The US starts an intense currency war to protect its global standing

One month ago this newspaper’s title was: “Trump after marginalizing G20 attacks Europe and China where it hurts, brandishes currency war”. Since then, the American President intensified his attacks on money parities, mainly against China. At the same time, he continues pressing the American central bank, the Fed, for not taking tough measures to actually […]

The ‘yellow vests’ undermined Macron in France and the EU

Paris was a blockaded city this weekend. The government was forced to close down all the main tourist sites in the French capital. The Eiffel Tower, the Opera of Paris, the Louvre museum and tens of other sites which may attract the fury of the ‘yellow vest’ movement are closed and heavily guarded. Galerie Lafayette […]

Berlin vies for a Germanic European Central Bank

Last week, the deep German state struck again targeting the heart of Eurozone. The hit was effectuated by Sabine Lautenschläger, a middle aged Stuttgart born ex BaFin (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) employee and presently member of the powerful executive board of the European Central Bank. Sabine now wants the ECB to abandon its extraordinary monetary […]

Eurostat overturns Commission’s assessment of the economy

Last Friday 28 November Eurostat did it again. Almost simultaneously with the presentation of Commission’s “Annual Growth Survey 2015”, disingenuously entitled “A new Momentum for Jobs, Growth and Investment”, the EU statistical service published its frustrating flash estimate of November inflation rate down to a mere 0.3%. Positively this new dive of inflation closer to […]

EU to finance new investment projects with extra borrowing; French and Italian deficits to be tolerated

The EU Commission has correctly translated the ideas emanated from the Brussels’ European Council of 23-24 October and accordingly adjourned confrontation with France and Italy over budgetary deficits and extra investment spending for 2015. European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen responsible for financial affairs and the euro seems to have read very carefully the Conclusions […]

Poor Greeks, Irish and Spaniards still pay for the faults of German and French banks

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 […]

The Commission tells Berlin it is legally obliged to help Eurozone out of stagnation

The time has come and the European Commission gave to Germany in writing, what has been so far aired orally. In this respect, Brussels tells Berlin that it is legally obliged to abandon its egotistic austere and protective policies and help itself and the entire Eurozone enter again in a sustainable growth path. Let’s take […]

Eurozone economy desperately needs internally driven growth

With economic growth in Eurozone proving to be weak, uncertain and widely varying between member states, government spending has become the only possible source of a much hoped for resumption of economic activities. On the other hand, stock exchanges have gained a lot since the beginning of the year, in a way that is not […]

EU Banks still get subsidies from impoverished citizens

Five years after the melt down of the western financial system, triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, and the European taxpayers still pay the price. According to European Commission’s estimates the cost of government (aka taxpayer and all citizens) support to failing banks in Eurozone reached €4.5 trillion during the first […]

EU economic governance: More exploitation for the weaker countries

Last Tuesday 15 October was the last day the 28 EU member states, and more so the 18 Eurozone countries, had to submit to the Commission for approval their draft budgets for 2014. It is the first time that the European Union member states and more particularly the euro area countries, before presenting their state […]

Italy and Greece zeroed their fiscal deficits, expect Germany’s response

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: Statistics don’t tell the whole story

  Government sector deficits in Eurozone after having peaked in 2009-2010 are now not only levelling out but actually decreasing. According to Eurostat, the EU statistical service, in the first quarter of 2013 “ the seasonally adjusted general government deficit to GDP ratio was -3.5 % in the euro area (EA-17) and -3.8 % in […]

EU Commission accuses Germany of obstructing growth and the banking union

The European Commission at the Semester Press Conference in Brussels yesterday confirmed in the most official way, what was already known. Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal, are getting an extension of the deadline to correct their fiscal deficits by one year and France, Poland, Slovenia and Spain by two years. This Semester conference comes in […]

‘Two pack’ austerity package in force but with less vigor

The ‘Two-Pack‘, an EU regulation package for Eurozone’s austere fiscal reform enters into force on 30th May 2013 in all euro area Member States. The new strict fiscal rules for euro area countries proved necessary, after the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), failed to refrain budget deficits and public debt below 3% and 60% of […]

Tax evasion and fraud threaten the European project

Tax evasion and avoidance has been a perennial issue from the moment taxation was invented. Presently the European Commission estimates that in the EU of 27 member states, tax avoidance and fraud runs up to €1 trillion yearly, more than enough to foot the bill of government deficits that plague the EU economy and have […]

Light at the end of the Eurozone tunnel

Dr Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German minister of Finance, drew yesterday his chauvinist rhetoric one step further, by denying the proposal that an increase of consumption demand in his country, could help the exports of the ailing Eurozone countries like Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and others. His outright denial was unfair, because he was in the […]

European Union: More taxes out of less income

In the fourth year of the ongoing financial and real economy crisis, with government social spending severely cut and bank credit to households and businesses continuously shirking, tax increases remain the only sure thing in life. According to a study by two Eurostat authors, Elisabeth Joossens and Laura Wahrig, taxes in absolute terms surpassed the […]

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