Articles by Luis Marti

About the Author

Luis Marti
Luis Martí is Commercial Technician and State Economist. He was executive director at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank appointed by Spain, and deputy president of the European Investment Bank.

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Techniques For A Grand Coalition

Germany has a very broad history in government coalitions. So is there anything in its formula that makes it exportable to other parts of the world, including Spain? Whatever happens in Germany in the coming months, there are a couple of points worth taking into account.


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The Bottom Billion And The Voice Of A Nobel Prize

“The need to impose good governance comes to the forefront among providers of development aid. But no one knows well how to get it.” The quote from Collier’s book only has as its objective to remind us that humanity continues without overcoming the “trap” of underdevelopment,  and therefore without resolving the problem of poverty in the world.

 

 


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Distant Horizons For European Political Union

France’s proposal to move forward with eurozone fiscal and political integration, with a single government for the area, one budget…is still at at a very early stage. As German experts point out, the reality is that none of the 19 parliaments involved are currently considering giving up any more sovereignity.


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Don’t give up on politics!

MADRID | June 18, 2015 | By Luis Martí | The negotiating tactics of the Greek government can only be understood against the backdrop of an impossible set of electoral promises –impossible, that is, unless the government gained access to an unlimited inflow of financial resources from abroad at no charge. This not being the case, President Tsipras has to act within a constrained framework. 


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Argentina’s debt case: Reading the tea leaves

MADRID | By Luis Martí | You’ll probably know by now that the Court has turned down the Argentinian request to hear an appeal of a lower court decision. The decision established that the unwillingness of Argentina to pay defaulted holdouts, while duly servicing restructured debt, violated the spirit of the pari passu clause. Well, there’s a lot to be said for this interpretation, and a lot against.


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Karlsruhe, ECB’s OMT or the turn of the screw

MADRID | By Luis Martí | Each time the monetary union takes a step forward, German individuals and/or civil or political groups file a case with the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. So far, the Court has sanctioned that German governments were correct in accepting obligations emanating from Maastricht or the Lisbon Treaty, for example, but at the same time, it has also turned the screw on the Berlin executive by setting more and more strict limits to their freedom of action, by requiring –for instance- higher levels of co-decision with the legislative organs.


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EMU banking : well-behaved vs rogue systems?

MADRID | By Luis Martí | The European banking union project received a remarkable boost last December, even if a major chapter, the bank resolution fund, had to conform to German requirements and stay on a national basis. This part of the agreement is a moot point, and Southern countries should have raised their voices and taken a firm stand against, as Münchau also wrote, no matter the delay inflicted to the working agenda of the eurogroup.


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Germany, the Same Ol’ Song

MADRID | By Luis Martí | In Germany, coalitions are frequent at all levels of government, with a degree of formalization and publicity which was minimum before (in the Adenauer Era), but which has shown an extensive “coalition contract” since 1969. The current contract, initialled on 27 November, has yet to be ratified –and it’s expected that the process will be brief where the CDU and the CSU are concerned, but not so much in the case of the SPD, which must be subject to a vote of approval by its affiliates.


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Why the IMF’s last report on Spain doesn’t make the cut

MADRID | By Luis Martí | Spaniards are not slim quite yet. Or that’s how the IMF’s last report sees it. While admitting that reforms have gone quite far, the IMF wants wage earners to run an extra mile. But there are a few reasons why the institution’s proposal doesn’t make the cut.