The report prepared at the request of the European Union (EU) by former ECB President Mario Draghi on economic competitiveness in the region states that the EU needs a much more coordinated industrial policy, faster decisions and massive investments if it is to keep up with the economic pace of its rivals the US and China. Moreover, Draghi told the conference at which he presented the report, Europe is the…
The Franco-German axis is back in operation thanks to the coronavirus crisis. Yesterday, the French president and the German chancellor agreed to propose the creation of a €500 Bn reconstruction fund to the European Union (EU), far cry from the quite regularly speculated sum of around €1 Bn or €1.5 Bn. The proposal is very much in line with the recovery plan which the European executive is working on currently and is expected to be presented on 27 May.
Lidia Treiber (Wisdom Tree) | As the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns begin to more deeply unveil the economic impact that these severe measures have had on different European countries, the cost of funding has started to rise sharply for hard hit countries such as Italy and Spain. The spread of peripheral sovereign bonds over German sovereign bonds has begun to widen as investors become concerned about the rising debt to gross domestic product (GDP) levels for countries with already weaker fundamentals.
After 16 hours of telematic meetings, the Eurogroup came close to reaching an agreement, but once again, that did not happen. Once again, it is postponing the decision until tomorrow, Thursday. Once again, it has failed. The Eurozone finance and economy ministers remain divided over the debt mechanism which will help the countries most affected by the pandemic to finance themselves. This division between North and South has a very clear figure: 500 billion euros are up in the air.
The twentieth anniversary of the creation of the ECB coincides with renewed financial tensions in the Eurozone. According to Caixa Research, the irreversability of the single currency requires ambitious advances in the European project.
The European Parliament on Wednesday backed eurobonds as a medium-term solution for stabilising the Eurozone. But the decision did not go down well with the Spanish government which has sent its own proposal to Brusssels, stating that eurobonds are not “strictly necessary” to “guarantee fiscal support for banking union” and therefore “are not the priority.”
Lidia Conde | “There are risks, but there is no reason to panic. It’s important that people understand that we can’t do without globalisation. And also that Europe has so many strong points that it can position itself perfectly well in the world. Overall, Europe is still a producer of excellent ideas and high-quality products which can be exported all over the world,” says Karl-Heinz Paqué, Dean at the Faculty of Economics and Management in Otto von Guericke University.
AXA IM | The technical details of the ECB’s corporate QE programme, the corporate sector purchasing programme (CSPP), released last Thursday, cemented our constructive view about its impact on credit markets. The CSPP details matched or exceeded market expectations, adding to the positive spread momentum that has been in motion since the initial CSPP announcement on 9 March.
After the 2006 publication of his book “The Crash is Coming,” economist Max Otte became famous. In 2011 he launched another best seller, “Stop the Euro Disaster!,” which signalled the exit of Greece from the euro area and recommended that Spain return to the peseta. Otte has always argued that the euro has not united Europe.
What future is there for Europe if each country understands the European destiny in its own way? The aim is to stabilise the euro. But each country has a different solution for achieving that. And at the centre of all the debates is Germany. Whatever it does, it upsets the apple cart.