European Parliament (ENVI) voted in favour of the right of the member-states to ban GMOs from their territories with 53 votes to 11 and 2 […]Catalonia’s vote for independence and the power of symbols
November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Although the polling has no legal force, the officers were all volunteers, and the election might be illegal, Catalans voted on 9 November. And the outcome was quite clear-cut. As expected the vote resulted in an overwhelming secessionist victory, with 80.7 percent of 2.25 million Catalans who participated in the referendum voting in favor of […]Italy’s rescue operation Mare Nostrum shuts down with no real replacement. EU’s Triton instead might put lives at risk
November 4, 2014 by 1 Comment
The European Union’s border control agency Frontex officially launched a mission in the Mediterranean Sea to face the mass attempt of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to reach Europe by boat. And this was not the only official news about this emergency last week. After rumours and denials Italy confirmed last Friday that its […]Turkey presents a new strategy for EU accession but foreign policy could be the lucky card
September 24, 2014 by 1 Comment
Last Thursday, September 18, while the entire continent was looking towards Scotland, Turkey announced a new strategy to join the EU. Despite the tensions that characterized the country’s recent history, which is made by protests, brutal actions by the police, attempts by the government to shut down social platforms such as Twitter and You Tube, Turkey has […]Scotland “shows the way” to separatist movements as Catalonia calls a vote on independence
September 23, 2014 by 1 Comment
The fact that Scotland’s vote for independence was a milestone in the separatist movements’ history within the European Union was already clear. In the last weeks everybody was looking northwards as it was evident that any decision by the Scots would have changed the path and probably the weight of the regionalist parties inside the parliament houses […]Switzerland to favour EU citizens in immigration quotas as the risk of a new referendum looms
June 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Four months have passed since Swiss voters narrowly approved the introduction of quotas on immigration with a referendum last February and the central European country has now revealed its ‘great’ plan. Last Friday, with an official government statement, the Federal Council has finally set out the intentions for new immigration quotas, and surprises were not missing. Switzerland apparently […]“Austerity was not the alternative!”, President Hannes Swoboda of the European Socialists and Democrats on another Sting Exclusive
June 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This revealing exclusive interview with President Hannes Swoboda, President of the Progressive Alliance of European Socialists and Democrats (S&D), was conducted by Carlo Motta at the European Sting’s pavilion during European Business Summit 2014. In the following interview Carlo Motta will be signalled as C.M and President Swoboda as H.S. C.M.: I am very pleased to […]Regional competitiveness and growth: a Gordian knot for Europe
May 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A week has passed since the European Business Summit (EBS) 2014 where the European Sting was official media partner. On 14 May, one of the first sessions that took place at the library of Edmond Palace had the title “How do European regions contribute to competitiveness?”. European Sting was there to report this vital issue for Europe. The […]Assembly of European Regions @ European Business Summit 2014: Made in Europe – Made of Regions
May 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Written by Pascal Goergen, Secretary General of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Since 2013, Assembly of European Regions turns more and more to the business sector with the ambition of creating closer links between private partners and regions throughout Europe, thereby offering them win-win partnerships. In the framework of this initiative, the Assembly recently launched […]Assembly of European Regions @ European Business Summit 2014: The European regions on the path to recovery
May 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Written by Marian-Constantin Vasile, President of AER Committee on ‘Economy and Regional development’ The European Union is emerging from a lasting crisis. This longest-ever recession seems to end, while the EU28 GDP grew by 0,2 in the third quarter of 2013. The upturn in business sentiment and confidence indicators suggests that structural reforms, macroeconomic governance […]French Prime Minister passes Stability Program and takes his ‘café’ in Brussels this June
May 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
On Tuesday, Manuel Valls, the French prime minister presented the “Pact of Stability” in front of the French parliament. This was his first appointment with the French politics. With a forecast of a big number of abstentions beforehand, Mr Valls attempted to soften the directive of austerity with several amendments. Moreover, last Monday he decided to increase taxes only […]Scotland and First Minister Salmond enter the most challenging battlefield for independence: Europe
April 30, 2014 by 1 Comment
In these days of heavy euroscepticism, where nationalistic parties are trying to convince the masses of the bad effects of the Union on people’s everyday life, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond chooses Europhilia. In a speech held in Bruges last Monday – which was widely anticipated by rumors and interviews about the topics – Mr. […]The Commission tries to stop the ‘party’ with the structural funds
January 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In a long awaited move, the European Commission boosts the role of trade unions, the employers’ organisations and the non-governmental organisations of civil society in allocating and monitoring the spending of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF). What is at stake relates to the resources bestowed by the European Union to the European Regional […]Eurozone: There is a remedy for regional convergence
May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Regional unemployment statistics in the European Union as published today by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, show clearly that the wide differentiation of this crucial variable calls for an appropriate modulation of policies designed to counter different growth/recession records. The European Central Bank is currently supplying ample and almost zero cost liquidity to Eurozone’s core […]Italy solves the enigma of growth with fiscal consolidation: The Banking Union
May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The new Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, after his government got full approval from the country’s legislators in two days and two trips to Berlin and Paris, managed to confirm the reputation of Rome as the catalyst of historic European developments. The Treaty of the European Union was signed in the eternal city. In less […]Regional policies slowed down by EU bureaucracy
November 27, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Despite the commonly recognised urgent need for more infrastructure projects aiming at interconnecting transport, energy and telecommunication networks in the 27 EU member states, clumsy inter-institutional cooperation between the main EU bodies, namely the European Commission, The Parliament and the Council, threatens to deprive such projects from already available resources. In this respect it was […]
