BRUSSELS | By commissioner Olli Rehn | ‘Yes, this slightly more positive data is welcome – but there is no room for any complacency whatsoever. I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting “the crisis is over”.’
STRASBOURG | By EP Press Department | The European Parliament currently boasts 754 MEPs but this will be increased to 766 once Croatia joins in July. After next year’s elections, this number will have be reduced to 751.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | The Spanish government is simply enforcing the law–a law that the British government has signed. Madrid, unlike London, still has the option of increasing its pressure without pointless nationalistic antics like Royal warships.
LONDON | By Richard Laming | Fixing the problems of the Greek economy is not simply a matter of attending to the public finances and is a task that will take many years. But is not in the nature of the international bond markets to give sovereign debtors that long.
PARIS | Calling on the expertise of the IMF helped save the euro at the height of the crisis. However, the personal involvement of the head of the ECB and the creation of specific financial tools have now made recourse to the Washington-based institution unnecessary, says economist Stéphane Cossé.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | The economic cycle goes up and down. But after a terrible crash as the one we have suffered, following a crazy boom, amid staggering losses of capital and jobs, you would be deluded to believe that the economy will fix itself.
BARCELONA | By Enric Fernandez | Both institutions and culture have a lot of inertia. There is no doubt, however, that this is much more the case with culture. Implementing a cultural change is surely impossible in the short term.
MADRID | By José Hervás | European commissioners and top officials can receive up to 70% of their salary when they retire, which in most cases translate into more than €10,000 per month.
PARIS | By Gregoire Fleurot, via Presseurope.eu | To overcome the crisis, many European countries are thinking about cutting back on paid holidays. A tempting idea, but one that could prove counter-productive.
MADRID | By Fernando Barciela | Fracisco Javier Cremades, board member at Ezentis and chairman of the minority shareholders association AEMEC: “We are against the idea of quotas. Good governance is not feminist or non-feminist or egalitarian or anything.”