Berger, Bennet, (2015), “Non-performing loans in Italy and selected European countries”, Bruegel publications, 18 Δεκεμβρίου Fears of a banking crisis in Italy are surfacing after four small Italian banks were rescued in November.The rescue plan involves transferring the banks’ bad loans to a single bad bank. Non-performing loans (NPLs), loans in default or close to being in default, continue to raise doubts about the health of the banking sector in …Read More

Schuster, Joachim, (2015), “Old Wine In New Bottles: The Economic Priorities Of The European Commission In 2016”, Social Europe Journal, 4 Δεκεμβρίου A new annual cycle of EU economic policy coordination – aka the European Semester – has begun with the European Commission’s (EC) latest Annual Growth Survey (AGS). The AGS sets out the EC’s views on the EU’s social and economic priorities and provides the building blocks for the …Read More

Darvas, Zsolt, Leandro, Álvaro, (2015), “Naughty students or the wrong school: why is the European Semester proving ineffective?”, Bruegel Blog, 18 Νοεμβρίου. The fundamental problem of economic policy coordination in the EU is that national policymakers are accountable to their national parliaments and focus on national interests, which in many cases differ widely in different member states. It is therefore not all that surprising that economic policy coordination in the EU hardly …Read More