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European politics

armyok

European politics 12th November 2020

Third Countries Are Invited to Join European Military Projects

As the European Union comes to terms with a changing strategic environment, it needs to do more to provide for its own defense and security. This includes better and more comprehensive EU-NATO coordination but also the participation of non-EU members in projects and processes initiated within EU structures. This discussion is especially important now, when the EU, while coping with COVID-19, is simultaneously seeking to build its open strategic autonomy.

EU recovery fund

European politics 11th November 2020

Agreement To Unlock The EU Recovery Fund, But Conditions Remain Uncertain

After four months of negotiations, the Council and the European Parliament agreed yesterday the new 2021-2027 budgetary framework. Although the full breakdown is not known, the budget will mobilise more than 1.8 trillion euros during this period. In addition, both bodies agreed to unblock the Next Generation EU programme. The accord includes reinforcing with an extra €15 Bn the funding of key programmes such as EU4Health, which will triple its previous budget, Erasmus+ or Horizon Europe (R&D).

germany reinvented

European politics 9th November 2020

Who Are the Men Hoping to Succeed Angela Merkel?

The decision of who will follow Angela Merkel to become Germany’s next chancellor is still up in the air. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party conference to elect a new leader has been postponed until January next year.

US an empire

European politics 5th November 2020

What’s at Stake for Europe in the American Election

Donald Trump has consistently sided against Europe and European interests, from raising tariffs on European exports to rescinding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open Skies Treaties — which protected Russia’s neighbors — to paralyzing the G20 and the World Trade Organization to withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, New START and the World Health Organization. It’s no wonder Europeans prefer Joe Biden — from between 58 percent of Italians to 80 percent of Danes, according to YouGov.

Trade war can have collateral damage in Europe

European politics 3rd November 2020

Why Many Germans Hope Trump Will Lose

Tilman Pradt (Atlantic Sentinel) | Donald Trump bashing Germany is hardly surprising. It has been a constant of his presidency. The once-special partnership between Germany and the United States, which already lost some of its luster in the decades after the Cold War, sunk to a post-World War II low during his administration. Nor is Trump mistaken. Most Germans want to see him gone — with reason.

Emmanuel Macron

European politics 28th October 2020

Criticism of Macron’s Islam Policy Is Over the Top

The New York Times claims Macron has ordered a “broad government crackdown against Muslim individuals and groups.” The World Socialist Web Site, in a widely retweeted story, accuses Macron of “whipping up … anti-Muslim hysteria.” An American sociologist who researches white supremacists laments that French officials “respond to violent extremism with violent extremism.” What is this “broad crackdown”? Macron’s government has closed a mosque, which was run by a radical imam. A number of arrests have been made. “Anti-Muslim hysteria”? 51 more Islamic organizations are being investigated for alleged extremist sympathies. What about “violent extremism”? There are plans to take away the French passports of 231 foreign-born criminals.

lagarde

European politics 23rd October 2020

Procyclical Financial Regulation: What Can Be Done?

The COVID crisis brought about impressive activism on the part of financial regulators. Measures taken to offset the impact of the pandemic included: 1) encouraging forbearance and avoiding automaticity in non-performing loan (NPL) accounting and provisions; 2) allowing the use of capital and liquidity buffers; 3) reducing the supervisory, operational and reporting burden; 4) delaying the entry into force of more stringent requirements; while 5) bringing forward more lenient ones; and 6) ensuring the continuity in the provision of critical functions. Governments provided guarantees to loans to companies and individuals affected by the pandemic, which enjoyed better regulatory treatment.

johnson

European politics 19th October 2020

EU27 And The UK: Product Dependencies And The Implications Of Brexit

In 2019, 50% of the imports and 47% of the exports were traded with the EU27, which makes the EU27 market the UK’s largest trading partner. In 2006, both, the shares of UK exports and imports to the EU27, were at the maximum level; since then both shares are on a general downward trend, the exports more than the imports. Since the referendum in 2016, the exposure to the EU27 market did not significantly change from the perspective of the UK. Hence, especially as a supplier, the EU27 matter for the UK. For the EU27, the UK is much less important as a trading partner: in 2019, only 4% of total exports go to the UK and 6% of the total imports are from the UK, respectively. While the trade shares decrease between 2001 and 2007, they remain relatively stable thereafter. Since the referendum in 2016, we have seen a slight decrease in the trade shares with the UK.

BoE

European politics 6th October 2020

A Mug’s Game

“Our base case for sterling remains unchanged: that some type of a compromise on state aid and fisheries will enable a barebones free trade agreement covering goods, and that the pound will enjoy a moderate 3-5% rally as a result. Assigning a percentage probability to the chance of talks collapsing is a mug’s game: everyone knows this remains a realistic probability.”

germany prusian flag

European politics 28th September 2020

Populism In Germany Is Becoming Increasingly Unpopular

Lidia Conde (Frankfurt) | Are there many? Or just a few? One in five Germans believes in populist arguments or has ideas which go against the system or the elite or pluralism. Two years ago, it was one in three. According to a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, populism is less and less popular. However, watching thousands of people demonstrating against the anti-pandemic restrictions in a country which is a model in containing the pandemic, one wonders if Germany has not gone completely mad.