Europe – Page 12 – Slugger O'Toole

Barroso: “Nobody should be under any illusion: the situation is very serious”

Pete Baker on July 20, 2011, 5:14 pm

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Everyone’s got something to say ahead of tomorrow’s emergency EU summit on the existential European debt crisis. Whether you believe any of them is another matter entirely… Taoiseach Enda Kenny is echoing Frau Bundeskanzlerin. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he is also hopeful that Ireland will be on the agenda at tomorrow’s meeting. However, in a statement issued today, Mr Kenny said he did not believe the meeting would solve all of the euro zone’s problems. “The crisis in the euro area …

Euro crisis: “everything those leaders have done, after large amounts of dithering, has ended up making the situation worse.”

Pete Baker on July 19, 2011, 7:48 pm

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That’s the BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders quoted above, by the way. Which brings me back to Thursday’s emergency summit called by European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy “Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and the future financing of the Greek programme,” said Mr Van Rompuy in a brief statement last night. [Friday 15th July] Perhaps… But Frau Bundeskanzlerin, who reportedly wasn’t as keen on the summit being called, has been playing down expectations …

Jean-Claude Trichet: “It is not a question of technique. It is a question of will and determination.”

Pete Baker on July 18, 2011, 9:11 pm

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At the Telegraph blog, Andrew Lilico takes his life in his hands to ask, “Is it time for the eurozone to turn into a Single European State?” A key point he makes, I’d suggest OK – so what do we do, if we don’t want to break up the euro altogether? First, we have to accept (a) that this is fundamentally a political project, a precursor to a Single European State, and must be accepted as such by all its …

Van Rompuy: “Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole…”

Pete Baker on July 16, 2011, 3:53 pm

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European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency summit of divided euro zone leaders on Thursday to address the existential European debt crisis. From the Irish Times report “Our agenda will be the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and the future financing of the Greek programme,” said Mr Van Rompuy in a brief statement last night. “I have asked for the preparatory work to be brought forward inter alia by the finance ministries.” And they …

Ireland debt = Junk

Pete Baker on July 13, 2011, 1:34 am

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According to ratings agency Moody’s. From the Irish Times report While Ireland still carries investment-grade ratings with rival agencies Standard Poor’s and Fitch, the downgrade creates big new obstacle for the Government’s plan to exit the EU-IMF bailout programme and start borrowing from debt markets again next year. Only investors with a very large appetite for risk buy junk-rated bonds given the higher implied risk that the issuer may default, or fail to pay back the debt. A spokesman for …

2011 Tour de France: Stage 9 Carnage

Pete Baker on July 11, 2011, 7:09 pm

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If the “defining moment” last year was a breach of Tour etiquette in the mountains, the first week of this year’s Tour de France has been notable for the number of bone-crushing crashes and big name retirements. Most of the crashes, but not all, have been caused by road conditions and/or rider error. It’s a rest day today, after 9 testing stages, and the cyclist welcoming that respite the most has to be Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland. In yesterday’s stage he was part …

Bini Smaghi: “The crisis has shown that the euro is an incomplete construct and needs to be completed.”

Pete Baker on July 10, 2011, 5:55 pm

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Via the Irish Economy blog. In a speech at the 8th European Seminar in Poros, on 8th July, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, did a reasonable job of identifying the problems highlighted by the sovereign debt crisis – although he denies it’s an existential crisis for the EU. But, as a true believer in the “European Project”, his solution may not be to everyone’s taste… From his 8th July speech In my view, we should strengthen …

Jean-Claude Juncker: “The sovereignty of Greece will be massively limited.”

Pete Baker on July 4, 2011, 9:01 pm

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After the Greek parliament voted to give everyone more time to come up with a better solution, Eurozone finance ministers agreed to release the promised €12billion to Greece to avoid an immediate default. But those same finance ministers have now delayed discussions on the details of a second bail-out for Greece, thought to be around 120bn euros, needed to pay the bills until the end of 2014. According to an Irish Times report today, the Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos has stated, “Euro Group decided through a …

Euro crisis: “gaining time is the least bad outcome, both for Greece and Europe as a whole”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2011, 5:06 pm

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In the midst of a 48 hour general strike, and with police clashing with protestors on the streets, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, won the first of two crucial votes on the latest package of tax hikes, spending cuts, and privatisations. By 155 votes to 138. But as the BBC Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, wrote before today’s vote But here’s the thing. No one in Greece believes the tax increases, lay-offs, privatisations will ever be fully implemented. This morning I …

Euro crisis: Come on in, the water’s lovely…

Pete Baker on June 24, 2011, 9:12 pm

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Croatia got an invite to join the European Union party, as EU leaders cornered the under pressure Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, ahead of next week’s crucial Greek parliamentary vote on the latest bail-out. Arthur Beesley in the Irish Times FOR THE fourth time this year, EU leaders gathered in Brussels last night to plot the next step in the sovereign debt emergency. They have declared victory many times before. None is inclined to suggest they are winning now. The mood …

The Earl Bishop

Pete Baker on June 23, 2011, 6:46 pm

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Interesting BBC article on an upcoming presentation and talk [Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, 17 August] by lecturer and broadcaster Stephen Price on the subject of his new book – The Earl Bishop. The 18th Century “Earl Bishop” was Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol and Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry. Hervey was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work on interpreting the Giants’ Causeway. And it was near there that he built the Downhill estate, …

Johannes Kepler “will tumble, disintegrate and burn”

Pete Baker on June 21, 2011, 4:54 pm

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ESA’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Johannes Kepler, the first operational version, was launched on 16 February this year. At a total mass of 20 tonnes it was Europe’s heaviest spacecraft. As well as delivering its payload to the International Space Station, on 2 April Johannes Kepler successfully manoeuvred the complex to avoid a collision with space debris and, over recent days, boosted the 417-tonne Station to a higher orbit – from around 345 km to its new height of 380 km. …

Euro crisis: “an existential crisis for the euro zone”

Pete Baker on June 20, 2011, 3:50 pm

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Eurozone finance ministers have withheld the release of a €12 billion loan to Greece in the hope that the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, can secure a domestic political consensus. The BBC report quotes from the EU finance ministers’ statement A statement issued by the ministers called on all political parties in Greece to: “support the programme’s main objectives and key policy measures to ensure a rigorous and expeditious implementation”. “Given the length, magnitude and nature of required reforms in Greece, national unity …

Sarkozy: “Without the euro there is no Europe…”

Pete Baker on June 18, 2011, 3:43 pm

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That was the exaggarated claim of French President Nicolas Sarkozy as Frau Bundeskanzerlin blinked over her demand that private bondholders be made to share the burden of a ‘Greek miracle’ second Greek bail-out. Although where that leaves the Bundestag is another matter… And now that the French and German leaders are in agreement it’s down to the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to forge a domestic political consensus. Or not. A new political contract is essential for Greece to survive the current crisis. For this contract …

“The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland”? No, fortunately not.

oneill on June 16, 2011, 6:00 pm

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Within the restraints of 140 characters, he somehow manages to deliver a full range of cod fireside homilies; GAA-related similes stretched well beyond their natural snapping point and (naturally) playground stylee anti-Brit insults… but nevertheless for his myriad of Unionist followers on Twitter Barry McElduff is a must-read, the gift which simply refuses point-blank to stop giving. There have been so many to choose from but the comment which has caused perhaps the greatest mirth to his pro-Union devotees side …

“You’ve got to remember this is the home of surrealism”

Pete Baker on June 14, 2011, 2:19 pm

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That’s Belgium, not here. Belgium took the ‘no government’ crown from Iraq in February, and they just keep going… In the Irish Times, Arthur Beesley starts with a tale that sounds strangely familiar. IN THE metro stations of Brussels they pipe old pop hits for commuters. Songs in English, Spanish and Italian can be heard. They no longer play songs in French, the city’s main language, because Dutch-speakers took umbrage. No battle is too trivial in Belgium’s language wars. If the …

Euro crisis: “If fiscal union is not on the cards, the only other option is eurozone breakup”

Pete Baker on June 13, 2011, 3:35 pm

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In the Irish Times, Dan O’Brien provides a bleak assessment of the Greek problem at the heart of the current euro crisis. From the Irish Times article The chances of things getting worse are high. Societal strains and rampant corruption do not in themselves cause economic weakness – just look at China and India – but they don’t help. Alas for Greece, even if both problems were to disappear tomorrow there is little reason to believe its economic rot would stop. …

Euro crisis: “it is the fear of the unknown that is holding sway”

Pete Baker on June 8, 2011, 4:46 pm

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Frau Bundeskanzerlin has been to Washington, to pick up her Presidential Medal of Freedom. And to smooth over the ruffled feathers of that transatlantic relationship. As he handed over the medal, US President Barack Obama warned of the danger of the Euro debt crisis impacting the global economy, and in particular, the US economy. He might be looking for a handy scapegoat in the months ahead… But as, still everyone’s hero, Robert Peston points out “America’s banks would seem to have a good …

Euro crisis: “the right to veto some national economic policy decisions”

Pete Baker on June 3, 2011, 3:19 pm

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Further signs of dissent in Greece at the proposed terms of a new improved bail-out, and the accompanying “humiliating erosion of sovereignty”. And so far, where Greece has been led, others have followed… But, for some, every cloud has a silver lining. “Would it go too far if we envisaged . . . giving euro area authorities a much deeper and authoritative, say in the formation of the country’s economic policies if these go harmfully astray?” asked [European Central Bank president, Jean-Claude …

Euro crisis: “For all concerned, the stakes are rising rapidly”

Pete Baker on May 31, 2011, 5:21 pm

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The markets may be optimistic about reports of agreement between Greece and the EU, IMF and ECB inspectors but, as Arthur Beesley notes in the Irish Times, the cost will be “a humiliating erosion of sovereignty”. And, as he also notes in a separate report, the future remains uncertain for Greece. In view of Greece’s uncertain financing outlook over the next 12 months, the IMF is known to be threatening to refuse to release its €3 billion portion of the €12 …