Only a few years ago, Germany’s stars of pride and accomplishment were personified and embodied in the unparalleled triumphant stories and achievements of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Deutsche Bank. They both had amazed Europe and the world, with their successes in the politico-economic universe. Until the legislative elections of September 2017, and probably sometime earlier […]Parallel downfalls of Merkel and Deutsche Bank threaten Germany and Europe
September 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Only a few years ago, Germany’s stars of pride and accomplishment were personified and embodied in the unparalleled triumphant stories and achievements of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Deutsche Bank. They both had amazed Europe and the world, with their successes in the politico-economic universe. Until the legislative elections of September 2017, and probably sometime earlier […]Can a Bavarian Oktoberfest beer indulger bring down the Berlin government?
July 5, 2018 by Leave a Comment
In the late hours of last Monday, Horst Seehofer the Bavarian, a right wing politician and standard Oktoberfest beer indulger, who has lately discovered the attractions of anti-immigration rhetoric, finally backed off from his threats to bring down Angela Merkel’s Federal government. He is the President of the right wing Christian Social Union party present […]The Bavarians threaten Berlin and Brussels with immigration crisis
June 21, 2018 by 2 Comments
In an unprecedented move, the German Interior Minister is betraying his boss – Chancellor Angela Merkel – and is forming an anti-refugee alliance with the extreme right-wing Austrian government and the precarious new Italian populist administration. The impossible German Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian CSU party and junior partner in the […]Germany may have a stable and more cooperative government
February 8, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The center right and center left German mainstream political parties agreed yesterday evening to form a new grand coalition government. It will be the third time since 2005 the two Christian parties and the socialists jointly govern their country. The socialists will control the Finance, Foreign and Labor ministries, with Martin Schulz, the Social Democratic […]What will Germany look like after the next election?
January 11, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Last Thursday this newspaper came out with a lead story about European countries having problems producing viable governments. The article was entitled “Minority governments ‘à la mode’ in Europe but can they last long?” It seems conformist Germany answers this question in the negative. According to an opinion poll published this week and reported by […]How a possible EU budget deficit affects the migration crisis
January 10, 2018 by Leave a Comment
The migration crisis has been long plaguing Europe but the year passed revealed that the situation is getting better and better with arrivals and deaths to be decreased to a great extent. According to IOM, the UN Migration Agency, 171.635 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during 2017 compared to the 363.504 arrivals in […]Is Germany’s political landscape becoming a breeding ground for extremism?
December 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Week, the German center left Social Democratic Party (SPD) decided to cooperate once more with the country’s conservatives, the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister Christian Social Union. They are to negotiate the formation of a grand coalition government, understandably under Chancellor Angela Merkel. This development may now seem the only mathematically possible […]A long German political winter is on the way
November 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Germany enters into a long period of political uncertainty. The ‘Grand Coalition’ of the conservatives (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union) and the Social Democrats of SPD, which can offer a stable government, may take months to form. Then, even after fashioned, it will not function without friction, as used to be the standard for Germany. […]Germany not famous for easy way outs from political stalemates
November 23, 2017 by Leave a Comment
And now ‘Frau Bundeskanzlerin’ what? The truth is though whatever the future holds for the German political landscape, is no good. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s failure last weekend to form a government, with a viable parliamentary majority has irreparably stained the so far pristine scenery of the country’s politico-economic affairs. The unsuccessful attempts to convince liberal […]German political spillovers: ECB’s Draghi resists first attacks by AfD
September 28, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday, Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, speaking at the Economic Committee of the European Parliament had the opportunity to test the grounds and familiarize himself with the nature of political climate he may come across after the German elections. He had a heated exchange with the head of the AfD group […]Elections results: Austerity’s black to prevail in the new multicolored German government
September 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
During the past ten years, Germany has become a politically boring country and yesterday’s election is not going to change that, despite the loss of around one million votes for the Chancellor’s party. Angela Merkel’s win came to none’s surprise and the results permit her to embark on a fourth term in the top job. […]Why is Merkel’s Germany so liberal with the refugees? Did the last elections change that?
March 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment
There are many lessons to be learned from last Sunday’s elections in Germany. For one thing, the widely expected electoral setback that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) experienced last Sunday doesn’t seem to constitute a major blow to her dominant political status. She continues to be the central […]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 […]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 […]Renewed pressures on Berlin to adopt growth policies
November 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, the European Commission in Brussels announced that euro area growth prospects are sluggish, and downgraded the projected rate of GDP increase for 2014, from 1.2% to 1%. Also yesterday President Manuel Barroso, while speaking in Saint Paul’s Church in Frankfurt, where the first democratically elected Parliament of Germany was convened, called on this country […]CDU-SPD agree the terms for EU’s Banking Union
November 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
With the talks on the formation of a coalition government, involving Angela Merkel’s CDU and the German socialists of SPD having progressed as far as to cover the issue of Eurozone’s bank resolution mechanism, it seems that the main elements of an agreement over the completion of the European Banking Union are now in place. […]Bank resolutions and recapitalisations by the ESM may end up politically swayed
September 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Klaus Regling, the Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), speaking yesterday at the European Parliament, when pressed by legislators, accepted that the wealthy ESM under conditions could function as a backstop and finance jointly with other sources, euro area bank resolutions and recapitalisations. Regling did concede that he was “open to considering other […]Germany: A grand coalition may trouble employers and bankers
September 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The very likely formation of a grand coalition government in Germany, led by the CDU-CSU Christian democrats, under Chancellor Angela Merkel and comprising the SPD socialists, will not be without tangible results in at least two crucial fronts. The wages of Germany’s hard working millions and the long overdue rearrangement of Eurozone’s banking system, are […]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 […]How painful is the Greek tragedy for the Germans?
August 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
When the International Monetary Fund completed some weeks ago its fourth review under the Extended Fund Facility Arrangement for Greece, and approved for this country a new disbursement of €1.72 billion, it performed also a Debt Sustainability Analysis, which is a prerequisite for any IMF loan. According to this DSA, Greece would face a funding […]
