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.
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.
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.
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.
Presseurop.eu | The latest statistics on the state of the eurozone economy indicate that, contrary to what political leaders have recently been saying, the crisis is far from over.
BERLIN | A US-EU free trade zone is on the agenda. There are at least four good reasons for Europe to stay away from it, writes the liberal Die Welt.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Javier Flores, head of analysis at Asinver: “France’s economic system will not fall into bankruptcy, but the French model cannot be considered as a superpower any more.”
By Arran Frood | Resisting a reduced spend on science in Europe may require decision makers to understand the mechanisms that makes them discount future benefits in return for short-term certainty on cost savings.
Ronny Patz | We seem far from having only technocratic European debates. We seem far from only hearing national politician’s views on the national aspects of European politics.
By Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, analyst at XTB | For all the noise these scandals bring about, the pressure on Merkel should not abate. The eurozone needs that Germany relaxes its stand on public investment cuts, and efficient measures to deal with sovereign debt should be agreed by core country members.