In an unexpected move the European Commission announced on Wednesday 7 August that it “…continues anti-subsidy investigation on solar panels from China…”, and this only a few days after Commissioner Karel De Gucht, responsible for foreign trade had announced on 27 July that the issue had been concluded ‘amicably’ between Brussels and Beijing. In contrast […]EU Commission retracts on the Chinese solar panel case
August 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In an unexpected move the European Commission announced on Wednesday 7 August that it “…continues anti-subsidy investigation on solar panels from China…”, and this only a few days after Commissioner Karel De Gucht, responsible for foreign trade had announced on 27 July that the issue had been concluded ‘amicably’ between Brussels and Beijing. In contrast […]Merkel, Mercedes and Volkswagen to abolish European democracy
July 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
That the German automotive industry is one of the strongest in the world is not news. Most Europeans are rather content in the idea that Europe is well represented in the fierce global automotive arena, not because we are or will ever be shareholders of Mercedes or Volkswagen, but rather because when we see an […]EU budget agreement rejected by the European Parliament
February 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Driven by the stubbornness of the British PM David Cameron, who was effectively supported by the austerity loving German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the EU Summit of 7-8 February agreed yesterday on the Union’s budget. Theoretically their decision binds EU spending for the seven year period of 2014-2020. The European Parliament however is of a completely […]Is a deal over EU budget possible today?
February 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Anglo-German understanding prevailed today in Brussels and the European Union spending will be further cut, below the level proposed by the European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, in November. Actual payments during the seven year period of 2014-2020 will be restricted to €908 billion, close to what Germany wanted and a bit more than […]What our leaders hide from us
February 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Europe had a very interesting day yesterday. Let’s see why. First was the British PM who delayed the EU Summit for five hours, then an agreement was announced to reduce the Irish sovereign debt by €20 billion and finally it was Mario Draghi, who helped contain the hike of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar, just […]Berlin repels proposal for cheaper euro
February 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
“No, the euro is not overvalued, if the long-term tendencies are taken into account”, said yesterday Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Zaimpert, in Berlin, as if the rest of the Eurozone was not existing. He added that the long-term competitiveness cannot be achieved through monetary measures and accommodating exchange rate policy. Seemingly the European Sting was […]South Eurozone countries threatened by rising borrowing cost and expensive euro
February 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A strange combination of the expensive euro (undermining external competitiveness) and worsening market conditions for sovereign borrowing by south European countries, are increasing the pressures on the four crisis stricken Eurozone member states, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In this way the positive developments of dropping risk premiums that prevailed since the beginning of the […]The EU Commission to fight unemployment tsunami with a…scoreboard
January 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday László Andor, European Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion delivered a speech to an ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the organisation. The speech was entitled, “Europeans want and deserve a monetary union with a human face”. This is a decent description of […]Cameron postpones speech in Holland
January 18, 2013 by 1 Comment
The European Sting is monitoring very closely what is happening in Britain over the burning issue of the country’s relations with the European Union. The possibility of holding a referendum about a possible exit is developing into a deeply splitting issue. Prime Minister David Cameron seems cornered in his own party by the group of […]Where is heading Putin’s Russia?
December 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Russia is the third trading partner of the EU and the EU is the first trading partner of Russia. This simple fact tells the whole story, about the relations between the two largest economic volumes of the Old Continent. Not much of Europe is left outside the two heavyweights. Energy, food, machinery and equipment, raw […]Two women threaten to tear the world apart
November 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The women’s lib movement can be very proud nowadays. Suffragettes must be very happy. Their kind in a few decades managed not only to vote but to hold in their hands the fate of the globe. All that because this week became clear that Christine Lagarde, heading the International Monetary Fund and Angela Merkel, leader […]European Union: From financial consolidation to deeper political division
October 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment
In June 2012 the 17 Euro-area leaders who made a giant step forward towards a closer Eurozone union, when back home, those on the giving side, namely Angela Merkel, pretended that nothing has changed, while the ‘winners’ made it look like a gift, which it was not. As for the 10 heads of states and […]
