LONDON | By BARCLAYS | EU Finance Ministers adopted the regulations that pave the way for a single bank supervision in the euro area. As we had expected, however, they failed to make significant progress on a single resolution mechanism. As long as the banking union remains incomplete, the link between banks and sovereigns will not be fully broken and financial fragmentation will continue to prevail.
CAIXIN | By George Soros | The euro crisis is now over but the visible uncertainty within markets lies in the fact that the system is still far from satisfactory.
HAMBURG | Via Presseurop |The Merkel government demands southern countries make far-reaching reforms, but denies responsibility for the consequences of the crisis. It is a harmful attitude for Europe as Germany prepares for its legislative elections, warns philosopher Jürgen Habermas. As he puts it, “Germany is not dancing on the volcano; it is asleep on it.”
LONDON | By Victor Jimenez | The recent push for apprenticeships the Prime Minister favours could be costlier in the long run against the meagre savings in higher education spending achieved in the short term.
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.
BARCELONA | By Oriol Aspachs and Joan Daniel Pina, at CaixaBank research department | To date it is the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has set the pace of Europe’s construction. Without purporting to be a great leader, Germany is fulfilling this role.
MADRID | By David Fernández, financial analyst | According to a JP Morgan report, natural gas prices in the US are at least 50% cheaper than in the UK and just a third of what Germans pay.
BRUSSELS | By Alessio Pisanò | Only the EU has the means, if the Member States stop undermining the EU budget, the structure and the social and cultural requirements to fight youth unemployment.
MADRID | The construction of a Latin front that could counterbalance a few powerful neighbours to the north, led by Germany, is too simple a solution to the crisis and encourages the nationalism of old Europe, writes Javier Cercas.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | Most of these third-country workers in the EU find a job in the agriculture and tourism sectors, but the labour market segmentation divides them into first and second class.