More Spanish phones connected to Internet than EU average
MADRID/BRUSSELS | Most European users of Internet-connected mobile phones–81%–aren’t willing to pay higher bills even if this brought improvements in speed or download capacity
European Union
Calling all European Union optimists!
By Ignasi Meda, via One Europe | Rethinking the EU “democratic deficit”: Can we start now building a better and more credible Europe through the rapprochement between North and South?
In search of a legitimate European Union
LONDON | By Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform | For more than 60 years, the EU has been built and managed by technocrats, hidden from the public gaze – or so it has seemed. In fact national governments have taken most of the key decisions, but public scrutiny has been insufficient.
The austerity breakdown
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | It is a grave mistake to stubbornly defend the application of the same strict rules whether the economy is growing or in recession, and social unrest and missed fiscal targets are testament to how wrong the current European policies are.
May Day’s long read: Sex, Demography, and the Future of the European Union
The Fair Observer | It is easy to say that Europeans should have more sex. Demography is destiny, after all, or so it has seemed for millennia, and what could be better than sleeping your way to world power? Despite the financial crisis, a diminishing birth rates and seemingly unsustainable welfare states, Glenn Carle believes German leadership might offer a solution for structural reform in Europe.
Investors appetite for Spanish economy: will it last?
MADRID | By David Fernández | Foreign investors are showing a sudden interest in assets made in Spain due to, among others, central bank’s last data, Europe’s decision to delay the deficit commitment by two years and international factors such as second-round monetary helicopter launched by the Bank of Japan. Will this trend vanish?
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?
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…