Slovenia can avoid an EU bailout
By Katja Mann | Despite severe financial and economic problems, Slovenia can still avoid a bail-out – if investors stay confident.
In Europe
Italy in the twilight
ROME | Nadia Urbinati | The stalemate over the election of the President of the Republic, which broke on April 20 with the re-election of Giorgio Napolitano and the resignation of the leadership of the Democratic Party, is the highwater mark of the crisis in the Italian political system. To save that system, we must move ahead immediately with reforms, starting with electoral reform.
EU Business relocation, relocation, relocation
STRASBOURG | Over time, EU regions have become more sophisticated in trying to attract businesses. They amend their offers to reflect the wants of businesses, in order to obtain success.
Serbia’s proof that the EU works
By Matt Shearman | This was an historic step for Serb-Kosovo relations, but in the wider terms of the EU accession debate, the agreement stands as a prelude to the difficult road ahead.
Cyber-democracy comes to Europe
By Juan Carlos de Martín | Responding to political crisis, a chorus of voices, such as Italy’s Five Star Movement, are calling for a transition to the direct participation that the Internet has made possible. However, the two systems should complement, rather than compete against each other.
Is austerity to blame?
MADRID | Cuts and tax rises cannot be considered by all means as negligible. Bur their real impact on disposable incomes does amount to a rather modest share, on average.
How British tabloids fuel euroscepticism
PRAGUE | The EU has ruled on the curves of cucumbers, forbidden hairdressers from wearing heels, and even financed a porn film. These urban legends about decisions taken in Brussels are as endless as they are false. And they all get the kiss of life in the same place: the British tabloids.
Prisa, the Spanish economy and Brussels’ impossible deficit targets
MADRID | The European Central Bank must change course, too, so market credit costs drop to a range at which peripheral governments will not suffer as much as they do now. Brussels and Berlin may stubbornly be strangling the eurozone because they cannot see the wood from the trees.
The Basque secret against the crisis
By Inigo Arzac, Business Development Director for Latin America and Spain for Globalscape Software | The Basques offer us an ancient example that provides lessons for today that should be studied and remembered.
The Ying and Yang of Economic Policy
By David Denton | The Richter Scale | The UK QE has merely allowed the banks to off load UK government debt and replace this with other government debt, helping to keep bond prices high but having no impact on the real economy, other than to keep interest rates artificially low.