The Euro Area
Between numbers and reality The most debated news in Ireland last week, which managed to break through in media in spite of the historical visit of the British Queen, was a very worrying statement of the International Monetary Fund about Ireland's situation, accompanied for the first time by a warning to the entire Europe ...
European Parliament backed the creation of ESM On the eve of the European Council in Brussels the MEPs backed EU treaty changes needed to allow for the establishment of a permanent rescue fund for the euro area - the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). As it was agreed by the EU leaders on their meeting in December 2010, in Article 136 of th ...
Hans im Glück vs. Clever Peter I have never been a fan of national psychology theories, especially in their simplistic versions implying the "Germans are disciplined", "Bulgarians are cheap cheats" ,"Englishmen are snobs" and "Frenchmen are spoiled". I have always believed that modern society evolution should not be determine ...
The eurozone informal Council - a weissbier for Ms Merkel The leaders of the eurozone have agreed an important compromise regarding the rescue fund for the euro area, which will from now on be able to lend at a lower price and will be able to buy up government bonds at the primary market places. The leaders have also endorsed a Pact for the Euro, altho ...
Europe from Helsinki against Europe from Athens On the eve of the euro area summit on 11 March, the two major political families in the EU (the European People's Party, EPP and the Party of European Socialists, PES) held their own summits, with quite opposite final results. Of course, this is expected and understandable given the ideological ...
Ireland will get a loan interest rate reduction without having to raise the corporate tax Ireland will after all get a reduction of the interest rate of the bailout it got from the EU and the IMF, moreover without being forced to raise the corporate tax of 12.5%. This has been reported by the Sunday Times and the BBC, both quoting government sources. It is expected the European Commi ...
Who will rescue the Eurozone rescue fund? The EU financial ministers agreed on the creation of a European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to replace the temporary rescue fund for the euro area after 2013. Although certain parameters of the future safety net are clear, important details about its financing and functioning remain to be decided ...
The debt crisis as a Brussels’ croissant It is difficult to perceive the dept crisis as a towering tsunami while having breakfast of fresh croissants accompanied by 15 types of cheese and fragrant coffee. These were my thoughts while I was waiting for my next interlocutor to discuss the latest decisions of European politicians concerni ...
Spain is the new big concern of the eurozone On the eve of the eurozone summit Spain received a heavy blow to its already endangered image as the credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the country from Aa1 to Aa2. The reason is that, according to the agency, the cost of banking restructuring substantially exceeds the estimates of the gove ...
Irish elections' results promise a renegotiation of the bailout loan's interest rate Expectedly, Fine Gael won the Irish elections on 25 February, but failed to win an absolute majority in Parliament (the Dáil). At this stage of the vote counting, Fine Gael is having 70 seats (19 more than in the previous Parliament), the Labour Party - 36 (9 more seats), Fianna Fail - 18 (59 se ...
Adelina Marini Adelina Marini 
