Pisani-Ferry, Jean, (2015), “Can the Euro Be Repaired?”, Project Syndicate, 31 July. When Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, recently tabled the option of a Greek exit from the euro, he wanted to signal that no member could abstain from the monetary union’s strict disciplines. In fact, his initiative triggered a much broader discussion of the principles underpinning the euro, its governance, and the very rationale for its existence. Relevant Posts …Read More
Breaking a Taboo: Plans for Euro-Zone Tax Take Shape
Sauga, Michael, Reiermann, Christian, Schult, Christoph, (2015), “Breaking a Taboo: Plans for Euro-Zone Tax Take Shape”, Spiegel Internationale, 30 Ιουλίου. After the Greek bailout disaster, Paris, Berlin and Brussels want to reform the euro zone by creating an economic government and a special tax for the currency area. German Finance Minister Schäuble is in favor, but Chancellor Merkel is skeptical. Σχετικές Αναρτήσεις Mitchell, B. (2014) “Solving tax avoidance will not cure the Eurozone …Read More
The Euro, Like The Gold Standard, Is Doomed To Fail
Pettifor, Ann, (2015), “The Euro, Like The Gold Standard, Is Doomed To Fail”, Social Europe Journal, 31 July On 20th July, 2015 Jacques Delors reached the grand old age of ninety years. President Hollande saluted the elder statesman and told Journal du Dimanche, that “in the past week the European spirit (had) prevailed” in addressing the Greek crisis. This referred to the long, brutal and historic overnight negotiations of 12th July, between …Read More
The Eurozone’s German Problem
Legrain, Philippe, (2015), “The Eurozone’s German Problem”, Social Europe Journal, 27 July The eurozone has a German problem. Germany’s beggar-thy-neighbor policies and the broader crisis response that the country has led have proved disastrous. Seven years after the start of the crisis, the eurozone economy is faring worse than Europe did during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The German government’s efforts to crush Greece and force it to abandon …Read More
The Myth Of The EU’s €35bn Investment Package For Greece
Kühnlenz, Andre, (2015), “The Myth Of The EU’s €35bn Investment Package For Greece”, Social Europe Journal, 21 July We can all recall an enthusiastic Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Shortly before negotiations with Greece broke off at the end of June he supposedly promised Alexis Tsipras an investment package worth €35bn. At first glance this sounded pretty generous, particularly for a country in which, since 2010, the stock of capital has …Read More
The dark clouds of peace-Built to foster friendship, the euro is manufacturing misery instead
Economist, (2015), “The dark clouds of peace-Built to foster friendship, the euro is manufacturing misery instead”, 18 July UNRAVELLING the tangled logic of Greece’s bail-out talks, Charlemagne has learned, is a little like trying to explain the rules of cricket to an American. How to make sense of a process in which Greek voters loudly spurn a euro-zone bail-out offer in a referendum, only to watch Alexis Tsipras, their prime …Read More
The new European Union
Wyplosz, Charles, (2015), “The new European Union“, Voxeu, 14 July The new bailout deal for Greece was not easy. This column argues that it was also a failure. It will not be enough to recapitalise banks, it asks for structural reform that exceeds Greek capacities, and it raises the Greek debt-to-GDP ratio to unsustainable levels. In a few months or quarters, the programme will fail and the Grexit question will …Read More
Saving Greece, Saving Europe
Eichengreen, Barry, (2015), “Saving Greece, Saving Europe”, Project Syndicate, 13 July Whatever one thinks about the tactics of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government in negotiations with the country’s creditors, the Greek people deserve better than what they are being offered. Germany wants Greece to choose between economic collapse and leaving the eurozone. Both options would mean economic disaster; the first, if not both, would be politically disastrous as well. …Read More
The non-independent ECB
Wren Lewis, Simon, (2015), “The non-independent ECB”, Mainly Macro, 10 July Imagine that the Scottish National Party (SNP) had won the independence referendum. The SNP starts negotiating with the remaining UK (rUK) government over issues like how to split up national debt. On some issue the negotiations get bogged down. Rumours start circulating that this might mean that rUK will not form a monetary union with Scotland, and that Scotland …Read More
The QE Placebo
Gros, D., (2015), “The QE Placebo”, Project Syndicate, 9 June. It has now been nearly half a year since the European Central Bank declared its intention to buy some €1.1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) worth of eurozone bonds. When it first announced the so-called “extended asset-purchase program” in January, the ECB emphasized that it was only expanding an existing program, under which it had been buying modest quantities of private-sector bonds, …Read More