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In Europe 6th May 2014

Portugal: Lisbon resilient, yields calmed, citizens exhausted

MADRID | OP-ED by Fernando Barciela | Laconic and without any fuss, PM Pedro Passos Coelho announced that three years after the €78 billion bailout Portugal will stand on its feet without the European Troika. His  pledge aimed to get political momentum at the upcoming European elections, although it greatly stirred public anger. The rate on 10-year securities slid two basis points to 3.61 percent, from a record 18.29 percent in January 2012, according to Bloomberg data. Investors betting on Portuguese bonds have seen a 15 percent return this year through May 2.

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In Europe 5th May 2014

Greece lays out plans for debt relief from eurozone

ATHENS | By Macropolis | Greece is due to raise the subject of further debt relief at Monday’s Eurogroup but with the official sector poised to take a hit this time as opposed to the Private Sector Involvement (PSI) of early 2012. Monday’s is the first meeting of eurozone finance ministers since Eurorstat ratified Greece’s 2013 primary surplus and the last before European Parliament (EP) elections will be held in Brussels today.

MANUEL VALLS

In Europe 30th April 2014

France does some ménage to reduce its deficit

OP-ED By Julia Pastor | France approved dramatic expenses cuts amounting €50 bn on Tuesday in order to limit the country’s public deficit, presumably to reach 3.8% of GDP in 2014. They did not touch, however, budget lines of education, justice and security, as well as protected pensioners under €1,2oo a month against cuts at least for a year. Spaniards wished their government had scrutinized cuts more carefully, or that Brussels had allowed to do so.

energy prices

In Europe 30th April 2014

Industry wins in Germany’s energy transition

BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | The German ambitious switch from nuclear and carbon-based energy toward renewables remains the biggest challenge for the first EU economy. The country’s industrial sector and consumers are worried about how much they will have to pay in terms of prices, competitiveness and jobs.

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In Europe 29th April 2014

A British flavor for Spanish olive oil firm Deoleo

MADRID | By The Corner | Spain’s production of so-called gold liquid made Spanish company Deoleo olive oil’s world leader. After a sound restructuring, British private equity firm CVC bought a major stake of 29.99%. Just three stakeholders Unicaja (11.35 %), Kutxabank (4.8 %) and Caixabank will guarantee the ‘Spanishness’ of Deoleo. Better than an Italian entering into the company’s capital, which was also considered.

 

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In Europe 29th April 2014

EU elections: Selling good news

MADRID | J.P. Marín Arrese | The EU seems an endless discussion on futile issues taking place in Brussels. We are all too aware that real decision-making lies in Berlin.

gas grid

In Europe 28th April 2014

Spain’s golden opportunity to become the gas hub of Europe

MADRID | By Julia Pastor | With seven LNG regasification plants and two connnections to big Algerian deposits, Spain has one of the EU’s highest capacity gas grid. A third infrastructure called Midcat linking the Mediterranean corridor with France remains unfinished, partly because of objections from France and Germany. The European Commission, however, wants to bring down this wall since Midcat could replace 10% of Russian imports and give wider negotiating power against Putin’s threats amid Ukraine’s pre-civil war climate.

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In Europe 25th April 2014

Deflation doesn’t benefit production

MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | There was a deflation period in Europe at the peak of the crisis in 2008-2010. Demand policies all around the world erased it and prices increased to 3% annual rate. Then, the resulting austerity policies brought us back to deflation.

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In Europe 24th April 2014

Greek 2013 primary surplus confirmed at 1.5 bln euros

ATHENS | By Macropolis | Greece’s 2013 general government (gg) deficit reached 23.11 billion euros (12.7 percent of GDP), while debt stood at 318.7 billion (175.1 percent of GDP), according to first notification released by the Eurostat on Wednesday.