Britain wants the budget frozen at its 2011 level. But if the talks collapse, the 2013 budget will simply be rolled over to 2014 but with inflation added. The budget would end up far larger than 2011, says John Springford, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
EU has once and again proved it can only curb its dwarfing tendency when confronted to emergency situations. Let’s hope the row over the Banking Union governance is settled well before the next one.
Constantly struggling to keep up with the austerity imposed by the Troika, Greece has managed to cut public spending much more efficiently than it’s acknowledged. Economic recovery, though, is still nowhere to be seen. The IMF is right to rethink the current policies before it is too late.
Ever more austerity? Only Ireland has managed to escape, and barely, from the budget-cut trap at a considerable cost. No wonder the Commission hesitates to plunge Spain into a similar ordeal.
BRUSSELS | 80% of the Venetians would support independence. Mario Monti has convened an informal summit about centrifugal forces that most of the EU members are facing. Dangers of the community pax. By Jacobo de Regoyos.
MADRID | Governments throughout Europe should be less confident that ever before about this general strike passing by without further consequences. From Madrid and Lisbon to Athens, the European middle classes are getting more and more restless.
Reporter Martin Nangle tells Brussels what’s at stake: “many see ‘More Europe’ as additional funding to the already lavish gravy train lifestyle enjoyed by a greedy elitist group who have little or no allegiance to Europe’s citizens.”
LONDON | The temptation to leave the battered ship adrift of the European Union increases by the hour in Downing Street, amid the silence of the opposition and the business community. If Brussels and Berlin arouse disaffection among their close partners, what would you expect from London?
Prof. Krzysztof Rybiński, rector at the Vistula Finance and Business Academy in Warsaw and ex-deputy governor of the National Bank of Poland: “If we lower card payment commissions, will supermarket chains lower their prices? As more information on this is available, I have become less and less convinced.”
From Presseurope.eu | For Italian writer Claudio Magris, the only way to dispel the dismay prompted by the European economic and political crisis is to create a strong, decentralised and respected federal state.