Last Sunday the Greek voters, at least those who went to the polls, gave to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not only a second chance to continue in the premiership, but voted also for Panos Kamenos a nationalist right winger, the junior partner of the governing SYRIZA-ANEL coalition. And this as if nothing had happened in […]Why the Greeks forgave Tsipras’ pirouettes around austerity and voted again for SYRIZA
September 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Sunday the Greek voters, at least those who went to the polls, gave to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not only a second chance to continue in the premiership, but voted also for Panos Kamenos a nationalist right winger, the junior partner of the governing SYRIZA-ANEL coalition. And this as if nothing had happened in […]A new crop of EU ‘Boards’ override the democratic accountability and undermine the EU project
September 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday 16 September the European Economic and Social Committee, an authentic representative of the European organized civil society, adopted an opinion aimed at improving the democratic function and the accountability of the EU decision-making bodies. The EESC acted at the request of the European Parliament. Actually, the Lisbon Treaty contains untapped potential to bring […]Two major EU projects falter; the Schengen Agreement now freezes and Eurozone fails to resolve the Greek enigma
September 17, 2015 by 2 Comments
The usually so cool north Europeans seem to have lost their composure when the first waves of refugees and immigrants reached their borders. Germany and Austria within a few days made full immigration policy u-turns and finally closed their borders. Both Chancellors, Angela Merkel in Berlin and Werner Faymann in Vienna, said last week they […]The refugee crisis brings to light EU’s most horrible flaws and nightmares
September 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last Monday, the EU Interior Ministers convened in Brussels in order to discuss about the quotas of the 120.000 refugees proposed by the European Commission (EC) but didn’t manage again to come to a common decision. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary belong to the group of countries that are against the latter proposal which […]Germany loves a strong euro; the new Fiscal Councils can deliver despite the Greek chaos and a wider questioning of austerity
September 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday, 12 September, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis made some remarks after the informal meeting of ECOFIN (the EU ministers of Finance Council) in Luxembourg. The main item on the agenda was about completing the European Monetary Union. EMU is the most important EU project after the introduction of the single euro currency. He […]EU migrant crisis: Germany, France and UK to show the way. Will the rest of the EU follow?
September 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent migrant crisis keeps on plaguing Europe and our good EU leaders and officials strive to find solutions to tackle it. Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission (EC), will present today his plans for sharing asylum seekers among the 28 EU countries. It will be a crucial day for Juncker’s Commission because […]How close is Eurozone to a new recession which may trigger formidable developments?
September 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
According to the latest statistics published in August by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, the euro area economy grew by a meager 0.3% during the second quarter of this year. Despite the fact that the mere three decimal points of more gross product typically illustrate a positive development for the Eurozone economy, there are other […]The new general election will secure Greece’s position in Eurozone; at least for some time
August 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The very next day that the Greek government signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a new stability support program of €86 billion with the European Commission, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras triggered an early legislative election. To do this he had to resign and according to the constitution, the President of the Republic […]Drowning in the Mediterranean this summer? Many happy returns
August 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This month the European Commission approved 23 multiannual national programs “under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF). The total funding for the agreed programs is approximately €2.4 billion, for the period 2014-2020… 22 national programs were already approved in March, and an additional 13 programs will be approved […]The third bailout agreement for Greece is a done deal amid European economies full of problems
August 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
After a very long session that lasted nearly 25 hours, the Greek government through 222 MP’s said a clear YES to the terms of the third bailout agreement. This strong positive vote provided to Euclid Tsakalotos, the Greek Finance Minister, the necessary tools to seal the deal with his counterparts, which realized late last night at […]Yanis Varoufakis: “Unsustainable debt turns the creditor into Leviathan; Life under it is becoming nasty, brutish and short”
August 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Lethal Deferral of Greek Debt Restructuring Written by Yanis Varoufakis ATHENS – The point of restructuring debt is to reduce the volume of new loans needed to salvage an insolvent entity. Creditors offer debt relief to get more value back and to extend as little new finance to the insolvent entity as possible. Remarkably, […]Why France, Italy and the US press Germany to accept a cheaper euro and pay for Greece
August 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Since last March the European Central Bank has being pumping at least €60 billion a month into Eurozone’s financial system, under its ‘expanded asset purchase program’, aimed at reviving the stagnating price level and energizing the sleepy real economy. The objective is to bring inflation close to 2%; the target rate set by ECB’s monetary […]Is the ECB enforcing the will of the big Eurozone member states on the small? Can the euro area live with that?
July 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewing the political or economic events in retrospect always gives the observer a privileged position. This is the point where Benoît Cœuré – a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank – found himself at an interview last Monday. At some point he was asked if the ECB had suffocated Greece’s commercial […]Is Europe ready to cooperate with the rest of the world? Can Germany change its selfish policies?
July 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment
For a long time now the European Union is accused by the rest of the world for the severe austerity and recessionary economic policies it follows, also imposing them on crisis stricken euro area member states like Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. This is so despite the fact that the Eurozone economy as a whole […]EU seems to fail its moderate migration promises postponing them for end 2015
July 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union’s Interior Ministers convened last Monday on migration but didn’t come to the preferred outcome which was set by the EU leaders only one month ago, in June. Many EU member states opposed to the proposed, by the European Council (EC), distribution of the 40.000 asylum seekers coming from Greece and Italy within […]Does the Greek deal strengthen the Eurozone? Markets react cautiously
July 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Is Eurozone strengthened after the Greek deal? At first reading the answer is a straightforward ‘yes’ because the other option, the Grexit, the exit of the country from the euro area, would have reversed the theoretically irreversible participation in the monetary zone. According to the Treaties, on which the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) of […]Finally an answer to the hottest question of European youth today: How to make sure Juncker’s Investment Plan works for youth
July 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was last month, on 25 June 2015, that the ETUC Youth Committee in collaboration with the European Youth Forum organised a rather stimulating conference at the European Economic and Social Committee called “Quality jobs creation for young people: what, how and when?” The Sting was there, attended the conference with interest and at the end made a […]Tsipras bewildered with Berlin’s humiliating demands; ECB expects political sign to refinance the Greek banks
July 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek indecisiveness and procrastination and the deep division of the euro area countries, with Germany upholding an intransigent position have led to the humiliation of Athens, during the Saturday and Sunday late night meetings of the Eurogroup (the council of the 19 ministers of Eurozone) and the Eurosummit (the 19 heads of Eurozone state […]Greece will probably stay in the Eurozone but at what cost?
July 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The technical teams of the European institutions are now discussing the Greek proposal which was approved yesterday evening by SYRIZA’s governmental council and submitted to the institutions minutes before the deadline in order to have a final agreement at tomorrow’s Eurogroup. The fact that the Greek government has come up with a more professional and […]Greece’s future solely in the hands of Tsipras; he can direct the poor country any way he likes
July 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Greece is obliged by today or the latest tomorrow Friday morning to submit to its Eurozone partners a new program with more severe austerity and deeper reforms, if the country wants to stay in the Eurozone. Alas, this is exactly the program the Greeks rejected last Sunday in a referendum. In case the Athens proposal […]Juncker and Tusk killed Greece on 07 July 2015 to meet the Commission’s summer vacation plan? #Grexit #Greferendum #Graccident
July 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The worst moment in the history of Eurozone took place on 07 July 2015 in Brussels. The common currency union leaders decided that the moment has come to kick Greece out. Although nobody had the guts to officially announce it yesterday the leaders of the 18 Eurozone countries together with Juncker’s Commission made just yesterday […]Greece: Tsipras’ referendum victory does not solve the financial stalemate of the country and its banks
July 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
The imperative economic realities for the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will not be altered noticeably after his crushing win in yesterday’s referendum. His ‘no’ (OXI in Greek) option marked an overwhelming victory meaning that the Greeks rejected the latest offer from the country’s creditors. To be reminded, during the past five months the Greek […]Hardened creditors drive Greece to dire straits; Tsipras desperate for an agreement
July 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, his government and their depressed country are now in real dire straits. This is a much worse position than in any time during the last five years, a period in which Greece repeatedly faced total collapse and was rescued by a troika of creditors (the European Union, the European […]Greece’s Tsipras: Risking country and Eurozone or securing an extra argument for creditors?
June 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his governing left wing SYRIZA party, cornered between its populist rhetoric for greener grass and the realities of the dragging on negotiations with the country’s creditors, called for a referendum next Sunday 5 July without a clearly defined question, denying to exactly clarify where the ‘yes’ or 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 […]Who is to lose from the 6-month extension of the EU economic sanctions against Russia?
June 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Foreign Ministers gathered in Luxembourg two days ago and decided to continue imposing economic sanctions to Russia for another six months. This shows the strong intention of Europe to weaken Russia’s power in Ukraine and thus put a stop on Russia’s imperialistic plans. However, Russia claims these sanctions as “illegal and unfounded” and will fight […]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 […]Can the world take the risk of a new financial armageddon so that IMF doesn’t lose face towards Tsipras?
June 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The next meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone (Eurogroup) is convening tomorrow and the main topic will be the Greek deal with the three institutions. However, the fact that the negotiations haven’t yet reached an accord from both sides makes the agreement very unlikely. That is the reason why the European leaders are preparing […]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 […]A few, or rather two, trade and economic alliances may rule our brave new world
June 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission President together with the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave a Press conference following the 23rd EU-Japan Summit which took place in Tokyo on 29 May. The focal point of the meeting was supposed to be the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides. However the EU dignitary spoke […]The ECB tells Berlin that a Germanic Eurozone is unacceptable and doesn’t work
May 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last week Eurostat, the EU statistical service, confirmed that Eurozone inflation was stuck at zero percent in April, remaining in the region of deflation. No need to mention what a too low or zero or negative inflation means for a stagnating or even receding economy. Add to that the perilous position of Greece in and […]
