33 posts
"Everything is at stake"
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Chancellor Angela Merkel has been speaking at her party's congress and, given the events in Ireland, the euro was a key theme of her speech.It's fairly stirring stuff:"Everything is at stake -- if the euro fails, then Europe will fail. The idea of Eu...
Eurozone policy-makers are playing with fire
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By Simon TilfordThere is an awful inevitability about the latest instalment of the eurozone crisis, which looks highly likely to culminate in Ireland being forced to seek a bailout from the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF). As soon as German...
Greece criticised for 'systematic' cheating
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The EU Court of Auditors has criticised Greece for 'systematic' cheating. Athens was criticised for overpaying farmers by €866m (£747m) over several years, including submitting false claims for pasture land subsidies when aerial photographs 'clea...
ECB’s Trichet on economic governance in EMU
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The EU heads of state or government have stowed away the discussions about improving European Union and eurozone economic governance into the finance minister task force chaired by Herman Van Rompuy. The task force is expected to report in October. F...
Van Rompuy’s dilemma
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How often are the ones who caused the problems the right bunch to solve them? The European Council on 17 June 2010 drew some preliminary conclusions regarding fiscal consolidation and economic governance (document EUCO 13/10). In principle, the head...
Olli Rehn on improving EU and eurozone economic policy coordination
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Olli Rehn, the commissioner for economic and monetary policy, outlined the reform steps the European Union needs, in a speech in Brussels 22 June 2010 (SPEECH/10/329): Beyond consolidation, we need to act in two further areas: economic governance and...
Excessive deficit procedure: Finland
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The previous blog post, Excessive deficit procedure: Denmark, looked at the relevant summaries of EU legislation and found that they need to be updated. We check if the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) offers updated...
Excessive deficit procedure: Denmark
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Are you looking for materials on how budget monitoring works in the European Union, and what happens if the deficit of a member state balloons? Are you interested in the excessive deficit procedure (EDP), or the budgetary position of Denmark? Summari...
EU Commission on stability programme Cyprus
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The blog post EU: Updated stability programme Cyprus looked at the economic projections and reform plans of the island state in its own right, but also as an example of the dialogue on economic policy coordination between the European Union and the m...
EMU: Format and content of stability and convergence programmes
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Improved economic governance, or even economic government, is a hot topic in the European Union. In order to assess various suggestions (and refusals) it is useful to look at the current rules on multilateral budget surveillance in the framework of t...
EMU: Implementing the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP)
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The Specifications on the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact and Guidelines on the format and content of Stability and Convergence Programmes, the so called Code of Conduct (21 pages), were endorsed by the Ecofin Council 10 November 2009...
EU: Stability programme France
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France has traditionally called for strong eurozone governance or even government, but good practices start at home. Have they? The latest EU Council opinion on the French stability programme spells out the need for corrective action. For some back...
EU: Convergence programme Estonia
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Despite a deep recession, Estonia is preparing for the euro changeover in 2011. The European Union offers a snapshot of the Estonian economy. For some background remarks on economic policy coordination, you can read the blog post EU: Useful stabilit...
EU: Useful stability and convergence programmes?
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In the wake of the financial and economic crisis, how should the economies of the EU member states be launched on a growth and reform path? Where are the structural weaknesses and sudden pitfalls? How should the governments return to budget disciplin...
EMU: Stability programme Finland
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The latest round of EU Council opinions is the basis for measures in the member states to return from the financial and economic crisis towards fiscal discipline in line with the Stability and Growth Pact. The procedure and the conclusions illustrate...
EMU: Convergence programme Denmark
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What if we should look less to the daily fluctuation of market sentiments and more to the mundane coordination of economic policy between the European Union and the member states?The Council Opinion on the convergence programme of Denmark has been pu...
Tracking eurozone crisis measures: Barbarians at the gate
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Despite the decisions taken with regard to Greece, the battering rams of the markets were pounding the gates of the eurozone castle and sappers were undermining the walls of confidence. Business as usual was no longer an option for the second largest...
Eurozone: Budget consolidation in Austria
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On 26 April 2010 the Council examined the updated stability programme of Austria, which covers the period 2009 to 2013: COUNCIL OPINION on the updated stability programme of Austria, 2009-2013; OJEU 27.5.2010 C 137/7. The Opinion describes the effe...
EMU: Publishing decisions on excessive deficits
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Due to the eurozone crisis, we have checked how little of the decisions and positions have been reflected centrally on Eur-Lex, the legal portal: in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) or under preparatory acts (COM and SEC documents).
ECOFIN’s euro rescue
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The statement by the heads of state or government of the euro area 25 March 2010 evoked the shared responsibility of all euro area members for the economic and financial stability in the eurozone. The leaders were willing to take determined and coord...
A Stupid Question: Will the Eurozone Really Break Up?
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Yes, many will argue that’s a stupid question. Yes, leaving the eurozone will be very costly for any party involved. But I begin to wonder. There’s the rumour that French President Nichlas Sarkozy threatened to pull France out of the euro if...
What A Difference A Day Made!
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According to a once famous statement by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, a week is often a long time in politics. But when it comes to financial market crises we seem to follow a pattern more reminiscent of a line from the Dinah Washington...
EU possesses the legal power to rescue Greece if necessary
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There is a need to clear up some misconceptions about how Greece, or some other fiscal miscreant in the 16-nation eurozone, would be rescued by its partners in the event that it was unable to refinance its debts. Quite a few commentators seem to thin...
The EU Is Reportedly Exploring Making a Loan To Greece
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Pressure on Greek finances continues unabated. According to European Voice this morning the EU Commission and Finance Ministers remain most reluctant to call in the IMF (which I think would be the best solution) but they are themselves actively comte...
After Wearing The Hair Shirt For Over Two Years Hungary Is Now Helped Into The Straight Jacket
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Well we now have some of the details of the IMF package for Hungary, and interesting reading it makes. Hungary has in effect secured a 20 billion-euro ($25.5 billion) loan which is going to be sourced by three institutions: the IMF, the EU and the Wo...
