France’s German Mirror
Project Syndicate | By Dominique Moisi| In the mirror of Germany, the French must ask themselves fundamental questions. Have they made the right choices in terms of leaders and policies in recent decades?
European Union
The downward trend continues in the EU
Economic weakness will remain in the second half of the year, CaixaBank analysts say. Consumer confidence fell again in the third quarter of the year. The IMF also lowered its growth forecasts.
Let’s solve the euro crisis: more Europe or more Eurocracy?
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.”
Fed’s meeting and ruling on ESM, crucial rendez-vous
Morning! There’s a lot of event risk this week. Among things investors will be looking up are the Federal Reserve’s meeting and German Constitutional Court ruling about the legality of the European Stability Mechanism. It’s not that the court will rule against the ESM, but it could attach conditions that would make it react slowlier. “Investors are likely to keep focusing on the ECB’s plan as a roadmap, which it’s…
Cooperation: the European Union is out of step, Spain is out of control
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The European Union disbursed €52.97 billion on Official Development Aid (ODA) in 2011, which was €490 million less than the previous year, as well as €15.4 billion less than the amount that could be invested if member States would have remained faithful to their commitment of devoting 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to these matters by 2015. Instead, most of the EU…
Tuesday’s German charts: economic sentiment crashes
http://exbacksms.com/ How to win back your ex euro area's GDP shrinks by -0.3 percent. The survey's results for the whole European Union, understandably, spells pessimism, too: it has fallen from -2.4 to -20.1, due not only to perceptions of the current situation but also to how the medium term looks like. zp8497586rq
Cyprus: the fifth euro bailout would cost less than €4 billion
By Tania Suárez | Vassos Shiarly, minister of Finance in Cyprus, admitted Monday night that his country would urgently need a bailout. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times refer to several European officials who have said that this rescue would rise to €3 billion to €4 billio. Shiarly said that “This issue is urgent. We know that the recapitalisation of the banks (in Cyprus) must be finished by June…
Japan on the horizon
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | Peeking into Japanese modern economic history is a must for most Europeans, since we are plunging into the same mud waters that country has gone through for twenty years. Japan seems to have succeeded in leaving the 1990 crisis behind, a crunch not altogether different from our predicament. On the positive side, there is the fact that now we know it could have returned…
European mobile roaming regulation to save users €15 billion
New price caps for mobile data roaming are expected to save families over €200 each year and business travellers over €1000, the European Commission said Thursday. From 1 July 2012, the European Union’s mobile roaming regulation will be extended to include price caps for data downloads which will mean significant savings for those using maps, email and social networks when travelling. Overall, the improved EU roaming regulation (taking into account calls,…
The giant beast of Credit Default Swaps is getting nervous
NEW YORK | Officials from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association have stated that Greece has not had a ‘credit event’ and credit default swap payments will not be triggered, at least not yet. The body’s decision has reignited the debate over the usefulness of CDS. CDS are a US$32 trillion market, which is more than twice the US gross domestic product and more than twice the national debt. They…