Once upon a time there was a beautiful historical country that used to be part of the European Union. It became the 10th country to join the block in 1981 and was evolved ever since to become a pole of stability and growth in the Balkan region and serve crucial geo-strategic interests in the Mediterranean. The introduction in the […]Greferendum: the biggest political gaffe in western modern history to tear Europe apart? #Grexit #Graccident
June 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Once upon a time there was a beautiful historical country that used to be part of the European Union. It became the 10th country to join the block in 1981 and was evolved ever since to become a pole of stability and growth in the Balkan region and serve crucial geo-strategic interests in the Mediterranean. The introduction in the […]A Monday to watch the final act of a Greek tragedy; will there be catharsis or more fear?
June 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Today’s Eurogroup summit of the 19 euro area heads of state and government is convened by Donald Tusk, the President of European Council in order to bluntly present Alexis Tsipras, the Greek PM with a final ultimatum; ‘comply or leave the Eurozone’. Of course this initiative was not Tusk’s, given that his mandate is rather […]European Court rules that ECB’s OMT program of 2012 is OK; not a word from Germany about returning the Greek 2010 courtesy
June 18, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Tuesday 16 June the European Court of Justice issued a historic decision ruling that Mario Draghi was legally correct when on 26 July 2012 speaking at the Global Investment Conference in London said the famous phrase, “…the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will […]The G7 adopted dangerous views about Ukraine and Greece
June 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last weekend the leaders of the G7 countries in reality acknowledged their impotency or probably unwillingness to effectively confront the expansion of the destructive and unlawful activities of the “too big to fail” banks and the shadow banking sector. After that, they decided that Ukraine and Greece have to go on bleeding in order not […]ECB: Euro area should smooth out the consumption and income shocks of its members
June 4, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last Tuesday Brussels celebrated the return of the Eurozone inflation to positive grounds after five straight months of deflation (negative inflation). Some EU Commission economists, among others, assume that three positive decimal points of change of the level of consumer prices in May (0.3%), can signal the return of the economy to growth. Under an […]ECB with an iron hand disciplines the smaller Eurozone member states; latest victim: Greece
March 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi reacted strongly while answering a MEP’s question in the European legislature. He was asked if the ECB is “blackmailing” and financially “suffocating” Greece. As expected, he denied the accusations. Was he right though? Rather not. Only some hours afterwards the central bank ordered the […]Can Greece’s democratic institutions keep it in Eurozone?
March 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Paris, Washington and Brussels categorically reject the idea of a Grexit, while Berlin is still loudly insisting that the Eurozone can weather at a cost Greece’s secession. Behind closed doors though, the German decision makers are also not at all sure about that. Greece’s exit from Eurozone has lately become the talk of the town […]Greece at the mercy of ECB while sailing through uncharted waters
February 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In the efforts to solve the latest Greek enigma, the European Central Bank has once more proved that when it comes to what matters more in the EU, the Eurozone, it constitutes the power house of the entire European edifice. The ECB emerges imbued by truly pan-European motives in serving the Union project. When the […]Greece to stay in the euro area but the cost to its people remains elusive
February 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The frantic search of the Greek government – pressed at home by an accelerating bank run which culminated last Friday with €1 billion withdrawals in a few hours – to achieve an agreement with its Eurozone partners ended up in an almost total retreat of Athens in front of its creditors. The Greek minister of […]Athens searches frantically for a new compromise between politics and economic reality
February 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This week the new Greek government started faltering on all accounts. The young Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who got elected on 25 January under a populist banner to change everything in this crisis stricken nation, proposed Prokopis Pavlopoulos for President of the Republic, an old fox representing the corrupt and incompetent political system which governed […]Deep chasm still divides Athens and Brussels; can Eurozone use the nuclear arm of liquidity against Greece?
February 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Today the Eurogroup, the 19 Eurozone ministers of Finance at 3 o’clock in the afternoon will start discussing the future of Greece. It’s quite uncertain if a decision will be reached. Late last Saturday the technical consultations for the Monday meeting were concluded in Brussels. The preliminary work was realized by a group comprising Greek […]Greece and Ukraine main items on EU28 menu; the course is set
February 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The world community will be watching very closely today’s gathering of the 28 leaders of the European Union in Brussels. The reason is that its agenda includes two crucial issues; the economic fate of Greece and a discussion on the outcome of a conference in Minsk, Belarus for the future of Ukraine. Yesterday afternoon both […]What does Tsipras have to offer to the rest of Europe? Is it worth an early advance of €10 billion? Berlin sturdily denies it
February 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The discussion about what is needed to get the European Union out of its economic stagnation is gaining momentum in many European capitals and Brussels, probably at the exception of Berlin. The German government still believes that Europe’s growth drivers are working, if not perfectly at least adequately, and rejects all initiatives to revive the […]Paris, Rome, Brussels and Frankfurt to confront Berlin over growth and the Athens enigma
February 2, 2015 by 1 Comment
After the Commission’s taciturn approval of the excess deficits in the government budgets of France and Italy last October and the decision of ECB in Frankfurt to print one trillion euro two weeks ago, the ongoing arduous handling of the new Greek singularity of Alexis Tsipras by Paris and Rome may consolidate their prevalence over […]Alexis Tsipras ready to test Eurozone’s political sturdiness; Up to what point?
January 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
With the left-wing SYRIZA ready to form a new government in Athens, the party will be the first radical political formation to lead a Eurozone country, and its leader Alexis Tsipras will be the youngest Greek prime minister for more than one and a half century. The party won yesterday’s legislative election with an 8% […]Eurozone: A crucial January ahead again with existential questions
January 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive entered into force as from yesterday 1.1.2015. In theory, from now in the unfortunate event of a failing or about to fail bank in all Eurozone Member States, a resolution or recovery will be conducted under a single rule book, as provided by the above mentioned Directive. As […]Greece did it again
December 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, the Greek government scheduled an early Presidential election before the end of the year, which according to the constitution is to be held in the Parliament. If the Parliament proves unable to elect a new President of the Republic (180 votes are needed in a house of 300) a new legislative election must […]Greece returns to markets at a high cost to taxpayers, after four years out in the cold
April 10, 2014 by 1 Comment
The time that Greece has been waiting for, for quite a long time (4 years) is about to come. Athens is now floating in the capital markets a sovereign bond issue of about €2.5 billion and already unofficial offers from investors have reached €16bn. A very hefty multiple coverage so far of 6.4 times. The book of […]De Gucht: More gaffes with the talks on the EU-US free trade agreement
March 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
European Commissioner Karel de Gucht, responsible for Trade, speaking after the informal Athens meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade), attended by the 28 Foreign Trade ministers, failed to accurately report the Council’s opinion on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that is the free trade agreement currently under negotiation between the Union […]What changes in the EU as from today
January 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As from today, first working day of the New Year 2014 in the European Union, the Latvians start using the euro in their daily transactions, the Romanians and the Bulgarians can reside and work in every other EU member state without a special permit and the Greeks assume the Presidency of the EU, representing all […]Italy and Greece zeroed their fiscal deficits, expect Germany’s response
September 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
While the political scenery in Italy and Greece – the two key countries in Eurozone’s fight against sovereign excessive debt – could be termed as critical, their economic prospects do not seem discouraging at all. In this respect Italy gained a positive assessment from the IMF last week. The Fund’s report points to the zeroing […]Eurozone 2013: Where to?
December 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
In 2012, Eurozone not only managed to effectively counter its double-faced, credit and sovereign debt crisis, but also convinced the global financial community, that the single European currency is probably the safest deposit of value. The world responded positively by voting the euro at the region of 132 American cents. A fair price, to keep […]
