The Closer
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ROUND-UP US equity markets had a late-day rally despite early disappointing earnings from ExxonMobil and UPS and another weak reading in initial unemployment claims. (Financial...
BBBasta — Spain cut to BBB+
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S&P late on Thursday night became the first agency to cut Spain’s sovereign credit rating from the As to the Bs. It’s a two-notch downgrade from A to BBB+. Outlook negative....
A chance for happiness for Europe’s unhappy family (*)
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Europe is an unhappy family. And like all unhappy families, its diverse forms of competing miseries, afflicting differently its different members, are the reason it cannot regain its poise. Divorce is looming. Only in Europe’s case, and this is whe...
A chance for happiness for Europe’s unhappy family (*)
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Europe is an unhappy family. And like all unhappy families, its diverse forms of competing miseries, afflicting differently its different members, are the reason it cannot regain its poise. Divorce is looming. Only in Europe’s case, and this is whe...
Greece did not cause the euro crisis
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Yes, my country was the spark, but it merely exposed the inherent flaws within the eurozoneDuring the recent debate in the parliaments of many eurozone member states regarding the approval of the new €130bn loan to Greece, some members questi...
1 Mayıs 2012 görselleri… Labor Day Imagery in Turkey
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TweetShare via email [View the story "1 Mayıs 2012 görselleri... Labor Day Imagery in Turkey" on Storify] TweetShare via emailRelated posts: Twitter’dan kreatif Fernandes görselleri… #manuelfernandes Labor Day imagery in Turkey...
When PSI is futile (but then again, Cyprus)
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Here’s a nice, Portugal-themed chart from Gabriel Sterne of Exotix.Only 15 per cent of a eurozone sovereign’s debt not held by senior creditors or by banks whose...
Budget chickens come home to roost
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The European Commission is struggling to justify an increase of nearly 7 per cent in the EU payments budget for 2013. The timing could hardly be worse, with national budgets feeling the full force of austerity, governments facing fierce opposition...
Budget chickens come home to roost
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The European Commission is struggling to justify an increase of nearly 7 per cent in the EU payments budget for 2013. The timing could hardly be worse, with national budgets feeling the full force of austerity, governments facing fierce opposition...
Ireland is getting a vote on the bailouts – though you wouldn't guess it from the government's 'fair and balanced' guide to the FU Treaty
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Here's another example of the EU's hideous strength – the way, that is, in which, as well as being undemocratic in itself, it requires its constituent nations to sacrifice a measure of their internal democracy to sustain the requirements of m...
Pedal Power
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Pedal on Parliament: a mass ride on Holyrood Gather at the Meadows on April 28th (2pm for a 3pm start) Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood to tell our politicians that cycling matters, to show ou...
Pedal Power
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Pedal on Parliament: a mass ride on Holyrood Gather at the Meadows on April 28th (2pm for a 3pm start) Pedal on Parliament will be gathering cyclists from across the nation to cycle on Holyrood to tell our politicians that cycling matters, to show ou...
£120,000-a-year Tory ‘called nurse a “twat”‘ at public meeting
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One of the highest paid councillors in the UK is under investigation after allegedly calling a member of the public “a twat”. Conservative Brian Coleman — an ally of Boris Johnson who is already the subject of a probe over accusatio...
Member of Hungary’s Fiscal Council Shrugs Off Tight Deadline
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A new law that requires Hungary's Fiscal Council to issue a second opinion of the state budget within just 24 hours does not put the council in an impossible situation, according to one of its members.
Claims-ian economics, seasonality edition
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Here’s the scarier of two versions of what’s happening with initial jobless claims now:The chart is via Barclays Capital, which notes that after Thursday morning’s release,...
Council meeting in Luxembourg
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The rain was pouring down when we, a bit delayed, arrived to Luxembourg this morning. The road construction made the traffic slow down drastically. It was the first time the Council was held in the new Council building in Luxembourg, which is much ni...
Reding v Schulz
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EurActiv has reported that Viviane Reding, the current Justice Commissioner, may be positioning herslf to run as the European People's Party candidate during the 2014 European Elections. She's in her third term as a Commissioner (I've heard it said t...
Issue 21 - EU-28
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How ready is Croatia for membership? War, religion and beaches – a short history.
Growth, sure, but ‘EU must stick with austerity’
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"The European Union’s fresh push for growth must not compromise its drive for austerity, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Thursday, as he joined leading EU politicians in defending the bloc’s sometimes unpopular belt-tightening...
Understanding Europe from the inside (Part 2) - Ski-ing, Carnival and autobahns
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One of the fundamental differences - often not understood in the UK - is the presumption underlying continental legal systems as compared to the common law system of the UK and Ireland.In continental legal systems there is a presumption that what the...
At U.N. Happiness Summit, A Coal Pile in the Ballroom
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“The fact that economists were at the podium questioning the equivalence of happiness and GDP is a hopeful sign, a sign of a deep crack in the foundation of the economics discipline. But it is one thing to say there is more to happiness than econom...
Republishing Mein Kampf is a good idea | David Cesarani
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Elements of Hitler's rant still hold some power, but it has lost its relevance even to the far rightThe decision by the Bavarian state to bring out a carefully annotated edition of Hitler's Mein Kampf – before the copyright expires in 2015 and anyo...
The conflict between east and west in the EU
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This is the third post in our series “A united Europe?”. Have a look at the others. Since last week’s post in this series of posts, “A united Europe?”, quite some things has happened in politics around the European Union...
Your Europe, Your Say
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In the evening I joined the President, Vice-President Anna Maria Darmanin, the Group Presidents and various members to welcome the youthful participants in this year’s edition of Your Europe, Your Say!. Selection of the lucky participants took...
EU Funds to help the most vulnerable districts of Gambia
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Following the agreement reached by the EU and the government of Gambia, the European Union will allocate €365,000 to the World Food Programme (WFP), as part of the rapid response to the food crisis in the country. According to the latest update...
Global poll: One in four thinks that the free enterprise system needs to be replaced
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GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller commented: The broad and deepening sense of economic unfairness seen in this poll will continue to shape the political agenda in many countries and fuel further protests. Question: Would you say that political leaders a...
Global poll: One in four thinks that the free enterprise system needs to be replaced
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GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller commented: The broad and deepening sense of economic unfairness seen in this poll will continue to shape the political agenda in many countries and fuel further protests. Question: Would you say that political leaders a...
Ive received most votes as "visionary innovator"
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Jonathan Ive, that is. In a vote to find the "Favourite British Visionary Innovator 2012", he received nearly half of all votes cast in a field of ten nominees. Sir Jonathan Ive, KBESenior VP of Industrial Design with Apple, Inc. If you don't k...
London Mayoral election: still too close to call
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With one week to go until the London Mayoral election, the race couldn’t be tighter. read more...
