Regional unemployment statistics in the European Union as published today by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, show clearly that the wide differentiation of this crucial variable calls for an appropriate modulation of policies designed to counter different growth/recession records. The European Central Bank is currently supplying ample and almost zero cost liquidity to Eurozone’s core […]Eurozone: There is a remedy for regional convergence
May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Regional unemployment statistics in the European Union as published today by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, show clearly that the wide differentiation of this crucial variable calls for an appropriate modulation of policies designed to counter different growth/recession records. The European Central Bank is currently supplying ample and almost zero cost liquidity to Eurozone’s core […]German heavy artillery against Brussels and Paris
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In Eurozone the confrontation between ‘austerity lovers’ and ‘relaxationists’ presented a new and course changing sequel last week, with German heavy artillery fire towards Brussels and Paris. The German Federal Minister of Finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, accused the Brussels Commission and personally the President Manuel Barroso for delaying the realisation of EU programmes to fight youth […]Eurozone: How safe are our deposits? Which banks will survive?
May 11, 2013 by 1 Comment
The Ecofin Council, the EU body that regroups the 27 Ministers of Finance, probably the most powerful institution of the European Union, is to conduct its regular meeting this Monday and Tuesday 13 and 14 May. On its agenda the main item will be a Commission’s proposal for a crucial Directive, establishing a framework for […]Draghi: Germany has to spend if Eurozone is to exit recession
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Mario Draghi, in a historic speech delivered yesterday in his home country, bravely surpassed the limits of his office as President of the European Central Bank, and upon receiving an honorary degree in political science, from the Luiss “Guido Carli” University in Rome, he warned the European leaders that in order to safeguard the European […]EU Commission: Growth first then fiscal consolidation
May 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, released yesterday its spring forecast for the economic prospects of the Union in 2013-2014. There are three issues to watch in the released text and also in what Olli Rehn, Commission Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs had to say in a press conference in Brussels. Firstly […]Commission and ECB prepare new financial mega-tool in support of SMEs
May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday the two most important institutions of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, separately unveiled their intentions to seriously engage in an effort to create a new policy tool in support of the Union’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and defragment Eurozone’s financial markets .The Commission issued an announcement entitled, […]Draghi, Letta: All Eurozone countries must be able to borrow like Germany
May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The reduction of European Central Bank’s basic rate from 0.75% to 0.5 % was the less important news from Bratislava, Slovakia, yesterday where the governor of the central bank, Mario Draghi, presented the decisions of the bank’s Governing Council and answered questions from journalists. Not even the possibility of a new interest rate cut soon […]Three countries losing ground and one new prime minister
April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Three countries losing more economic grounds and one new prime minister was last week’s stock taking in Eurozone. Meanwhile the real economy and more so the Small and Medium Enterprises in the south of Eurozone were found in a much worse position during the last six months ( Oct 2012- Mar 2013), in relation to […]Hostages to a rampant banking system
April 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission presented yesterday its European Financial Stability and Integration Report (EFSIR) at a joint conference with the European Central Bank (ECB) in Brussels. Overall, the report concludes that “despite improvements, the financial crisis continued to exert a significant impact in holding back economic growth in 2012”. Earlier today, Friday 26 April, the European […]IMF: European banks do not perform their duty to real economy
April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
During this week everybody took an interest on Europe’s and more so on Eurozone’s financial standing. During the last two days Jörg Asmussen, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, the International Monetary Fund and the European Council Presidency came out to either criticise or reassure everybody that the European financial and banking system […]EU Parliament: ECB accountable for not supporting real economy
April 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Parliament yesterday held the European Central Bank accountable for the lack of dissemination to the real economy of the cheap liquidity the central bank has accorded to commercial banks. The resolution adopted during the Parliament’s annual evaluation of the ECB’s activities, addresses both the ECB’s monetary policy responses to the Eurozone crisis and […]False promises to Small and Medium Enterprises
March 8, 2013 by 2 Comments
After the minimal or zero success that the Small Business Act (SBA) of 2008 had recorded during the past four years, in failing to ease the life of Small and Medium Enterprises, the European Commission launched yesterday another similar initiative. This time the “Commission wants to simplify life for SMEs by easing the top 10 […]Why Commissioner Rehn wants us all to work more for less
February 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday Commissioner Olli Rehn speaking at the regular monthly meeting of the European Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin), which regroups the 27 EU ministers of Finance, made a completely wrong evaluation of Eurozone’s economy present status, despite some quite superficial references to the real causes of the ongoing crisis. Let’s see all that in details. His […]eGovernmnet for more efficiency, equality and democracy
November 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
At the fifth Ministerial eGovernment Conference in Malmö, (Sweden) the 27 EU ministers, responsible for administrative affairs, outlined a joint vision and policy priorities on how to developing smarter online public services for citizens and businesses by 2015. The EU Commission hailed this agreement and commented that eGovernment is a key step towards boosting Europe’s […]
