Italy calls EU’s democracy bluff
MADRID | In Italy, as in other southern eurozone countries, citizens cannot believe there will be light at the end of the austerity tunnel.
In Europe
Italians vote: vaffanc*lo!
By Marcus Nunes, economist and author | If you followed the results of the Italian general election, you would probably be wondering: what will happen to the “growing investor confidence” the European Commission was talking about?
Monetary policy of the future
BARCELONA | By CaixaBank research | Compared with its pre-crisis size, the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve in the US has tripled while the European Central Bank’s has only doubled.
The forging of a UK-Nordic-Baltic bloc
By James Kilcourse, researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs | Has the UK successfully forged an alliance with other “awkward partners” of Brussels? If the situation in the EU’s southern periphery deteriorates further, the ideas that emerge from the annual Northern Future Forum may become ever more influential.
Italy’s Lombardian cross
Presseurop.eu | By Marc Semo | As the most populated and wealthy region in the country, Lombardy will play a key role in the outcome of the Italian legislative elections scheduled for February 24 and 25. However, troubled by the lack of ethics among politicians, the region’s all-important Catholic vote is more undecided than ever.
What can derail a EU-US free trade accord
By Liberlaboratory | The EU and the USA announced last week that they will launch negotiations for a free trade agreement. The potential benefits appear huge with the two giants representing 47% of global GDP. But mind the gaps ahead.
Don’t give up on the EU just yet
By Chris Kendall | The nation state is no more ‘natural’ a political unit than any other, including the EU. Arguments against the EU which are premised on the notion that the nation state has more legitimacy are fundamentally flawed.
Portugal attests austerity alone cannot reign in debt crisis
Presseurop.eu | By François Musseau |European leaders are counting on Portugal to set an example of how austerity can succeed when it is applied seriously. Sadly, despite a unprecedented tightening of the screw, Lisbon is still being forced to sell off its “crown jewels” to halt its spiralling debts.
Eurozone’s politicians got austerity wrong
By non-profit German political foundation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung | Eurocrisis, austerity policy and the European social model: how crisis policies in southern Europe threaten the EU’s social dimension.
This eurocrisis needs a different EU budget
By Niels Goet, founder of the new blog EUspeak.eu | They might between the three of them have saved a few hundred million to a billion Euros for their taxpayers; but this comes at the expense of the ability of the EU to tackle some of the important problems Europe has to deal with.