Despite the fact that the Minsk ceasefire agreement is holding more or less well and the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine has stopped, the Americans seem quite unhappy. They insist on the need to supply the Ukrainians with heavy armaments to continue the war, this time clearly against Putin’s Russia. Let’s follow the facts. On 25 […]Only the Americans are unhappy with the ceasefire agreement in eastern Ukraine
March 12, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Despite the fact that the Minsk ceasefire agreement is holding more or less well and the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine has stopped, the Americans seem quite unhappy. They insist on the need to supply the Ukrainians with heavy armaments to continue the war, this time clearly against Putin’s Russia. Let’s follow the facts. On 25 […]ECB’s billions fortify south Eurozone except Greece; everybody rushes to invest in euro area bonds zeroing their yields
March 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Even without having spent yet a single euro the European Central Bank’s program of sovereign bond buying of €60 billion a month has had an enormous impact on world financial markets. It suppressed the euro dollar parity from the unbearably high levels of 2014 (1.39 on 9 March 2014) to 1.08510 last Friday, the lowest […]The West and Russia accomplished the dismembering and the economic destruction of Ukraine
March 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
With the Minsk Agreement the West and Russia finally got what they wanted or close to that from Ukraine, not minding much about leaving the miserable country in ruins, its map ruthlessly chopped and the economy in a perfect chaos. On the one side the EU or rather Berlin and Paris plus Washington and on […]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 […]Europe, US and Russia haggle over Ukraine’s convulsing body; Russians and Americans press on for an all out civil war
February 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Germany and France are alarmed at the prospect that the Americans could turn Ukraine into an unbelievable inferno, by overtly delivering heavy armaments to Kiev. In such an event implications on Europe’s security will be vast. The French President François Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel rushed to Moscow last Friday and met the […]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 […]The financial war touches Frankfurt and Berlin
December 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Early next year the world is going to watch the culmination of the battle between Mario Draghi the President of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main and Wolfgang Schäuble, the powerful German Minister of Finance based in Berlin. In this affair Draghi represents the will of the advanced world financial markets, including the […]Last-chance Commission: Why Juncker promised investments of €300 billion?
November 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Jean-Claude Juncker is a ‘product’ of the 2008-2010 and still ongoing financial crisis in the Western economic volume. So is his Commission Presidency and he has a deep understanding of that. Juncker, as a President of Eurogroup had to face consecutive crises with Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. What followed the financial meltdown is […]Russia accepts what the EU has to offer and settles to negotiate with Ukraine
October 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This time the Europeans did it without the Americans in Ukraine. They managed to convince Russia to guarantee unobstructed natural gas supplies for the war-torn country and the EU for ‘at least’ during this winter. They did it last Friday in Milan, northern Italy, during the EU-Asia leaders meeting. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel took […]The EU moulds a new compromise for growth and financial sustainability
October 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The whole world knows that the European Union has for decades been powered by a strong force; the Berlin – Paris axis. At times, when this relationship broke down, the EU came to a standstill. Obviously now this is again the case. Towards the end of last month the newly appointed French Prime Minister, Manuel […]There is a way for Eurozone to reach a sustainable growth path
September 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Slowly but surely Euro area inflation rate heads for the zero zone, making decision makers nervous and everybody else, especially the unemployed young even more pessimistic and passive about their present situation and the future prospects. And all that is happening in this part of the globe where only a few years ago the Europeans […]Did Draghi ask the Germans to accept a drastic change of austerity policies?
September 2, 2014 by 1 Comment
With the unemployment rate always at double digit levels (11.5%), inflation falling again nearer to naught (0.3% in August), the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) dropping and the Business Climate Indicator idling flat, the Eurozone economy is steadily heading to a dormant state at best or to a new long recession at worst. Speaking of overall […]Eurozone: GDP development heads to naught; the expensive euro serves only Germany
August 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A new Eurostat wave of data statistically confirmed that Eurozone is utterly moored in economic stagnation, with disturbing signs that this might even turn to recession. Most significantly, last week the EU statistical service issued an estimate that the euro area GDP idled with a zero growth rate during the second quarter. The same source […]The West and Russia impose a new order on the world
August 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The US led confrontation of the West with Russia has just generated the first tangible and sizeable losses for Europe. German equity values and EU agricultural exports to Russia registered heavy costs last week, while the New York Stock Exchange recorded only minor harms. Those developments came after the EU activated its last package of […]Is Europe misjudging its abilities to endure more austerity and unemployment?
July 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) worries about the “effectiveness of EU policies in bringing young generations back into the labour market”, and quite rightfully so. A steady stream of statistics confirms the assessment that the European economy has entered into a long-term stagnation and very low inflation period without visible exit from it, […]Europe is now practically divided as in the Cold War
July 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last week’s European Summit in an implicit way actually sealed the partitioning of Europe as in the Cold War. The European Sting has repeatedly reported and commented on this issue and analyzed the efforts, mainly by Germany, for this new division to be avoided. However, Berlin’s endeavors towards this direction were in vain. The European […]This afternoon Britain will be once more isolated from mainland Europe
June 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This morning the European Council will carry out an unprecedented procedure. The 28 EU leaders are supposed to nominate Jean-Claude Juncker as candidate for European Commission President by qualified majority, in a vote that has never taken place before. Then, Juncker, or an unlikely other candidate has to be also approved by the MEPs. Up to […]Europe might not avoid new partitioning on Ukrainian crisis
June 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It seems that a confrontational paranoia is engulfing our world. The British Prime minister is waging an aggressive campaign (which may end up being self-destructive) against the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker for the Presidency of the Commission. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is encountering this British challenge with an all-out offensive having organized a continental […]Germany fears that Americans and Russians want to partition Europe again
June 16, 2014 by 1 Comment
The Western threat to punish Russia by blocking its associations with the European Union and the Atlantic economic volume over the Ukrainian crisis has a major drawback; the Russian supplies of natural gas which move Europe. Moscow says it will cut off its gas supplies to Ukraine if an agreement on pricing is not reached […]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 […]Russia and the West to partition Ukraine?
February 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As if history wanted to remind everybody what will be the outcome of direct foreign intervention in a region or country divided by internal differences, the Bosnians took it to the street to end a fallacy of governance at a time when Ukraine is about to follow suit in this direction. Kiev’s political elite, the […]Parliament compromises on Banking Union but sends market abusers to jail
February 6, 2014 by 2 Comments
Yesterday the European Parliament confirmed its willingness to regulate the EU’s financial sector with determination and the obvious intention of convincing the 500 million European citizens that ordinary people matter more than bankers and derivative dealers. Of course all that is happening ahead of the May European elections. To this effect, the plenary of the […]Poor Greeks, Irish and Spaniards still pay for the faults of German and French banks
February 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Government deficit decreased substantially in the third quarter of last year and reached -3.1% of the GDP in Eurozone. This is just one decimal point away from the 3% benchmark, set by the Treaty of Maastricht and the strict EU economic governance Regulations (the famous ‘two’ and ‘six’ packs). The gap between government income and […]Eurozone: In vicious cycle of disinflation and unemployment?
February 1, 2014 by 1 Comment
Eurostat, the EU statistical service, announced late yesterday evening that in December unemployment remained at the persistently high level of 12% since October, while inflation took a new downwards turn to 0.7% in January, from 0.8% in December. It’s difficult to say which one of the two developments is more alarming. On both accounts Eurozone […]ECOFIN: Choosing between the re-unification of Eurozone and a stalemate
January 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Tomorrow’s Economic and Finance Ministers Council (ECOFIN) set to be convened in Brussels, the first under the Greek Presidency, will have the crucial task to decide on the construction of the European Banking Union. In view of that, the European Parliament sent a letter to the Greek Presidency of the Council, rejecting both the legal […]War of words in Davos over Eurozone’s inflation/deflation
January 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
During the last two days, Friday and Saturday, of this year’s Davos gathering of the rich and powerful, an intense debate about Eurozone’s inflation or rather deflation, divided once again the Old Continent between Germans and…anti-Germans. Ollie Rehn, the Finn European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner responsible for finance and the euro, said that the currently […]IMF launches a new offensive against Germany
January 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In the latest issue of its World Economic Outlook (WEO), which was published yesterday, the IMF raises the tone of criticism against Europe. It’s again the risk of deflation and the projection that “economic slack will remain high”, the two axes which constitute the cutting edge of criticism of North America against Eurozone. The latest […]
