José Luis M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) |Supervision and a single resolution mechanism for the banks, along with a common deposit guarantee, are undoubtedly an essential part of monetary union. In the medium-term, however, greater fiscal convergence, with a more extensive mutualisation of risk in the region, are just as important.
Nick Ottens via Atlantic Sentinel| French president Emmanuel Macron barely talks about an issue that preoccupies two-thirds of French voters. Immigration could be his Achilles heel.
José Luis M. Campuzano (Spanish Banking Association) |The ECB believes the net effect of a policy of zero interest rates (negative in the case of the deposit rate) has been positive for the revenues of the different economic players. But the impact has not been equal.
Yiannis Mouzakis via Macropolis | Greece’s economic collapse in 2010-2013 has become legendary. The country had already been hit hard by the global financial crisis in 2009, when it posted a sharp GDP drop of -4.3 percent. This set the stage for what would become the deepest economic contraction of a developed country in history. But would the implementation of structural reforms have helped alleviate this situation?
Are Scotland and Catalonia willing to do what it takes to achieve independence? In 2007, the Scottish National Party launched a proposal of holding a referendum over Scotland’s independence. In 2009, some activists detached from mainstream Catalan parties launched the same proposal in Catalonia and actually held unofficial referenda that drove more than a million people to the polls voting overwhelmingly for independence.
There is still no definitive take on what happened between January 25, 2015, when SYRIZA was elected to power and July 13, when Tsipras agreed a bailout deal he had insisted he would never sign. Former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has provided his interpretation of the events in his book, Adults in the Room.
Nick Ottens via Atlantic Sentinel | The president is losing support from voters who would be hurt by his reforms, but that is to be expected.
One of the most famous sentences in the history of the Eurozone turns five years today: “Within our mandate the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough”. ECB’s chairman Mario Draghi words will be reminded for long as a balm to the euro crisis of 2012, but what real effect this discourse has had?
Last week, the ECB’s governing council openly disavowed its chairman by refusing to provide any hint about the potential dismantling of quantitative easing. Draghi was at pains to reconcile this rebuke with his sanguine message in Sintra pointing to a tapering decision shortly after the summer break. In the press conference following the board, he was forced to admit that for the time being inflation run far away from its medium-term goal.
Nick Ottens via Atlantic Sentinel | A year has passed since Britain voted to leave the European Union and huge questions remain unanswered. For example, what’s going to happen to Britain’s £700 billion trade with the EU? or how many planes will be allowed to fly across the Channel once Britain exits Europe’s open-skies regime?