100 posts
Academic titles in Germany and the curse of plagiarism
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Click here for excellent piece by Mr Timothy Garton-Ash. ...
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...
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...
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...
"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...
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...
Another five years with austerity
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Angela Merkel spoke at a CDU party congress on Sunday, as was cited by a news agency, saying that the eurozone crisis will take “five years or more” to overcome, according to the EUobserver.com. Well, … Continue reading →...
Refugees on Hunger Strike in Germany against Politics of Deterrence
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On October 24, twenty-five asylum-seekers went on hunger strike in front of Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. The protest in the highly symbolic location, which stands for the once violent division of a people by politics, is the latest in a chain reaction...
The Euro subsidises German industry but it harms Germany
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Dr Gunnar Beck Those who argue that Germany has profited from the euro, almost always rest their case on Germany’s export surpluses. The euro eliminated exchange rate risks; appreciated less than the Deutschmark would have, and thus doubly aided Ge...
When opposites agree
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A surprising moment of consensus: Der Spiegel and the Taz both rip into Peer Steinbruck, former German finance minister and leading the race for the SPD’s candidacy as chancellor. Not only that, they do so for substantially the same reasons. &#...
Open Europe Berlin: one to watch!
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This is exciting stuff. As we've argued repeatedly, the future of Europe will largely be decided in Germany, as that country goes through a very dynamic, internal debate.Which is why Wednesday's launch of Open Europe Berlin gGmbH, Open Eur...
German senior citizens show "the beautiful side of the Net"
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Earlier this year, we launched a program in Germany to encourage senior citizens to go online. After spending quality time talking individually with over 800 senior citizens about how older people like to use the Internet, we ran a competition called...
Germany: Satire Magazine Calls for Complimentary Ph.D.s
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After a series of scandals surrounding the academic achievements of German politicians who cheated on their dissertations, the online satire magazine“Der Postillon” is now calling for a complimentary Ph.D. [de] for all politicans: This wa...
Secrets of German Success
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If you examine the phenomenon closely, there’s a curious aspect to the current European economic crisis, whose most outstanding (but not sole) manifestation is the sovereign debt crisis. I mean looking beyond the threat to the common European c...
Images: Teufelsberg, even cold-war intelligence stations are gentrified
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The Devil’s Mountain in Berlin is a story in itself - man-made from the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed Berlin houses, put on top of a never-to-be Nazi Military Academy. On top of it lies a cold-war relic: one of the biggest and probably...
Merkel's real agenda: mugging the poor
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Why has Angela Merkel cast herself as the empress of austerity? The consensus among pundits seems to be that she is focused solely on her political career. To have any real hope of being re-elected next year, the pundits say, she cannot show mercy t...
German Conservatives Ease Up on Greece
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During the summer of 2012, it was all too easy, especially for financial analysts (whose expertise is on finance rather than politics), to summarily conclude that the E.U. was not capable of keeping the states of Greece and Spain from default. Perhap...
German insecurity, UK vacillation, Europe's loss
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David Gow Monday, 29 October 2012 Modern Germany used to feel secure by being anchored in western Europe and Nato. But, in the two decades since the country was unified after the collapse of communism, that cer...
The reality of Merkel's failed energy transition is beginning to dawn on German consumers and industry
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Merkel will not be re-elected unless she begins to reverse her failed energy transition policy.The reality of Angela Merkel's failed energy transition policy is beginning to dawn on German consumers and small and medium-sized companies:Ma...
Germany Restricts High-Frequency Trading, Chicago Fed Recommends Same
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WSJ Article: Germany to Tap Brakes on High Frequency TradingNYT Article: Germany Act to Increase Limits on High Speed TradesLate last month, New York Times and WSJ reported on Germany's intention to restrict High Frequency Trading. High Frequen...
A Modest Proposal from Berlin: End Democracy in the European Union
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See on Scoop.it – The Great Transition “The Fiscal Pact mandates that all national governments in the European Union should achieve a “structural deficit” of no more than 0.5 percent of gross domestic product. I shall not agai...
"A Modest Proposal from Berlin: End Democracy in the European Union " by John Weeks
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A general principle of the Age of Enlightenment is that people shall chose those who govern them through a democratic process. Franklin D Roosevelt, the greatest US president after Lincoln, summarized this principle: Let us never forget that govern...
Domestic Property Boom Could Ignite German Growth
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This hasn't been the best year for the German economy. But it might not take much to ignite a serious revival -- however far-fetched this might seem right now, writes columnist Alen Mattich.
The battle for the Sparkassen begins
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This issue has always been a potential dealbreaker: how will Germany’s politically powerful network of small public banks — or Sparkassen — sit under the bailiwick of a single bank supervisor? Until now we’ve mainly seen diplo...
Merkelian consistency!
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So now Merkel is starting to allow for special circumstances (eg Irish bank debt)? The box is now open! Which box? Pandora's, biensur! Which inter alia means that it also ppens up the way/box for eg a Greece special circumstances. Expected and rea...
Stop this campaign against ECB policy
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The European Central Bank’s recent decision to be a lender of last resort in government bond markets is a turning point in the governance of the eurozone. By committing itself to unlimited government bond purchases, the ECB prevented a panic that w...
Does the Bundesbank Want Out of the Euro?
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Paul de Grauwe, who is as prominent an expert on European political economy as there is, speculates that the Bundesbank opposes the ECB's outright monetary transactions (OMT), without which there is no salvation for the euro, because it, the Bundesba...
"The SPD's big missed opportunity" by Andrew Watt
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Yesterday saw the first clash in the German parliament between Chancellor Merkel and the newly designated “chancellor candidate” of the SPD, Peer Steinbrück. The occasion was a debate about the euro crisis. The new Merkel was on display.
The institutional foundations of the German economy explain why it has handled the economic crisis more effectively than other European states.
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Germany’s economy has experienced a transition from the ‘sick man of Europe’ after unification in 1990, to becoming a relative ‘winner’ during the current economic crisis. Gregory Jackson and Arndt Sorge argue that while explanations for ec...
Schaeuble's Currency Commissioner
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German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, floated the idea of a currency commissioner in the run-up to this week's European Council summit. The currency commissioner would be able to veto national budgets, and would be independent of the rest of t...
France and Germany: best of enemies | Editorial
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As François Hollande's broadside on the eve of the EU summit suggests, Angela Merkel must shift her stance on the eurozoneAngela Merkel does not like to appear isolated on the eve of a European summit. And yet this is exactly what François Hollande...
Germans Warm to Credit Cards – Slowly
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Germany's central bank offered a ray of hope Wednesday to those hoping the euro-zone's largest economy will drag the bloc out of crisis by flexing some serious plastic.
Merkel's renewable energy policy driving up electricity bills by 50%
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Germany's switch to renewable energy is getting expensiveGerman consumers are beginning to feel the impact of chancellor Angela Merkel's failed energy transition policy:Germany's switch to renewable energies is driving up electricity bills across the...
Schäuble
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I have to admit that I have not been the greatest follower of Wolfgang Schäuble. Especially when his ideas of more austerity, harsh measures and reforms are still echoing in my ears. But I have to admit that ever since he, Angela Merkel and the majo...
Special Thanks to the crisis: EU coverage in German media
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The announcement of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2012 turned German TV screens and websites into the European colours – again one have to say. But in contrast to the bad news on the financial and economical crisis, … Continue reading &...
