Latest posts
Greek patients pleading for aspirin
Chronic drug shortages in Greece have left thousands of patients without medicines and paralysed the drug supply chain. The impact of the ongoing financial crisis in Europe is having a deep impact on patients – and that’s before the possi...
What China wants in return for EU bailout
Tapping a developing country for cash is a lot to ask so we need not be surprised that China wants something in return So it looks like Europe is asking China to contribute more than €100, 000,000,000 to boost its bailout fund and help save Europe&...
Closer union is essential but may drive us apart
While closer fiscal union can help solve today’s crisis, the public backlash will cause some Member States to pull away over the next decade. Still, it’s better to separate the currency crisis from the political crisis as simultaneous cat...
EU Summit: Predict the Headlines
Let’s predict the headlines for the next EU summit: - Day before the summit: EU leaders divided ahead of crunch summit This one comes with stories of how impossible it will be to come to any agreement and how Obama has been on the phone screami...
Eurozone: new rules for new members
When the EU expanded from 15 to 27 countries between 2004 and 2007, it was presumed that the newest members would go the whole hog and join the euro in due course. In fact, it was written into the terms of the accession Treaty they signed at the door...
Fixated on the future, at the expense of the present
With Greece on the brink, Brussels is dangerously distracted by efforts to invent new European rules and institutions which will help prevent future sovereign debt crises. After protracted negotiations, MEPs and the European Council – which represe...
Cutting farm subsidies to boost innovation
The draft EU budget is a win for Geoghegan-Quinn but it won’t make her popular at home. The EU’s budget has been the subject of much wrangling of late, with the usual tug-of-war between interest groups from industry, agriculture and the rest.
Always say never
Over the past 18 months, observers have noted the alarming frequency with which things that were once ruled out of hand by EU leaders have become the norm. It began with the mantra-esque refrain of “We won’t bail out Greece”, which ultimately m...
Greece defaulting on cash owed to companies
Fears that Greece could default on its debt tops the EU agenda because it puts the balance sheets of a dozen German and French banks in peril. But Greece has already defaulted on its debts to companies. What is default? EU leaders have been trying to...
Ending the euro ‘permacrisis’
At every turn the euro crisis gets harder to solve. With every emergency meeting; with every short-term fix, a credible solution to the eurozone’s debt mountain becomes less likely. Europeans are sick of living in a state of permacrisis. We hav...
Postcard from an Accidental Emigrant
While thousands of young people are fleeing Ireland as the depression deepens, others who planned to return are stranded overseas. This is my story. Lehman Brothers collapsed the week we landed in Brussels. Two weeks later the Irish government signed...
(Clinical) Trials and Tribulations: when EU laws go wrong
The EU’s clinical trials directive has been a catastrophe but Brussels is keen to make amends “Arguably the most criticised piece of legislation” the EU has ever produced on medicines. That’s how the European Commission describes its own...
Greece defaulting on cash owed to companies
Fears that Greece could default on its debt tops the EU agenda because it puts the balance sheets of a dozen German and French banks in peril. But Greece has already defaulted on its debts to companies. What is default? EU leaders have been trying to...
Too many Europes
At a time when Europe is in crisis, it’s alarming to see so many conflicting statements from its leaders EU Compeittion Commission Joaquin Almunia said today that Ireland’s bank guarantee, introduced in September 2008, was a mistake. I th...
Are we ready for Europe’s e-health revolution?
Irish health services have been slow to embrace technology and need to mobilise its staff to catch up Electronic patient records, access to specialist services from home, and more efficient use of scarce resources are just some of the much-vaunted be...
Can GPs save healthcare?
A new report paints a stark picture of European healthcare in 2030 but says GPs are the answer I’d recommend reading the latest health report by the Economist Intelligence Unit – if you’re elated and need your mood taken down a few notches. The...
Losing the superbug war
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing source of misery but there is no incentive to develop new antibiotics. It all began with a stumble. My grandmother was in her eighties when she fell at home and broke her ribs. A brush with MRSA and a torrid batt...
Ireland’s Accidental Emigrants
Emigration is a major issue as Irish voters go to the polls next week. Thousands of young people are fleeing, others who planned to return are stranded overseas. This is my story. Lehman Brothers collapsed the week we landed in Brussels. Two weeks la...
Barroso, Merkel weigh in on Irish election
EPP leaders are doing their bit to help elect Fine Gael Last week, I moaned a bit about European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso treating Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny to a photo opportunity in Brussels. I wondered if it was a bit paranoid to...
EU patent row sets tone for two-speed Europe
EU governments plan to press ahead on a single patent without agreement of all member states – a sign of things to come? One result of Europe’s economic crisis is the newfound willingness to abandon the softly-softly approach to consensus dec...
