Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of IMF, is not renowned for her social concerns and sensitivities. Yet, while speaking last week at the National Press Club, in Washington DC, about “The Global Economy in 2014”, among other important policy proposals for the world to exit the era of the “seven weak years”, she didn’t forget to […]Income inequality threatens the socio-political structures in developed countries
January 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of IMF, is not renowned for her social concerns and sensitivities. Yet, while speaking last week at the National Press Club, in Washington DC, about “The Global Economy in 2014”, among other important policy proposals for the world to exit the era of the “seven weak years”, she didn’t forget to […]Iceland won’t talk with Brussels about EU accession
January 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Iceland has two very good reasons to freeze its EU accession talks until the tiny country holds a referendum on it. Icelanders think twice when it comes to money and fish. On money their views differ widely from what the EU thinks about it and when it comes to fish, Iceland also has quite diverging […]Eurostat confirms a dangerously fast falling inflation in Eurozone
January 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday Eurostat confirmed that the euro area inflation rate for December was down to 0.8% from 0.9% in November, dangerously approaching the negative part of the graph. The announcement coincided with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde’s warning that weak growth in Eurozone is now also threatened by deflation (continuously falling prices leading to real economy […]IMF’s Lagarde indirectly cautioned Eurozone on deflation
January 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Weak growth is threatened by deflation in the developed world, while emerging markets have to overcome the financial turbulences that lie ahead, due to forthcoming restrictive monetary policy by the US central bank, the Fed. This is what IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday, speaking at the National Press Club in the U.S. capital. […]No way out for Eurozone’s stagnating economy
January 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This morning the German Federal Statistical Office issued a Press release revealing that the country grew by a mere 0.4% last year. This is almost half than the 0.7% GDP increase that Germany recorded in 2012. Along the same line of developments, Eurostat, the EU statistical office, published a Press release estimating that the Eurozone […]The fatal consequences of troika’s blind austerity policy
January 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
When the ‘troika’, made up by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund was atypically formed first in spring of 2010 to bail out and audit Greece, its widely advertised purpose was to inflict an internal devaluation on this country. Later on the troika undertook to perform the same task […]Eurozone has practically entered a deflation trap
January 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
With consumer price developments in Eurozone remaining below the one percentage unit for many months now, disinflation (falling inflation) is just some decimal points away from deflation (negative inflation). Yesterday, Eurostat, the EU statistical service, released its estimate for the December headline inflation at 0.8% , down one decimal point from 0.9% in November. This […]Berlin ‘orders’ the EU Parliament to compromise
December 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As expected the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz strongly criticised the agreement reached in the European Council by the 28 EU leaders, on the plan for the enactment of the Banking Union. He said, “The slower and inefficient a system is, the more expensive it will be”. However the Federal Minister for Finance […]The Parliament sets the way for the European Banking Union
December 18, 2013 by 1 Comment
The final shape of the European Banking Union will be served as dessert on the dinner table of the 28 EU leaders on Thursday night. According to the invitation letter that Herman Van Rompuy addressed to the heads of states and governments on the European Union “Over dinner, the focus will be on economic and […]A day that Berlin and Brussels would remember for a long time
December 17, 2013 by 1 Comment
It was not by accident that the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi chose the right time to ring the danger bell against a “bad Banking Union”, while speaking yesterday in the Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. Obviously, he wanted to be heard by the new German government which is expected […]Britain and Germany change attitude towards the European Union
December 4, 2013 by 1 Comment
Two different developments, completely unrelated with each other, at least in the first reading, took place yesterday and may shape the future of the European Union in the near future. In the first instance the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on official visit to China, had a quite unpleasant morning yesterday being badly molested by the […]Who is culpable in the EU for Ukraine’s defection to Russia?
December 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The 350,000 to 500,000 people who protested yesterday, even violently at times, in the centre of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, belonged, theoretically, to the three opposition parties, which had organised the rally. Unquestionably however, all Ukrainians believe that President Viktor Yanukovich – who decided at the last minute to turn down an Association Agreement with […]ECB’s Draghi favours a cheaper euro to serve all Eurozone countries
November 29, 2013 by 2 Comments
György Matolcsy, the controversial Hungarian politician and economist, currently serving as governor of his country’s central bank, handpicked for the job by the equally controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban, reported that the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi has set the ceiling for the euro/dollar parity at 1/1.30. This is something Draghi has […]Commission deepens criticism on German economic policies
November 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, the European Commission, on the occasion of the presentation of its reports on the ‘European Semester 2014’, the “Annual Growth Survey’ and the ‘Third Alert Mechanism Report’ on macroeconomic imbalances in EU member states, seized the opportunity to deepen and elaborate on its criticism, directed against the economic policies applied by Germany. Also yesterday, […]The financial future of Eurozone on the agenda of Friday’s ECOFIN council
November 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The agenda of the Economic and Finance Ministers’ Council (ECOFIN) of 15 November in Brussels is very heavily loaded. The ‘Taxation of savings incomes’ and the ‘Revision of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive’ may be major issues, but the first reading of Commission’s proposal for the creation of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) will haunt […]Berlin cannot dictate anymore the terms for the enactment of the European Banking Union
November 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday 8 November, the European Central Bank (ECB) published its opinion on the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and Fund, fully supporting the European Commission’s position on their enactment, needed to accomplish the European Banking Union. The opinion is in direct contrast with the positions held by Germany, because it contains the following three essential […]The Social Committee may accept the new ‘contractual’ Eurozone
October 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), representing employers, workers and other interest groups, issued yesterday a Press release urging for the creation of the Banking Union and the establishment of a uniform bank resolution procedure. Obviously the leadership of the EESC, after reading the conclusions of the last EU summit of 24-25 October and […]Eurozone: Uncertain future with unemployment ravaging the South
October 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Unemployment in Eurozone remained unchanged last August at 12% in relation to July, when it had slightly receded, compared with the 12.1% in June. This marginal reduction of unemployment in July was hailed as an indication that Eurozone is about to abandon its long term recession, an estimate also based on a marginal increase of […]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 […]Draghi: A bridge from Brussels to Berlin
September 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Past the German elections, the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, must have left free to take some steps forward in his quest for the accomplishment of the European Banking Union, and promote the defragmentation of Eurozone’s financial markets. Speaking yesterday in a hearing at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of […]Brussels waits for the Germans to arrive
September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
European Council president Herman Van Rompuy in a four short lines announcement congratulating Angela Merkel on her victory in yesterday’s elections repeats her name twice, plus once in the title. This is rather too much in a fifty words official statement. The announcement written in the usual official language avoids celebrating the CDU-CSU victory but […]Merkel’s triumph will make Berlin more unbending
September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Angela Merkel’s personal triumph in the German elections yesterday will not change the European political scenery much but it will certainly affect the way some things are done in Brussels and probably in Berlin, if the socialists of the SPD finally join the winning Christian democrats of CDU-CSU in a grand coalition government. In any […]EU deserves the title of the Syrian affair merchandiser
September 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
With the US-Russian agreement on chemical weapons in Syria the world economy and more so Europe avoided a new blow, at a time when the resumption of business activities, especially in the European south, prove to be more fragile than expected. There is no doubt that this development defused the tensions which run high after […]Convincing the Germans to pay also for the unification of Eurozone
August 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
What Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said about the uncertainties that an eventual new hair-cut of the Greek state debt may trigger doesn’t exclude this possibility. She stressed that it may set off a “domino effect of uncertainty” and scare off possible investors. But the country has already performed a voluntary hair-cut on the privately […]Eurogroup: IMF proposes Germany disposes
July 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In yesterday’s Eurogroup, Eurozone’s policy setting council, the 17 ministers of Finance had two important items on their agenda; IMF’s recommendations for the European economy under Article IV Consultation with the Euro Area, and the approval of the next loan trance to Greece. On both accounts the opinion of Germany weighed a lot. In this […]IMF v Germany: Eurogroup keeps the fight under control
June 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As it usually happens in the European Union, a much debated and infested with conflicting interests major issue, like the bank recapitalisation, will not be decided upon in one go but it will remain open for as much time as needed to mitigate differences. Yesterday evening the Eurogroup meeting, which usually precedes the Ecofin Council […]The strong version of the EU banking union gains momentum
June 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The creation of a real European Banking Union, built to serve all Eurozone member states on equal terms found yesterday a new strong supporter. Yves Mersch, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and former Governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg speaking yesterday at the UniCredit Business Dialogue in Hamburg, […]Germany’s fiscal and financial self-destructive policies
June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
IMF Mission’s “Concluding Statement” (Article IV Consultation) on the German economy which was published yesterday, contains almost the same basic recommendations as the European Commission’s assessment aired at the Semester Press Conference in Brussels on 29 May. Both reports had references to Germany’s over stretched fiscal consolidation (meaning unneeded austerity) and the need to increase […]Germany to help China in trade disputes with Brussels
May 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The visit of the new Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China and party secretary of the State Council, Li Keqiang to Germany paid tangible dividends. After meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel he got an official and public promise from her that Berlin will intervene in the Brussels procedures, to cool down […]Eurozone: Even good statistics mean deeper recession
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One after the other the main indicators of Eurozone’s economic health are deteriorating slowly but surely. Even positive statistical findings, like the March Euro area surplus in international trade of goods, having reached a record €22.9 billion, if looked more closely reveal a deepening recession of the internal economy, while the rest of the world […]Berlin’s governing elite leads Eurozone to recession to win the September election in Germany
April 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As if everything was rosy and growing in the Eurozone, the German federal ministry of Finance issued yesterday a press release demanding that everybody in the euro area continues on the same line of economic policies, targeting financial and fiscal consolidation by using severe austerity measures mainly in deficit countries. For Germany proper Eurostat found […]Berlin wants to break South’s politico-economic standing
March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Amidst the Cyprus banking crisis there was no room in the first page of mainstream media, to analyse and comment on the decision of the Spanish government to impose a haircut (tax), albeit small, on the country’s bank deposits to the tune of €3 to every thousand. In the face of it, the Madrid exchequer […]Germany loses leading export place
March 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to the prestigious German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), the country lost its leading position in the list of exporting nations. It was not only China that surpassed Germany in terms of exports of goods, but also the US exported more products during 2012. DIW is one of the leading economic research institutions […]
