100 posts
How to become a British eurosceptic
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1. Don’t pretend to be sceptic in the true sense of the word. You hate the EU hence your are a sceptic. Don’t question this logic. The word “sceptic” sounds good because it shows that you can think things through. 2. Don&rsquo...
Rome view: Enrico Letta’s burden
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He is young and experienced, but - most importantly - he is a truly European. Enrico Letta, 46, the new Italian Prime Minister, is probably the last chance Italy has to avoid new elections. In aRead more…...
Week in Bloggingportal: Exercises in Democracy
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BY CC FutUndBeidl It may be a year until the European elections, but with Croatia joining the EU in July, Croats are heading to the polls today to elect their representatives to the European Parliament. It’s not been the bes...
Portugal's Constitutional Court Blocks Bailout Measures
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Portugal's Constitutional Court has struck down austerity measures considered necessary by the government to meet the conditions of its 78-billion-euro (101 billion US dollars) bailout program, opening a billion-euro gap in the country's 2013 budget.
The Week in Bloggingportal: Cyprus in (y)our heart
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Let’s put it like this: Adrenaline that comes with jumping from a cliff, as the Cyprus tourism video suggests as its first message, definitely was part of this week in Bloggingportal.eu. The tentative Cyprus deal agreed last week that was...
Beppe Grillo demands Five-Star Movement government and euro referendum
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Looking unusually smart in his dark suit, Beppe Grillo, along with some of his Five-Star Movement colleagues, this morning opened the second day of talks with President Giorgio Napolitano on forming the new Italian government.After the meet...
Why is the ECB threatening to pull the plug on Cyprus? And how would it work?
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The ECB - which holds the key to Cyprus' future inside the euro by virtue of funding the country's banks - this morning issued a statement which essentially set Monday as the deadline for a Cypriot bailout deal. It said:The Governing Council of the E...
Dramatic days ahead in Cyprus
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Authors: Zsolt DarvasThe Cypriot parliament's Tuesday evening rejection of the bank levy on bank deposits, which was a key condition for financial assistance from the EU/IMF and continued European Central Bank support to the Cypriot banking system, w...
What’s a europhile to make of the Cyprus bail-in?
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As if there weren’t enough slightly-but-not-very informed comments out there… here are my €0.02 on the Cyprus bail-in, as seen from a ‘pro’-EU perspective. 1. On a personal level, I’m horrified by the proposa...
All at sea – What does the 'No' vote mean for Cyprus and the eurozone?
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Following the dramatic vote by the Cypriot parliament tonight to reject the bailout deal, here is our flash analysis of the situation:The Cypriot parliament tonight voted against a bill to introduce a tax on bank deposits, in return for a €10bn...
Cyprus deal: the right intentions but major flaws
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Authors: Zsolt DarvasOn Saturday morning, after a marathon meeting of the Eurogoup, it was decided to impose a one-time wealth tax on deposits in Cypriot banks: 6.75% on deposits below €100,000 and 9.9% on deposits above this threshold. Involvin...
Your Cyprus Questions, Answered
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Gabriele Steinhauser, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, answers some questions about the Cypriot bank levy.
Is there any chance Cyprus could secure a better deal?
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UPDATE 22:00 According to Reuters, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble claimed today that it was indeed the Cypriot govenrment's decision to go for smaller depositors - not Germany's. Speaking to public broadcaster AR...
Observations On Cyprus
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Cyprus's bailout agreement: the euro zone's messy decision making, the decline of sovereign immunity, the perils of big banking systems, the shortest government honeymoon ever, and more...
Laws, Rules for Rule of Law?
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Four EU foreign ministers want countries that don’t respect the independence of the legal system, media freedom or similar rights and liberties to be hit where it hurts -- in the wallet.
Can't wait for Italian election results? Here's a timeline
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Elections in Italy are always spread over two days. Yesterday, about 55% of Italians cast their vote - marking a sharp 7.4% decline in turnout compared to the previous general elections in 2008. Turnout was generally much higher in the North than in...
Point Counterpoint in the Italian Campaign
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Let’s forget about the Pope’s retirement, OK? Not that it doesn’t have huge implications for the theology of the Church and the role of future tenants of St. Peter’s see, but none of that is an electoral matter. And please, &h...
On UKIP and legitimacy
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Alex Andreou has had a go at UKIP on the New Statesman website. It’s a detailed, but relatively standard, attempt to critique the party – that they have no coherent,...
Academic titles in Germany and the curse of plagiarism
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Click here for excellent piece by Mr Timothy Garton-Ash. ...
Snapshot #1: Busuttil – the gaffer from Europe?
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When the John Dalli musical chairs finally came to an end the Nationalist Party thought that it had found itself a new champion. Simon Busuttil, the new party deputy leader was supposed to help start lifting the party out of the doldrums and more imp...
A more democratic EU? Stop government secrecy!
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In UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s EU speech this week he talked of the need to increase the EU’s “democratic accountability”. One little known fact is that the most secretive and undemocratic piece of the EU is actually &ls...
Of all the reactions from Europe, there is one that is infinitely more important than all others…
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Update - 14.10 23/01/13:Further reactions from Germany. DPA reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany will:"Talk intensively with the United Kingdom about their visions in detail” German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert a...
"Why David Cameron is wrong on Europe" by Ed Miliband
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Tomorrow’s speech by David Cameron will define him as a weak Prime Minister, being driven by his party, not by the national economic interest. In October 2011, he opposed committing to an in/out referendum because of the uncertainty it would cr...
Reform!
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All three major parties and much of the media have reached a consensus that the EU needs reform. It is true that they disagree on the means to achieve this Continue reading →...
Victory for the German Opposition in Niedersachsen
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The Social Democrats and the Greens won a very tight election in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) last night. Together a Red-Green coalition would have 69 seats in the state parliament to the outgoing, Merkel-aligned government's 68. The election was bui...
Encouraging Italy’s small businesses to go digital
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Italy has a long tradition of small, family owned companies becoming global leaders in fields ranging from furniture design and fashion to kitchen appliances and specialty foods. Part of their success is due to Italy's focus on creating networks of l...
Questions I’d like an Irish pollster to ask.
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Every time there’s an opinion poll published a certain type of poll-junkie comes rushing out of the bushes to throw massive extrapolations on the results. But what I find interesting is just how uninformative the actual polls are. They tend to...
Ségolène Royal, future chairwoman of the European Parliament?
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According to some French media, Ségolène Royal, ex-PS candidate for the 2007 presidential election, would be interested to be the next European Parliament chairwoman, after being defeated in the French legislative elections six months ago and fores...
Merkel's energy transition policy is turning Germans into thieves
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Angela Merkel's energy transition policy, with spiraling electricity and gas prices, is turning Germans into thieves:With energy costs escalating, more Germans are turning to wood burning stoves for heat. That, though, has also led to a rise in tree...
Central European Links
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Here’s a depressing but interesting story. More and more Jews are moving to Vienna, which sounds rather hopeful…except that they’re coming from Hungary, to get away from anti-Semitism and people like piece o’work Zsolt Bayer.
How People Will Gain By Having Party T-shirts For Saint Patricks Day
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March 17, every year, there is a commemoration of the death of one of the holiest people in Ireland: Patrick. It is a day of celebration for most Christian denominations especially the Catholic and their Anglican brothers. The Eastern Orthodox Church...
Europe’s capital strike, Central European edition
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Even if Monti seems to have succeeded in dragging the spreads closer together, there are plenty of problems around the European economy. Bloomberg reports on central and eastern Europe’s economies in search of a growth model. So far, some of &#...
Pro-Europeans need a facelift
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One of the more encouraging developments of the past few weeks is that pro-Europeans seem to have woken from their decade-long slumber. Business groups are writing public letters, front pages Continue reading →...
Fresh Start – a manifesto to leave the EU
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Let’s not beat around the bush. The Fresh Start manifesto, launched with huge fanfare by Tory MPs yesterday, is a programme designed to force Britain out of the EU. The Continue reading →...
Katainen: “EU without Britain is fish without chips.”
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Finland's Jyrki Katainen, right, with Cameron during a visit to Downing Street last year. In the run up to Friday’s big speech by British prime minster David Cameron on his country’s future in the EU, some of the loudest voices of concern ha...
Belgian PM Publishes His Playlist
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In-depth analysis of the music Elio di Rupo says he listens to.
"Why the German Economy is at Risk" by Henning Meyer
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This morning I was on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe to discuss the upcoming German election and the state of the German and European economy. This was a different format from the usual ‘presenter interviews expert’ and I quite enjoyed th...
Is Germany curbing the flow of capital across its borders?
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Although it might seem rather dry, the news that the European Commission and the European Banking Authority "are concerned" that Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, could be restricting the free flow of capital to lenders abroad is potentially sign...
Morning Briefing: Hungarian Unemployment High, Czech Government Embattled
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Hungarian unemployment is slightly below expectations, latest data showed Friday, but remains in double digits, while in Prague the government faces fresh calls for a no-confidence vote.
Britain would vote to stay in the EU
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Britain not likely to leave EU. Getty Images On a recent visit to Washington, a top British diplomat began his presentation to American colleagues by assuring them that there is no way that Britain will leave the EU. His declaration had the opposite...
It's precisely 40 years since we became members of the EEC. Knowing what we now know, would we have joined?
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It’s difficult, nowadays, to recall the sheer awfulness of political and economic life at the beginning of 1973. Inflation was above 8 per cent, unemployment at its highest level since the Great Depression. Trade union leaders were bigger household...
France vs. the Anglo-Saxons: Myth and Reality in 20 Graphs
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The “Anglo-Saxon” countries and France have for centuries looked upon one another as “the Other” they use to define their own self-image. Many of the posts on this blog have been committed to correcting the stereotypes that inevitably come fr...
Catalan elections: What alternative to secession?
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video By Joan Marc Simon The results of the Catalan electi...
Case C-364/10, Hungary v. Slovak Republic
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Slovakia not breaching EU law by refusing President of Hungary entry into its territory. Court furthermore holds that action under Art. 259 TFEU concerning future possible infringements or limited to seeking an interpretation of EU law is inadmi...
The historic hurdles to Catalonia's independence | Enric Juliana
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Spain stands in the way of an independence referendum. But Sunday's regional elections may offer another routeThe Catalan question is ancient. It dates back to the 17th century, when tensions first developed between Spain's centre and its periphery.
The London 2012 Olympic legacy - what legacy?
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Despite the hype, it seems the British government might not be doing as much as it could to sustain the value of the Olympics – writes Lucy Lernelius-Tonks...
As Europe plots closer ties, Britain mulls split
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By DON MELVIN BRUSSELS — Goodbye Britain? For the European Union, a once-unthinkable question is looking more like a real possibility with each new grinding week of economic crisis. The reason is that bad times are forcing the 17 EU nations that us...
And the winner is… Nicolas Sarkozy!
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Important : article writen the 18th of November On this Sunday, UMP members came to elect the new leader of their movement and decide between François Fillon (ex-Nicolas Sarkozy’s Premier) and Jean-François Copé, after several weeks of a harsh a...
Obama & Hollande
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Plantu compares America's inauguration Bible with France's Gallois report on improving productivity and competition, which the French president similarly swears upon (but with less than mucho enthusiasm)• François Hollande: Uh… I'll see what I c...
Striking Athens
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I arrived to Athens a few days before the start of the EGP’s council, intending to walk the streets and get some feeling of the people. Greece nowadays is one of the battle fronts of the european project. Much is a stake. The European Union has giv...
Euro-separatism III: Catalonia’s bid for independence
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With unemployment hitting 25% of the active population and austerity for the foreseeable future, more and more people are leaving Spain. Now, an entire region wants to leave the country. After Belgium and Scotland, this third post on Euro-separatism...
Mas Power for Catalonia
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Artur Mas, the president of Catalonia, tells Brussels of his plans for the Spanish region to become its own state within the EU.
French shock therapy prescribed
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By David Gow You can hear the tumbrils rolling down Whitehall towards the Treasury: the French economy is in dire need of “shock therapy” and a “comprehensive programme of structural reforms”. Off with Hollande’s head. T...
EU Reduces Irish Economic Outlook
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The European Union Wednesday reduced its economic outlook for Ireland, saying that slowing demand from Europe for its exports and austerity at home are weighing on the country's prospects for a strong recovery.
Cyprus Entrepreneurs fit for European Mobility
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Earlier this summer we titled a post - The Entrepreneurs that did not fit into the #Cy2012eu Agenda - never thought that it would have been so premonitory. -...
Austria Readies Its Female Weapon
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The small Alpine state of Austria doesn’t seem to tire from causing a stir at the European Central Bank, writes Nina Koeppen.
Can Angela Merkel talk Cameron into being a more flexible ally? | Katinka Barysch
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As the German leader visits Downing St, she has worries about keeping her economically liberal-minded EU partner in the unionThe vexed EU budget is supposed to be the main topic of discussion when Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, meets David Came...
Czech Three-Year Yield at Record Low, Government Wins Vote
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Czech borrowing costs fell to record lows at a three-year bond auction showing strong demand Wednesday, shortly before the country's embattled right-leaning coalition won a parliamentary confidence vote.
LIVE @13h00: Debate with the President of the Government of Catalonia
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Today at 13h00 Brussels time (GMT +1), Debating Europe will be liveblogging Friends of Europe’s Policy Spotlight discussion with Artur Mas, President of the Government of Catalonia. Mas, who assumed office in 2010, is the leader of Democratic...
Un XIVe Sommet de la Francophonie sous les feux de la controverse
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Après les tergiversations de plusieurs chefs d’États sur un possible boycott du XIVe Sommet de la Francophonie, la fête a bien eu lieu. Une centaine de chefs d’États francophones du monde entier se sont réunis du 12 au 14 octobre dans la vil...
Nadine Dorries suspended from Tories over ‘I’m A Celebrity’
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Having apparently quit Britain to appear on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here without notifying the Tory high command, it looks as though Nadine Dorries’ quest for fame may have just backfired: BREAKING Nadine Dorries is to be suspended...
