CRACOW | By Matthew Shearman | Ahead of the end of immigration controls on Romania and Bulgaria in January 2014, some UK ministers are thinking of running a campaign to deter a repeat of the 2004 “wave” of immigration when eight former communist countries gained EU working rights. But the eurozone crisis makes this prospect less likely.
In the current environment of huge indebtedness and low inflation, with sizeable unspent resources, a strong euro adds insult to injury.
Presseurop.eu | Kostas Onisenko | Victims of the Greek crisis and its consequences, non-European migrants have started to head home. In a centre in Athens, they talk bitterly of the setback that repatriation represents for them.
Uncertainty is driven by a scenario with lower growth rates for GDP, trade, capital formation and employment, and by a number of perceived risk factors related to the Eurozone crisis, and the United States fiscal cliff.
MADRID | Spain has a lot to learn from political life in Britain or the US, where bipartisan broad agreement to engage into an objective and transparent way of working gives rise to thorough sensible proposals against corruption.
Presseurop.eu | The British Prime Minister’s speech on January 23 on the future of relations between his country and the EU has made the front pages of most European newspapers. The idea of a UK exit provokes reactions ranging from outrage to–more frequently–understanding.
BARCELONA | By CaixaBank analysts | Notable calm in the periphery’s sovereign debt crisis. Italy’s election and Spain’s budget figures will be the source of transitory turbulence.
MADRID | By JLM Campuzano, Citigroup analyst | “Complacency has prolonged the eurocrisis at least one more year and has affected our access to market credit, which was somehow eased only when the European Central Bank promised short-term debt support.”
Presseurop.eu | By Arnaud Leparmentier | Paris and Berlin may be celebrating the anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, which founded their reconciliation, but their marriage has hit the rocks. The French are making faces at the economic success of the Germans, who aren’t holding back when it comes to pointing out the weaknesses of their neighbours. But we have to keep the love alive.
The gradual recovery in price competitiveness of the countries on the periphery and particularly their restrained domestic demand have boosted the correction of the euro area’s current account imbalances. However, there’s still a long way to go.