By Nick Malkoutzis | The Agora/ MacroPolis | Earlier this year, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held an informal dinner with some of his party’s MPs. He reportedly told them that if Greece would be able to get through a tough summer, it would “take off” in September. We are now nearing the end of October and there has been no departure for the skies. Instead, Samaras is bracing for impact.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | Mario Draghi dared to warn European authorities of the danger of a “capital flight” if they insist on taking confiscatory measures against all kinds of rescued banks’ creditors. If it comes to that, they may cause a crisis in the entire European banking sector.
SOFIA | By Novinar via Presseurop | “Brussels could stop European fund payments,” announces Novinar, which reports that “with a shortfall of €2.7bn, the European Commission budget is insufficient to cover its expenses.”
Jan-Werner Müller at The Guardian via Presseurop | Europeans have been stunned and dismayed by the gridlock that brought the US government to a near-default. But should the anti-EU parties make a breakthrough in the upcoming European elections, the Union would face a similar situation, writes a German political scientist.
LUXEMBURGO | By Fernand Morbach at Luxemburger Wort via Presseurop | The Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) of former prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker who resigned in July came first in general elections held on October 20, with 33.6 per cent of the vote and 23 seats (out of a total of 60) in Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies. This is down from 26 seats in the previous administration.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes | David Smith writes: “the inflation baloon’s still up in Britain”. The question now is… who ‘suffers’ more, the UK or 15 of the EU members that have inflation below 1%?
ISTANBUL | By Orhan Kemal Cengiz Radikal at via Presseurop | The recent report on progress in negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the EU finally deals sensitively with the issue and should trigger a calm debate among the Turkish public on its relationship with the Union, writes the star columnist of the influential “Radikal” daily newspaper.
PARIS | By DPA | Protesting students of Paris high schools hold a banner reading “Valls out”, for Interior Minister Manuel Valls during a demonstration in Paris, on Thursday in anger over expulsion of immigrant families. Photo:AP
LONDON | By Michael Burke at The Guardian via Presseurop | After three years of public sector spending cuts, Ireland looks set to exit the EU-ECB-IMF bailout programme on December 15, but at what cost? The country remains mired in depression and the economy is now hollowed out. (Illustration: “Informal Meeting of ECOFIN Ministers in Dublin” by Eoin Kelleher).
LONDON | By BARCLAYS | The Portuguese government presented yesterday the draft Budget Law for 2014. Fiscal measures to be deployed amount to EUR3.9bn (2.4% of GDP), about 0.4% of GDP above the EUR3.3bn announced in May when the cabinet approved additional austerity measures to meet revised fiscal targets for this year and next (EUR1.4bn in 2013 and EUR3.3bn in 2014).