EU budget deal struck with Parliament negotiators

Negotiations for the European Union proper budgets for the 2014-2020 period between European parliament representatives, the Irish Presidency and the European Commission have been concluded. This is the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, setting the ceiling for EU spending. The agreement will now be submitted to both the Council and the European Parliament for final […]

No agreement in sight on EU budget

In less than 24 hours the European Parliament answered in force a self-congratulating Press release issued by the Irish Presidency, falsely announcing a major breakthrough in the negotiations over the EU budgets for the next seven years. It’s about the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 that provides for the ceiling of the overall EU spending during […]

Resisting EU budget cuts

The Irish Presidency, with its self-congratulating and artificially sweetened style, announced once more ‘a major breakthrough’ in the EU budget negotiations with the European Parliament, without the slightest reference to the other side’s position. This obvious neglect of basic reporting rules which goes as far as sidestepping of democratic principles, has become standard in Irish […]

The Irish Presidency bullies the Parliament over EU budget

It is unbelievable how strongly and some-times unduly the Irish Presidency of the EU Council presses the European Parliament in the negotiations over the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, which sets the limits for the EU budget spending for the next seven years. The Irish government ministers who are conducting those negations act as if Ireland […]

Irish Presidency: Not a euro more for EU budgets

The Irish Presidency is becoming the Trojan Horse of the EU Council and the Commission in their quest to push the European Parliament into an agreement over the funding of the Union’s budgets from 2012 up to 2020. The legislative has rejected last week the proposal of the Ecofin Council for parallel negotiations for everything […]

Why the financial scandals multiply?

Deutsche Bank discharged yesterday a number of medium ranking dealers, related to the Libor fixing ring, while along with other major European lenders Deutsche appears ready to pay fines of hundreds of millions. Yesterday the Royal Bank of Scotland, another “systemic” financial group, agreed to pay $600 million in fines to US and British authorities […]

Eurozone’s credibility rock solid

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) issued yesterday its first short-term debt paper (bills), which met an unprecedented success in this capital market auction. The bid/cover ratio was 3.2. This means that for every euro of this debt issue, investors offered 3.2 euros. The bills mature on 4 April 2013. In detail this ESM’s bill issue […]