eurozone – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

Euro crisis: “Hollande is man of the moment, but Europe’s gaze is firmly fixed on Athens”

Pete Baker on May 8, 2012, 4:49 pm

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As the Irish Times’ Arthur Beesley notes All of this puts Hollande’s push to renegotiate the treaty in the shade. German chancellor Angela Merkel was quick to rebut her new French partner yesterday, but that can be read as the opening gambit. Her staunch ally Nicolas Sarkozy has been deposed. She has no choice but to work with the new tenant. The Merkozy days are over. In Brussels, the expectation remains that some form of an amendment will be conjured …

Greece: “Country in Limbo”

Pete Baker on May 7, 2012, 7:46 pm

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Gerry’s analysis notwithstanding, in Greece they’re trying to come to terms with those election results. As the BBC reports Greece’s centre-right leader, Antonis Samaras, has said he cannot form a coalition government, hours after he was given a mandate by the president. His New Democracy, which backed the last EU bailout, emerged as the biggest party after Sunday’s election, but he said a coalition was “impossible”. […] President Karolos Papoulias has now arranged a meeting for Tuesday morning with Alexis …

Hollande wins in France…

Pete Baker on May 6, 2012, 7:29 pm

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According to reported early estimates Socialist Francois Hollande has been elected as France’s new president, early estimates say. He got about 52% of votes in Sunday’s run-off, according to projections based on partial results, against 48% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. The Guardian’s live-blog will have further updates. As for what it means for the fiscal pact, and the wider Euro crisis, I think the results in Greece may prove to be more significant. Exit polls in the Greek parliamentary election …

Euro crisis: April is the cruellest month…

Pete Baker on April 30, 2012, 5:27 pm

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Apart from all the others… And it doesn’t matter how big your umbrella is. BBC Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, on springtime in Europe What is being exposed is a major flaw with Mrs Merkel’s fiscal pact. It is undemocratic. It ties the hands of future governments – and that, of course, was its intention but it doesn’t stop voters opposing further cuts. In the eurozone, deficits are being reduced. But debt – in many cases – is still growing. Growth …

Yes, Ireland can apply to the IMF for money, but…

Mick Fealty on April 30, 2012, 9:25 am

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If you want proof that SF dropped the ball on the anti case last week by putting partial quotes from Karl Whelan and two other eminent economists, it’s the fact that they have lent their own authority to an economist who is way off base from their own anti Fiscal Compact position. On Morning Ireland this morning Whelan gently debunked the idea, arising from (though strictly speaking, not contained within) a Sunday Times’ story yesterday that Ireland would be able …

Referendum: Hollande “is not intending to renegotiate the fiscal pact itself”…

Mick Fealty on April 26, 2012, 12:02 pm

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One of the problems the Yes camp will have to contend with is the shifting sands in Europe (see Arthur Beesley for the latest political collapse in the Netherlands, far from the feckless PIGS…) And indeed the front page of today’s Irish Times carries a story on the leading contender for the French Presidency, Francois Hollande, and his reference to the capacity of Ireland to say No in the up coming referendum: “There will be a renegotiation,” Mr Hollande said. …

Euro crisis: “It is nice to have a big umbrella…”

Pete Baker on April 23, 2012, 5:04 pm

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The Guardian’s Economics blog starts with an interesting observation Those who watched Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund a year ago say he played a blinder. Although he was to leave Washington under a cloud shortly afterwards, DSK impressed with his no-nonsense approach to his fellow Europeans. The IMF‘s managing director asked Jean-Claude Trichet, then president of the European Central Bank (ECB), and Christine Lagarde, at the time France’s finance minister, who they thought they …

Austerity versus Stability Treaty: A volatile mix of politics and economics?

Mick Fealty on April 19, 2012, 2:41 pm

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These days, the Republic seems to have more Referenda than Northern Ireland used to have fresh elections to new Parliaments/Assemblies/Conventions. For country in which policy plays so minor a role in public elections, this is generally where the established parties struggle to explain their own foreign policy decisions to a sceptical public… For now, according to the Irish Times poll the Aye’s have it, if you discount the highest number in the count (i.e. Don’t Knows) by 58 per cent …

Euro crisis: “Barroso absolutely confident that Spain can meet its economic challenges.”

Pete Baker on April 16, 2012, 3:02 pm

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With Spain probably in recession, again, and the cost of its government borrowing topping 6%, again, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso is being ridiculed for his optimistic futuring. As the Guardian’s Eurozone crisis live-blog notes European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has just been quizzed about the eurozone crisis, at a summit on sustainable energy. Barroso attempted to calm fears, telling his audience that he is “absolutely confident that Spain can meet its econonic challenges”. Alas, Barroso didn’t explain …

The Problems of Centralised Government: The Ill-considered Constraints on Economic Recovery in Northern Ireland

Of This Island on April 12, 2012, 5:18 pm

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Nobody will argue that the United Kingdom is in choppy financial waters. On March 26, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development charted the cost of Britain’s recession at a cumulative output loss of £87 billion, or 6% of GDP. All very interesting, but what do cold percentages and unqualified numbers mean for the people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? The simple answer is a drop in real wages and a critical lack of jobs. The unemployment rate in …

Euro crisis: “The worst, I fear, still lies ahead.”

Pete Baker on March 20, 2012, 6:36 pm

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In a recent column in the FT, Wolfgang Münchau asked an interesting question [free reg req] The markets have concluded that the eurozone crisis has ended. Several politicians said that they, too, believed that the worst was over. Complacency is back. I recall similar utterances in the past. Whenever there is some technical progress – an umbrella, a liquidity injection, a successful debt swap – optimism returns. If you think the European Central Bank’s policies have “bought time”, you should …

“Enda sounded like Fr Ted trying to explain to a baffled Fr Dougal the difference between “small” and “far away”.”

Pete Baker on March 14, 2012, 1:55 pm

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In the Irish Times, the peerless Miriam Lord on the latest shenanigans in the Dáil Meanwhile, the saga of the Promiscuous Notes rumbles on. It was Gerry Adams’s turn this time to wave them provocatively at the Taoiseach. The Spanish have the right idea, said the Sinn Féin leader. They took the toro pos los cuernos in Europe this week and got themselves a reduction in their budget deficit targets. “Will the Taoiseach follow the lead of the Spanish government, …

Euro crisis: “by the fifth instalment producers have to ramp up the violence and special effects.”

Pete Baker on March 8, 2012, 8:44 pm

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There have been some choice quotes flying around as the Greek government neared the 8pm deadline for securing sufficient private sector creditor involvement in their bond swap deal [and convincing Frau Bundeskanzlerin – Ed]. Like this quote from the Guardian live-blog at 6.59pm “if it closes at more than 90% its a triumph,” one well-briefed government official said. “If it’s above 75% its relatively good, if it’s lower than that we’re fucked,” he added saying the effects on market psychology would …

Euro crisis: “The expectation, however, must be for a fudge.”

Pete Baker on March 5, 2012, 5:30 pm

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When 25 of 27 EU leaders signed the “fiscal compact” [pdf file] designed to enforce budget discipline within the eurozone there was a rare, and unexpected, mood of optimism in the corridors of Frankfurt Brussels. An enthusiastic editorial in the Irish Times today calls for widespread political debate about the required new economic and political architecture. …the euro zone will not be stabilised without putting some such new economic architecture in place. A new political structure will also be required to ensure …

Ireland’s first genuinely ‘free’ referendum on foreign policy for some time…

Mick Fealty on February 29, 2012, 3:16 pm

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Well, it’s all go! Despite some considerable irritation in Brussels that all its efforts to avoid a referendum on the Fiscal Compact turned out to be for nothing, as the Irish Times points out: Because the treaty does not require all participating states to ratify it before coming into operation, an Irish No would leave this State behind as the rest of the euro zone moved ahead with closer integration. Ireland might remain formally a euro member, but, critically, outside …

Euro crisis: “It might be something which would allow Greece also to at least, to some extent, get a new start.”

Pete Baker on February 14, 2012, 10:23 pm

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Have the Greek coalition partners in Government, led by the technocratic former Greek and European central banker, Lucas Papademos, done enough to meet the demands of Germany their eurozone partners? Maybe… and maybe not. As the Guardian’s live-blog noted today Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, says the Eurogroup was still missing information from Athens on how it plans to save promised €325 million. He says he also did not receive assurances from the leaders of the two main …

Euro crisis: You have six days to comply…

Pete Baker on February 10, 2012, 4:12 pm

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That’s the message to Greece from Germany the EU finance ministers. Despite initial reports, prompted by the Greeks themselves, what was agreed yesterday between the party leaders there fell short of what was required – by some €300-odd million. From the Irish Times report The ministers imposed a six-day deadline on Greek authorities to comply with their wishes and said all three parties in its coalition must pledge to implement the austerity plan and continue to do so after a …

Bill Clinton to host “Invest in Ireland” event in New York

Pete Baker on February 7, 2012, 9:03 pm

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As the BBC reports Former US president Bill Clinton is to host an “Invest in Ireland” discussion in New York on Thursday. Well, he’ll “attend for the beginning of the event where he will make some opening remarks”. You get the point. *sniff* He used to have such big [economic] ideas for here… The Merrion Street press release adds Following on from a commitment given by him at the Global Irish Economic Forum, President Bill Clinton will host an “Invest in …

Euro crisis: “We are not fully in control of the sequence of events…”

Pete Baker on February 7, 2012, 5:29 pm

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Having watched as yesterday’s ‘deadline’ went whooshing past their heads, Greek party leaders are due to meet later tonight to consider another draft bail-out deal – once it’s been translated into Greek… You can follow events as they unfold at the Guardian’s live-blog. Meanwhile, as promised, Frau Bundeskanzlerin has joined Nicolas Sarkozy on the campaign trail in a joint television interview, following a joint French/German cabinet meeting – as the BBC reports Earlier the two leaders held a joint cabinet meeting, …

Sarkozy: “I did not know she voted in France…”

Pete Baker on January 31, 2012, 3:39 pm

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At the Guardian’s Politics Blog, Michael White has some fun with reports that Nicolas Sarkozy has enlisted Frau Bundeskanzlerin in his French presidential re-election campaign. Although this post’s title quote, from the Wall Street Journal blogs, suggests he may already be having second thoughts… ANYhoo… From Michael White’s post We can assume that pollsters have advised Sarko that the pluses of being identified positively with the much-admired German economy will outweigh the risks . Marine Le Pen, the National Front (NF) …