New EC Thread
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 15 Dec - 12:44
News Analysis: Message, if Murky, From U.S. to the World
The United States’ refusal to sign a global treaty on telecommunications — even though it got most of what it wanted — is seen as taking a stand for Internet freedom.
After Fighting Markets, Europe Now Prefers Working With Them
An agreement on bank supervision is the latest attempt by the European Union to calm worries about banks, government finances and, by extension, its fundamental institutions.
With E.C.B. in Spotlight, Bundesbank Finds Itself in the Shadows
The United States’ refusal to sign a global treaty on telecommunications — even though it got most of what it wanted — is seen as taking a stand for Internet freedom.After Fighting Markets, Europe Now Prefers Working With Them
An agreement on bank supervision is the latest attempt by the European Union to calm worries about banks, government finances and, by extension, its fundamental institutions.
With E.C.B. in Spotlight, Bundesbank Finds Itself in the Shadows
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 15 Dec - 13:01
After Fighting Markets, Europe Now Prefers Working With Them
By ANDREW HIGGINS
Published: December 14, 2012
Mr. Barroso’s triumphal comments, made at the end of a two-day summit meeting of the European Union’s 27 member states, could still prove premature, but they do signify a noteworthy evolution in the thinking of a Brussels bureaucracy that has long either ignored financial markets or denounced them as an alien and predatory force.
When the Greek debt crisis exploded three years ago, European officials often tended to vilify global markets and rating agencies, blaming “speculators” for the turmoil then stirring serious doubts about the long-term viability of the euro currency and even the entire “European project,” a six-decade-old venture to knit the region together through a gradual pooling of sovereignty.
As the crisis has developed, however, officials at the union’s headquarters in Brussels have stopped denouncing markets and learned instead to argue with them, presenting concrete steps to address their concerns. The banking supervisor deal, which will place about 150 of the most important banks in the 17 countries that use the euro under the supervision of the European Central Bank, is just part of a wide array of measures introduced over the last year to calm worries about the stability of Europe’s banks, government finances and, by extension, the union’s fundamental institutions.
“One of the big problems of Brussels has been that it is so remote from financial markets,” said Guntram B. Wolff, a former European Commission official who is deputy director of Bruegel, an independent economic research center in Brussels, the Belgian capital. “Now there is much more of a view of what is going on in the markets. This is a good thing.”
The traditional remoteness from, and often distaste for, financial markets, Mr. Wolff said, is largely a function of Brussels’ distance from major financial centers. The nearest is London, which for reasons of British domestic politics and fears in the city’s financial sector of meddling by the European Union, has often had testy relations with functionaries of the European Commission, the group’s main administrative and policy-making arm.
But ideology has also played a role, with many Brussels officials looking askance at what they have tended to scorn as an Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with markets, a phenomenon exemplified by the former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Mrs. Thatcher is despised by many so-called Eurocrats because of her robust hostility to the organization’s goal of an “ever closer union,” a mission laid out in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and her insistence that Europe should focus instead on building a common market for goods and services and keeping the sovereign powers of individual states intact.
“The European Parliament has many rooms named after famous Europeans, but there is no Margaret Thatcher room and there never will be one,” predicted Derk-Jan Eppink, a Dutchman elected to the parliament by voters in Belgium and vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. A member of the legislature’s budget and economic monitoring committees, Mr. Eppink said he had nonetheless noticed a sharp shift in attitudes toward markets among his colleagues and also E.U. officials since the debt crisis began shaking investors’ faith in the euro’s future.
“At the beginning of the crisis, everyone was always talking about greedy speculators and Wall Street sharks,” but such views were now “limited mainly to the hard left,” he said. “There has been a change in thinking. These markets and rating agencies are not widely seen anymore as an alien force of evil but as basically investors who don’t want to lose their money.”
“This changed over the past year,” Mr. Eppink added, when officials and politicians in Brussels “realized that many problems in the euro zone were bought on by ourselves, not by sharks and speculators.”
Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Bank in Brussels, said, “It has been a steep learning curve, not just for the commission but also for markets.”
Accustomed to viewing the European Union through an American prism, many investors took fright at Europe’s fragmented and glacial decision-making process, Mr. Brzeski said. European officials, for their part, he added, often viewed the wild swings of the market, and the pain this caused as borrowing costs in Greece and Spain soared, with uncomprehending horror.
A big reason anxiety about markets has waned is that they have stayed calm in recent months, largely in response to a pledge this summer by the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to “do whatever it takes” to defend the euro. The previous panic among investors has lifted to the point that the central bank has so far not needed to make any of the bond purchases Mr. Draghi vowed to make to shore up the debt of troubled countries.
Mr. Wolff, of the Bruegel research center, said this week’s summit meeting, far more tranquil and methodical than many previous conclaves, was an important step forward, but by no means the end of Europe’s troubles.
“There is a sense of direction at the moment, but the crisis is not over,” he said, warning that a grim economic outlook for next year, which will see much of the euro zone in recession, could upend the current optimism, especially if anger over unemployment — now at over 25 percent in Greece and Spain — leads to serious social unrest and political tumult.
James Kanter contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 15, 2012, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: After Fighting Markets, Europe Now Prefers Working With Them.
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By ANDREW HIGGINS
Published: December 14, 2012
Mr. Barroso’s triumphal comments, made at the end of a two-day summit meeting of the European Union’s 27 member states, could still prove premature, but they do signify a noteworthy evolution in the thinking of a Brussels bureaucracy that has long either ignored financial markets or denounced them as an alien and predatory force.
When the Greek debt crisis exploded three years ago, European officials often tended to vilify global markets and rating agencies, blaming “speculators” for the turmoil then stirring serious doubts about the long-term viability of the euro currency and even the entire “European project,” a six-decade-old venture to knit the region together through a gradual pooling of sovereignty.
As the crisis has developed, however, officials at the union’s headquarters in Brussels have stopped denouncing markets and learned instead to argue with them, presenting concrete steps to address their concerns. The banking supervisor deal, which will place about 150 of the most important banks in the 17 countries that use the euro under the supervision of the European Central Bank, is just part of a wide array of measures introduced over the last year to calm worries about the stability of Europe’s banks, government finances and, by extension, the union’s fundamental institutions.
“One of the big problems of Brussels has been that it is so remote from financial markets,” said Guntram B. Wolff, a former European Commission official who is deputy director of Bruegel, an independent economic research center in Brussels, the Belgian capital. “Now there is much more of a view of what is going on in the markets. This is a good thing.”
The traditional remoteness from, and often distaste for, financial markets, Mr. Wolff said, is largely a function of Brussels’ distance from major financial centers. The nearest is London, which for reasons of British domestic politics and fears in the city’s financial sector of meddling by the European Union, has often had testy relations with functionaries of the European Commission, the group’s main administrative and policy-making arm.
But ideology has also played a role, with many Brussels officials looking askance at what they have tended to scorn as an Anglo-Saxon preoccupation with markets, a phenomenon exemplified by the former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Mrs. Thatcher is despised by many so-called Eurocrats because of her robust hostility to the organization’s goal of an “ever closer union,” a mission laid out in the 1957 Treaty of Rome, and her insistence that Europe should focus instead on building a common market for goods and services and keeping the sovereign powers of individual states intact.
“The European Parliament has many rooms named after famous Europeans, but there is no Margaret Thatcher room and there never will be one,” predicted Derk-Jan Eppink, a Dutchman elected to the parliament by voters in Belgium and vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. A member of the legislature’s budget and economic monitoring committees, Mr. Eppink said he had nonetheless noticed a sharp shift in attitudes toward markets among his colleagues and also E.U. officials since the debt crisis began shaking investors’ faith in the euro’s future.
“At the beginning of the crisis, everyone was always talking about greedy speculators and Wall Street sharks,” but such views were now “limited mainly to the hard left,” he said. “There has been a change in thinking. These markets and rating agencies are not widely seen anymore as an alien force of evil but as basically investors who don’t want to lose their money.”
“This changed over the past year,” Mr. Eppink added, when officials and politicians in Brussels “realized that many problems in the euro zone were bought on by ourselves, not by sharks and speculators.”
Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Bank in Brussels, said, “It has been a steep learning curve, not just for the commission but also for markets.”
Accustomed to viewing the European Union through an American prism, many investors took fright at Europe’s fragmented and glacial decision-making process, Mr. Brzeski said. European officials, for their part, he added, often viewed the wild swings of the market, and the pain this caused as borrowing costs in Greece and Spain soared, with uncomprehending horror.
A big reason anxiety about markets has waned is that they have stayed calm in recent months, largely in response to a pledge this summer by the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, to “do whatever it takes” to defend the euro. The previous panic among investors has lifted to the point that the central bank has so far not needed to make any of the bond purchases Mr. Draghi vowed to make to shore up the debt of troubled countries.
Mr. Wolff, of the Bruegel research center, said this week’s summit meeting, far more tranquil and methodical than many previous conclaves, was an important step forward, but by no means the end of Europe’s troubles.
“There is a sense of direction at the moment, but the crisis is not over,” he said, warning that a grim economic outlook for next year, which will see much of the euro zone in recession, could upend the current optimism, especially if anger over unemployment — now at over 25 percent in Greece and Spain — leads to serious social unrest and political tumult.
James Kanter contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on December 15, 2012, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: After Fighting Markets, Europe Now Prefers Working With Them.
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Apologies for the "extras", Iv'e tried to delete a lot but still there's more !!! . | . |
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 16 Dec - 11:41
David Cameron signs up to more joint military operations with Europe
Britain will be expected to plan national defence with the rest of the European Union after David Cameron agreed to accelerate joint military operations.
Europe is considering more joint military operations Photo: Reuters
By Tim Ross, and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
10:23AM GMT 16 Dec 2012
Under a deal reached in Brussels yesterday, leaders of all 27 EU countries promised to “strengthen” Europe’s ability to deploy troops “rapidly and effectively” in any future crisis.
They committed to “systematically considering cooperation” across Europe whenever EU member states begin drawing up their national defence plans.
Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was “entirely happy” with the new arrangements. Britain already has a formal treaty with France for sharing defence capabilities, such aircraft carrier capacity.
Government sources said the new agreement would pave the way for Britain to extend this collaboration beyond France to other countries.
However, the Prime Minister immediately faced a backlash from his own Conservative MPs, who warned it was the first step to creating a European army.
Related Articles
The development comes as five countries - France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland – prepare to step up moves for a formal joint EU military command structure and an operational headquarters.
Some fear the new arrangement will provide a European rival to Nato.
Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Clacton, said: “This really shows that we can’t trust our negotiating team. You turn your back for two minutes and they go and sign up to something as daft as this.
“This might look like a good deal for those in Number 10 but outside Westminster it is anything but a good deal.
“If anyone seriously believes that it is in our national interest to hand over our defence to the people running the euro then we would need our heads examined.”
The British diplomats who are permanently based in Brussels are “beyond scrutiny so they end up negotiating their way into these ludicrous positions”, he said.
“In the 1970s, this country was run by those who believed in managing decline. To me, this is decline management. I thought to Conservative Party was supposed to try and stop this sort of thing.”
Tory MP Peter Bone said: “The Conservative Party position has always been that Nato is the bedrock of the defence of Europe.
“The idea of a European defence force is something that we’ve absolutely been against.
“The Prime Minister will have to come to the House of Commons on Monday and clarify the position. Even if this is only a first step it is worrying.
“We know how the European Union behaves. Slice by slice they will expand their influence and what begins as cooperation will end up as a Euro Army, which is something we have always been opposed to.
“The Prime Minister will have to answer that. If this is a shift in position it won’t be acceptable to the party or the country.”
Francois Hollande, the French President, said that France was a strong supporter of “defence Europe”.
“There is a willingness to strengthen defence capacity and to develop a European defence industry,” he said.
“We want to act in Europe. In order to be heard at the international level, defence resources are fundamental. So we agree to cooperate, we agree to hold joint missions.”
Britain will be expected to plan national defence with the rest of the European Union after David Cameron agreed to accelerate joint military operations.
Europe is considering more joint military operations Photo: Reuters
By Tim Ross, and Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
10:23AM GMT 16 Dec 2012
Under a deal reached in Brussels yesterday, leaders of all 27 EU countries promised to “strengthen” Europe’s ability to deploy troops “rapidly and effectively” in any future crisis.
They committed to “systematically considering cooperation” across Europe whenever EU member states begin drawing up their national defence plans.
Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was “entirely happy” with the new arrangements. Britain already has a formal treaty with France for sharing defence capabilities, such aircraft carrier capacity.
Government sources said the new agreement would pave the way for Britain to extend this collaboration beyond France to other countries.
However, the Prime Minister immediately faced a backlash from his own Conservative MPs, who warned it was the first step to creating a European army.
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The development comes as five countries - France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland – prepare to step up moves for a formal joint EU military command structure and an operational headquarters.
Some fear the new arrangement will provide a European rival to Nato.
Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Clacton, said: “This really shows that we can’t trust our negotiating team. You turn your back for two minutes and they go and sign up to something as daft as this.
“This might look like a good deal for those in Number 10 but outside Westminster it is anything but a good deal.
“If anyone seriously believes that it is in our national interest to hand over our defence to the people running the euro then we would need our heads examined.”
The British diplomats who are permanently based in Brussels are “beyond scrutiny so they end up negotiating their way into these ludicrous positions”, he said.
“In the 1970s, this country was run by those who believed in managing decline. To me, this is decline management. I thought to Conservative Party was supposed to try and stop this sort of thing.”
Tory MP Peter Bone said: “The Conservative Party position has always been that Nato is the bedrock of the defence of Europe.
“The idea of a European defence force is something that we’ve absolutely been against.
“The Prime Minister will have to come to the House of Commons on Monday and clarify the position. Even if this is only a first step it is worrying.
“We know how the European Union behaves. Slice by slice they will expand their influence and what begins as cooperation will end up as a Euro Army, which is something we have always been opposed to.
“The Prime Minister will have to answer that. If this is a shift in position it won’t be acceptable to the party or the country.”
Francois Hollande, the French President, said that France was a strong supporter of “defence Europe”.
“There is a willingness to strengthen defence capacity and to develop a European defence industry,” he said.
“We want to act in Europe. In order to be heard at the international level, defence resources are fundamental. So we agree to cooperate, we agree to hold joint missions.”
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 16 Dec - 13:04
Banking union flatters Germany’s financial physique
14 December 2012
French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
Alex Ballaman
After the euphoria following the agreement on banking supervision that was finally reached between the 27 member states – the embryo of a banking union – the European press, given the details of the mechanism worked out in Brussels, has lost some enthusiasm.
The widespread feeling that ground was ceded under pressure from the "Diktat" of Germany, which insisted that the single European supervisor would have no oversight of its local banks, has spurred criticisms.
"The agreement seems to be on a large scale, but in reality it is not enough," writes NRC Handelsblad. "Coming four years after the start of the subprime crisis, it's disappointing." The Dutch newspaper particularly regrets that –
In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung unleashes a salvo of arguments that the new banking supervision is very bad news, coming as it does just when banks in the eurozone are carrying three times more debt than the member states. For the FAZ, the central problem is the omnipotence of the European Central Bank (ECB) – an unelected institution, the daily observes. Wearing two hats – central bank and supervisory authority – it will not be able to fulfill its function of guaranteeing price stability.
An ”erroneous model" has been chosen for the banking union notes the El País daily. It's been a decision "imposed" by Germany and it will "fracture" the European financial market into two major blocks: the big institutions, under the supervision of the ECB, and those with assets of less than €30bn left under the supervision of national governments. The Madrid daily has some criticisms –
It’s an argument that its colleague ABC takes up: ”What Germany is hiding", it writes, is the poor state of the regional banks. This
14 December 2012
French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
Alex Ballaman
After the euphoria following the agreement on banking supervision that was finally reached between the 27 member states – the embryo of a banking union – the European press, given the details of the mechanism worked out in Brussels, has lost some enthusiasm.
The widespread feeling that ground was ceded under pressure from the "Diktat" of Germany, which insisted that the single European supervisor would have no oversight of its local banks, has spurred criticisms.
"The agreement seems to be on a large scale, but in reality it is not enough," writes NRC Handelsblad. "Coming four years after the start of the subprime crisis, it's disappointing." The Dutch newspaper particularly regrets that –
The vast majority of the 6,000 [European] banks remain the responsibility of the national regulators, and therefore depend on mutual trust between banks, which in the past has been more wobbly than we thought. The subprime crisis has revealed just how interlinked all the banks are. No one saw that clearly until it all fell apart. Look at what happened in Iceland and especially in the Fortis affair, where national interests took precedence over the general interest. Only a centralised monitoring authority for all banks can combat that. In addition, decisions have not yet been made on two critical follow-up steps: the closure of banks that fail, and a common financial safety net that would separate the fate of the states from that of the banks.
In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung unleashes a salvo of arguments that the new banking supervision is very bad news, coming as it does just when banks in the eurozone are carrying three times more debt than the member states. For the FAZ, the central problem is the omnipotence of the European Central Bank (ECB) – an unelected institution, the daily observes. Wearing two hats – central bank and supervisory authority – it will not be able to fulfill its function of guaranteeing price stability.
While joint supervision of European banks makes sense, placing that supervisory authority under the roof of the ECB is very far from being a sound idea. Until now, the sole obligation of the ECB was to ensure price stability. Henceforth, the supervisory role will force it to live with a conflict of objectives. How will it decide if inflation requires an increase in interest rates, when that is precisely what may bring down the banks? Finally, one may doubt whether the ECB will come down all that harshly on financial institutions that they have been keeping alive as zombie banks for years by injecting money into them.
An ”erroneous model" has been chosen for the banking union notes the El País daily. It's been a decision "imposed" by Germany and it will "fracture" the European financial market into two major blocks: the big institutions, under the supervision of the ECB, and those with assets of less than €30bn left under the supervision of national governments. The Madrid daily has some criticisms –
The agreement corresponds point by point to the German demands. Angela Merkel has already told the Bundestag that the agreement was a German triumph; and now the time has come to explain why a triumph for Germany can turn into a financial mistake for Europe. The objective of the triumphal proposal of [Finance Minister Wolfgang] Schäuble is to hide the bleak situation of the German savings banks and the banks of the German Länder. The pretext used to achieve this was to suggest putting only those banks that would present a systemic risk to Europe under the supervision of the ECB. The reality, however, as shown by the case of Spain, is that smaller institutions are also capable of injecting toxins into the national banking system. And this circumstance invalidates the German argument that supervision of its regional banks is irrelevant, because Germany would pay for any eventual consolidation of these institutions. The risk is not bankruptcy, but the contamination of assets.
It’s an argument that its colleague ABC takes up: ”What Germany is hiding", it writes, is the poor state of the regional banks. This
explains a good deal of the political manoeuvring of Angela Merkel, who has been able to defend her financial system and to mask her misdeeds like no other leader in Europe. Brussels has never liked the savings banks, but the new Iron Lady has managed to turn Germany into their last bastion, despite their complicity in the [financial] problems. The *Landesbanken* are engaged in highly risky international operations that have left a steep bill. The problems of Germany remain in Germany, [which] has made it clear that it does not like others to ferret about in its finances. Despite any banking union, only the Bundesbank can do that for the moment.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 16 Dec - 13:10
Why on Earth did David Cameron sign up to this??? Admittedly ALL Banks need monitoring since they were culpable for the mess we are in now but yet again Germany dictates what will be included. Who is going to pay for all this? The stress tests ordered on all Banks a couple of years ago proved pointless and so will this.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 0:15
Berlusconi Engaged: Age Gap 'Little Excessive'
Italy's former PM announces he is engaged to a woman 49 years his junior, who he describes as bringing "continuous joy".
11:58pm UK, Sunday 16 December 2012
Silvo Berlusconi with fiancee Francesca Pascale at a football match
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Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced he is engaged to a woman almost 50 years younger than him - an age gap he admitted was "a little excessive".
Speaking on one of his own TV channels, the tycoon, 76, said he was due to marry his 27-year-old girlfriend Francesca Pascale.
He told an interviewer: "Yes, I'm engaged, to a Neapolitan (a person from Naples). It's official. She is so much younger that there is an age difference of 49 years between me and her - so a little excessive.
He added: "She is 27-years-old, she is called Francesca and she is a beautiful girl, beautiful from the outside, but even more beautiful inside.
"She brings continuous joy. She's very close to me, she loves me very much and I love her back."
Mr Berlusconi has been married and divorced twice and has five children.
In October, he was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud connected to his television channels.
At a separate trial that month, he denied hosting raunchy parties, having sex with an underage girl and abusing his powers by pressuring police.
Mr Berlusconi described Ms Pascale as 'beautiful'
Mr Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Moroccan exotic dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heart Stealer, when she was 17.
Referring to the 'Bunga Bunga' parties at his villa near Milan, he said: "I can exclude with absolute certainty that there were ever scenes of a sexual nature."
The 'Bunga Bunga' - described by many of his female guests as a type of lap dance he enjoyed - was "only a joke I used to tell which then got picked up by the press", he told the court's three female judges.
In the latest TV interview, he also spoke about his possible plans to become Italy's PM once again.
Mr Berlusconi repeated he would only withdraw as a candidate if current leader Mario Monti agreed to run as head of an alliance of moderates.
Mr Monti's government of non-political technocrats had been supported by Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL).
But the PDL withdrew its support about 10 days ago, prompting Mr Monti to announce his resignation and bring forward elections to a likely date in February.
However, shortly after his party withdrew support, Mr Berlusconi announced he would pull out as an election candidate if Mr Monti were to run, in an apparent u-turn.
Italy's former PM announces he is engaged to a woman 49 years his junior, who he describes as bringing "continuous joy".
11:58pm UK, Sunday 16 December 2012
Silvo Berlusconi with fiancee Francesca Pascale at a football match
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Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced he is engaged to a woman almost 50 years younger than him - an age gap he admitted was "a little excessive".
Speaking on one of his own TV channels, the tycoon, 76, said he was due to marry his 27-year-old girlfriend Francesca Pascale.
He told an interviewer: "Yes, I'm engaged, to a Neapolitan (a person from Naples). It's official. She is so much younger that there is an age difference of 49 years between me and her - so a little excessive.
He added: "She is 27-years-old, she is called Francesca and she is a beautiful girl, beautiful from the outside, but even more beautiful inside.
"She brings continuous joy. She's very close to me, she loves me very much and I love her back."
Mr Berlusconi has been married and divorced twice and has five children.
In October, he was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud connected to his television channels.
At a separate trial that month, he denied hosting raunchy parties, having sex with an underage girl and abusing his powers by pressuring police.
Mr Berlusconi described Ms Pascale as 'beautiful' Mr Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Moroccan exotic dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heart Stealer, when she was 17.
Referring to the 'Bunga Bunga' parties at his villa near Milan, he said: "I can exclude with absolute certainty that there were ever scenes of a sexual nature."
The 'Bunga Bunga' - described by many of his female guests as a type of lap dance he enjoyed - was "only a joke I used to tell which then got picked up by the press", he told the court's three female judges.
In the latest TV interview, he also spoke about his possible plans to become Italy's PM once again.
Mr Berlusconi repeated he would only withdraw as a candidate if current leader Mario Monti agreed to run as head of an alliance of moderates.
Mr Monti's government of non-political technocrats had been supported by Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL).
But the PDL withdrew its support about 10 days ago, prompting Mr Monti to announce his resignation and bring forward elections to a likely date in February.
However, shortly after his party withdrew support, Mr Berlusconi announced he would pull out as an election candidate if Mr Monti were to run, in an apparent u-turn.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 5:17
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 10:22
The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards is due to publish its first report on Friday Photo: Getty Images
By Louise Armitstead, Chief Business Correspondent
7:12PM GMT 16 Dec 2012
31 Comments In a report due on Friday, which is thought to be more Volcker than Vickers, the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards is expected to call for legislation to be drafted that would allow the banks to be broken up, rather than just ring-fenced.
The report, which is a response to the Bank Reform Bill, is not yet finished, but members of the Commission are said to be determined to beef up the Coalition’s reforms in the wake of more fines and criticism of the sector.
UBS is braced for a fine of more than $1bn (£618m) in settlement with regulators investigating the global Libor rigging scandal. The penalty could be as high as $1.5bn, according to Swiss reports, and is expected to be unveiled this week.
Over the weekend it was also reported that the state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland could be fined as much as £350m for its role in rate-rigging, although the settlement is not due until the new year.
Meanwhile Barclays, which has already paid a £290m Libor settlement, has been forced to defend itself from another $470m (£291m) penalty from America’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In a defence filed in a US court on Friday night, Barclays said FERC’s claim that the bank had manipulated electricity markets was “baseless” and “hollow.”
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George Osborne, who established the Banking Commission in July, recently warned it members against “unpicking a consensus” on his plans to ring-fence retail banking operations – as proposed by Sir John Vickers in his report.
But Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commission, is under pressure from members to toughen the proposals. The Tory MP is an admirer of Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve whom he credited with giving “extremely impressive evidence” on the separation of the banks.
During evidence sessions, Lord Lawson has pushed along the argument for total separation. Lord Turnbull, former head of the Civil Service, has also argued for radical reforms. However Mr Tyrie has also complained that the Commission is being rushed and needs more time.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, has argued that as well as “cultural change, there needs to be structural change in banking.” Although he stops short of calling for a Volcker-style division of banks, Mr Horta Osorio argues that “financial stability will be greatly enhanced from an ex-ante separation of retail and investment banks”. He adds: “That is why I fully support ring-fencing as the right way forward.”
However business leaders have urged the Government not to put economic recovery above their reforms. Archie Norman, chairman of ITV, warned of “political indulgence” in pushing regulatory reforms. He told The Sunday Telegraph that “regulation and reserve capital does not come for free. It comes with a cost and the price of the attack on banks will be lower growth.”
Last edited by Panda on Mon 17 Dec - 11:15; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : This post has been moved to Bl***y Banks where it should have been posted.)
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 11:09
Debt Crisis - Banking system still 'not fully prepared' for collapse warns ECB's Liikanen -live
A senior European Central Bank official has said the system is still not fully prepared for a big banking collapse, urging lawmakers to craft a legal framework for the closure and settlement of lenders.
ECB governing council member Erkki Liikanen told German daily Die Welt the system must be set up so 'owners are the first to pay the bill and not the taxpayers'.
By Denise Roland
10:26AM GMT 17 Dec 2012
49 Comments runUpdate = true;
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2012-12-17 10:33:08.0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/9749598/Debt-Crisis-Banking-system-still-not-fully-prepared-for-collapse-warns-ECBs-Liikanen-live.html?service=artBody
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• Banks still 'not fully prepared' for collapse
• DAX climbs highest in nearly five years
• Europe must 'work very hard' to maintain welfare system: Merkel
• Bank of Italy governor rejects need for ECB bail out
• Cyprus calls on state-backed companies to help government
• 'Europe is for life' Hollande tells Cameron
10.26 Eurozone exports in October surged 14pc year on year, driving a €10.2bn trade surplus compared with a €0.7bn deficit in October 2011. The shift is partly due to crisis-ridden Greece, Spain and Portugal cutting their trade deficits by wide margins between January to September, with Italy swinging into surplus. The Mediterranean nations are also seeing only modest wage rises, which is helping the region regain competitiveness.
09.41 Italian statisticians have played down the good news that exports have had their strongest year-on-year rise since August last year, leading to an October trade surplus of €2.5bn, compared with a deficit of €1.11bn in October 2011. Sales of Italian goods to the rest of the world in October rose 12pc year-on-year, but the country's national institute of statistics said this was largely due to there being two more trading days in October this year than in October 2011.
09.13 European markets have had a mixed opening this morning.
The FTSE fell 0.22pc, the CAC dropped 0.29pc, the DAX rose 0.23pc, the IBEX in Madrid edged up 0.07pc and the MIB in Milan gained 0.29pc. 09.08 European markets have opened and the German DAX has hit a near five-year high, hitting 7627 points in early trading.
The DAX is creeping up to levels last seen five years ago. Source: Bloomberg
08.32 ECB governing council member Erkki Liikanen told German daily Die Welt the system is still not fully prepared for a banking collapse. In an interview with the paper, he said:
The world would be better prepared than before but not fully prepared. It's positive that banks these days are better capitalised. But that's not enough. We urgently need a legal framework for the closure and settlement of banks. The top goal must be that, in the case of a bank collapse, the owners are the first to pay the bill and not the taxpayers. 
08.00 Now for a look at the papers this morning. We report that governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, has played down the country's need for a bail out from the European Central Bank, saying the current economic situation is "characterised by lower tension" than a ear ago when bond yields exceeded the 7pc threshold, above which borrowing is considered unsustainable.
Also in the Telegraph is news that Cyprus has called on state-backed companies to cough up around €200m in three-month loans to the government, "to cover the state's financing needs." We also report the French actor Gerard Depardieu's planned move to Belgium due to the government's taxes on the rich, which he laid out in a fierce open letter to prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, in which he accused the government of thinking that "success, creativity and talent...must be sanctioned."
The Financial Times has interviewed German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said Europe will have to "work very hard" to maintain the most generous welfare system. She said government spend should prioritise research and education, and hinted at cuts in social welfare budgets, pointing out that "If Europe today accounts for 7pc of the world's population, produces around 25pc of global GDP and has to finance 50pc of global social spending, then it's obvious it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life. All of us have to stop spending more than we earn every year."
07.45 Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, has given reasons to be cheerful about the economy in this morning's Telegraph.
Today, I want to discuss the prospects for long-term increases in productive capacity. This may seem arcane, but it isn’t. It holds the key to prospects for living standards – and much else besides. Not so long ago, it would have seemed incredible that this was up for discussion. My own generation, when we were young, didn’t entertain any doubts.
More recently, of course, living standards have been falling. And many people now feel gloomy about the future – including some distinguished economists.
Read his piece here.
07.29 Founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has argued today a eurozone break-up would undo a raft of achievements under the single currency, and the bloc should push ahead to closer monetary and fiscal union.
The euro itself has provided major economic rewards: it eliminated exchange risk, lowered inflation, increased trade across the eurozone and more tightly integrated European financial markets. More generally, the single currency has contributed to an underlying culture of monetary stability and predictability within the eurozone, a critical point often forgotten in today’s discussions. The crisis, however, surfaced critical flaws in the eurozone’s structure.
Europe lacked a strong and common fiscal policy; divergence in competitiveness between the northern and southern economies created a risk of default that had gone unrecognized; and the absence of a banking union created intolerable systemic risks.
Adding fuel to the fire, the complexity of European political institutions, and the increasing democratic deficit that it represents in the view of the public, has led to an “executive deficit”: an inability to make real decisions.
What is clear is that the euro must survive in more or less its current form, but the deficiencies in the institutions that surround it must be addressed.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 11:25
Mario Monti’s Resignation May Slow Year of Euro Agreement
By Patrick Donahue - Dec 17, 2012 8:57 AM GMT
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s looming resignation may threaten progress in fighting the three-year debt crisis even as European leaders wrap up the year with newly won breathing room.
Monti, under pressure from euro-area and business leaders to enter the Italian election campaign, plans to quit once parliament passes his budget this week following former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s withdrawal of support on Dec. 6. The Italian upper house may vote as early as today on the budget, which then passes to the lower house.
Enlarge image
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
The European Union summit last week closed out a year in which policy makers bolstered the 17-nation single currency by setting up fiscal rules for indebted states, a permanent bailout fund, a central-bank bond-buying program and a road map for tighter banking and fiscal union. Work was overshadowed this month when Berlusconi pulled his support and pledged to return to power for the fourth time, only to backtrack as long as Monti forms what he called a “coalition of moderates.”
“None of the likely outcomes will derail last year’s reform process,” Erik Nielsen, London-based chief global economist at UniCredit SpA (UCG), wrote in a note to clients yesterday, referring to the Italian election, which will probably be held in February. “That said, it requires close monitoring.”
Euro Climbs
The euro last week climbed to the highest level against theU.S. dollar since May and Spanish bonds advanced for a third week in four on optimism that the turmoil is being contained. EU policy makers last week made progress in creating a central bank supervisory body and signed off on the next aid tranche forGreece, where the crisis began in October 2009.
EU leaders will be challenged in 2013 as they try to overcome Franco-German differences on how to forge closer fiscal ties and as an economic downturn complicates efforts to scale back debt while buoying employment.
“We still have a stretch ahead and we’re beginning to sense in Germany that we can’t ignore economic growth and employment in other countries,” German Chancellor Angela Merkelsaid Dec. 15 in a weekly podcast. “I’m going into the new year optimistically, but also prudently, because we’re seeing here that economic growth is slowing a bit.”
Yields Slide
Italy was on the front line of the crisis this year, when yields on its on 10-year bonds exceeded 7 percent in January and climbed again through the summer before sliding to less than 4.5 percent this month under Monti’s premiership. European leaders, some Italian politicians and even Berlusconi have exhorted the prime minister to surrender his independence and declare his candidacy in elections.
Monti won’t be an official candidate in the next election, though he may endorse a party list, Corriere della Sera reported today, citing a meeting between Monti and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano late yesterday. The premier may allow a group to use his name in the election campaign and will outline his intentions in a speech, the newspaper said.
Monti’s 13-month government wins regular praise from the likes of Merkel and Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne, though the German-backed tax increases and spending cuts that have helped lower Italy’s borrowing costs have soured many voters to the idea of a second term.
“While Monti has received a glowing endorsement from the international community, he’s struggling to convince people on main street,” Nicola Marinelli, who oversees $180 million at Glendevon King Asset Management in London, said in an interview.
Monti Coalition
Ferrari SpA Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo will hold a convention with the Union of Centrists and the Freedom and Liberty for Italy parties on Dec. 20 to form a pro-Monti coalition to try to entice the premier to join the race.
Polls show Monti, 69 as the country’s most popular politician. And while having a ready-made party would make it easier for the premier, he would still need to win over voters weary from a fourth recession since 2001 and a jobless rate at a 13-year high.
Support for the three-party pro-Monti alliance trails the pro-union Democratic Party under Pier Luigi Bersani, according to a Dec. 12 SWG Institute poll. Monti’s alliance would jump to 15 percent from 9.3 percent were he to run, still half of the Democratic Party’s 31.1 percent. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty had 16.5 percent, SWG showed.
Last week Berlusconi stepped back from his pledge to run again and called on Monti to lead a “coalition of moderates”into the campaign that would include Berlusconi’s PDL and his former coalition ally, the Northern League. Roberto Maroni, leader of the League, rejected the overture, saying he could never ally with “the world champion of tax increases.”
Once Monti resigns, Napolitano will dissolve parliament and must schedule elections within 45 to 70 days. Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri last week said Feb. 17 would be the probable election day.
By Patrick Donahue - Dec 17, 2012 8:57 AM GMT
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Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s looming resignation may threaten progress in fighting the three-year debt crisis even as European leaders wrap up the year with newly won breathing room.
Monti, under pressure from euro-area and business leaders to enter the Italian election campaign, plans to quit once parliament passes his budget this week following former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s withdrawal of support on Dec. 6. The Italian upper house may vote as early as today on the budget, which then passes to the lower house.
Enlarge image
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti
Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg
The European Union summit last week closed out a year in which policy makers bolstered the 17-nation single currency by setting up fiscal rules for indebted states, a permanent bailout fund, a central-bank bond-buying program and a road map for tighter banking and fiscal union. Work was overshadowed this month when Berlusconi pulled his support and pledged to return to power for the fourth time, only to backtrack as long as Monti forms what he called a “coalition of moderates.”
“None of the likely outcomes will derail last year’s reform process,” Erik Nielsen, London-based chief global economist at UniCredit SpA (UCG), wrote in a note to clients yesterday, referring to the Italian election, which will probably be held in February. “That said, it requires close monitoring.”
Euro Climbs
The euro last week climbed to the highest level against theU.S. dollar since May and Spanish bonds advanced for a third week in four on optimism that the turmoil is being contained. EU policy makers last week made progress in creating a central bank supervisory body and signed off on the next aid tranche forGreece, where the crisis began in October 2009.
EU leaders will be challenged in 2013 as they try to overcome Franco-German differences on how to forge closer fiscal ties and as an economic downturn complicates efforts to scale back debt while buoying employment.
“We still have a stretch ahead and we’re beginning to sense in Germany that we can’t ignore economic growth and employment in other countries,” German Chancellor Angela Merkelsaid Dec. 15 in a weekly podcast. “I’m going into the new year optimistically, but also prudently, because we’re seeing here that economic growth is slowing a bit.”
Yields Slide
Italy was on the front line of the crisis this year, when yields on its on 10-year bonds exceeded 7 percent in January and climbed again through the summer before sliding to less than 4.5 percent this month under Monti’s premiership. European leaders, some Italian politicians and even Berlusconi have exhorted the prime minister to surrender his independence and declare his candidacy in elections.
Monti won’t be an official candidate in the next election, though he may endorse a party list, Corriere della Sera reported today, citing a meeting between Monti and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano late yesterday. The premier may allow a group to use his name in the election campaign and will outline his intentions in a speech, the newspaper said.
Monti’s 13-month government wins regular praise from the likes of Merkel and Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne, though the German-backed tax increases and spending cuts that have helped lower Italy’s borrowing costs have soured many voters to the idea of a second term.
“While Monti has received a glowing endorsement from the international community, he’s struggling to convince people on main street,” Nicola Marinelli, who oversees $180 million at Glendevon King Asset Management in London, said in an interview.
Monti Coalition
Ferrari SpA Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo will hold a convention with the Union of Centrists and the Freedom and Liberty for Italy parties on Dec. 20 to form a pro-Monti coalition to try to entice the premier to join the race.
Polls show Monti, 69 as the country’s most popular politician. And while having a ready-made party would make it easier for the premier, he would still need to win over voters weary from a fourth recession since 2001 and a jobless rate at a 13-year high.
Support for the three-party pro-Monti alliance trails the pro-union Democratic Party under Pier Luigi Bersani, according to a Dec. 12 SWG Institute poll. Monti’s alliance would jump to 15 percent from 9.3 percent were he to run, still half of the Democratic Party’s 31.1 percent. Berlusconi’s People of Liberty had 16.5 percent, SWG showed.
Last week Berlusconi stepped back from his pledge to run again and called on Monti to lead a “coalition of moderates”into the campaign that would include Berlusconi’s PDL and his former coalition ally, the Northern League. Roberto Maroni, leader of the League, rejected the overture, saying he could never ally with “the world champion of tax increases.”
Once Monti resigns, Napolitano will dissolve parliament and must schedule elections within 45 to 70 days. Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri last week said Feb. 17 would be the probable election day.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 15:41
European Stocks Decline Amid U.S. Budget Talks; KPN Falls
Q
European stocks declined for a third day as concern U.S. lawmakers won’t agree on a budget before the holiday offset the election in Japan of a party that backs more economic stimulus.
UBS Said to Face $1.6 Billion Libor Penalty This Week
Q
UBS AG is set to pay as much as $1.6 billion to settle claims of Libor manipulation by the U.S. Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.K. Financial Services Authority and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, said a person familiar with the probes.
London Property ‘Less Frothy’ as Asking Prices Fall: Economy
Q
London home sellers cut asking prices by the most for a December in five years as an influx of supply and seasonal factors undermined pricing power.
Euro-Area Exports Decline for Second Month Amid Recession
Q
Euro-area exports fell for a second month in October as the economy struggled to pull out of its second recession in four years.
Santander to Buy All of Banesto, Shut 700 Branches in Spain
Q
Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest lender, will offer 263 million euros ($345 million) in stock to buy out minority investors in its Banco Espanol de Credito SA retail unit and close 700 local branches to cut costs.
Q
European stocks declined for a third day as concern U.S. lawmakers won’t agree on a budget before the holiday offset the election in Japan of a party that backs more economic stimulus.
UBS Said to Face $1.6 Billion Libor Penalty This Week
Q
UBS AG is set to pay as much as $1.6 billion to settle claims of Libor manipulation by the U.S. Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.K. Financial Services Authority and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, said a person familiar with the probes.
London Property ‘Less Frothy’ as Asking Prices Fall: Economy
Q
London home sellers cut asking prices by the most for a December in five years as an influx of supply and seasonal factors undermined pricing power.
Euro-Area Exports Decline for Second Month Amid Recession
Q
Euro-area exports fell for a second month in October as the economy struggled to pull out of its second recession in four years.
Santander to Buy All of Banesto, Shut 700 Branches in Spain
Q
Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest lender, will offer 263 million euros ($345 million) in stock to buy out minority investors in its Banco Espanol de Credito SA retail unit and close 700 local branches to cut costs.
Last edited by Panda on Mon 17 Dec - 16:03; edited 1 time in total
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 15:54
Forget The Fiscal Cliff, And Worry About ‘Spaxit’ Instead
The Euro Crisis HOME PAGE »
- By David Román
Bloomberg News
A Spanish national flag flies from the roof of City Hall beyond a red traffic beacon in Madrid, Spain, in October.
There’s the U.S. fiscal cliff, but mostly everyone is expecting some sort of muddle-through compromise. There’s Greece, but last-minute deals have so far been enough to keep a relatively small economy within the euro zone.
Then, as Charles Robertson of Renaissance Capital wrote in a report Tuesday, there’s what really matters:
The issue is not new. Mr. Robertson himself acknowledges that he’s long been of the opinion that Spain sits uneasily within the euro zone, and used to see a 50% chance that the country would push through the tough reforms needed—basically, an internal devaluation—to make it competitive within a German-style strong currency union.
“The most important question for investors over the next few years is whether Spain will leave the eurozone. If it does, we should assume a Lehman’s-style market reaction.”
That chance has now dropped to 40%, he adds, largely because Spain appears incapable of generating job growth in the absence of a strong economic recovery, one that few see as likely. Faced with chronically high unemployment and no light at the end of the tunnel, the argument goes, Spain’s populace are likelier to support a “Spaxit” by 2014-2015 than not.
Mr. Robertson has some interesting facts in support of this view: since 1981, around the time when the country’s welfare state was set in place, Spain has not created jobs when gross domestic product increased less than 2.4% a year; meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund in October said that the growth Spain can aspire to in its predicted recovery, by 2017, would be a meager 1.7%.
Spain’s government own forecasts are only marginally more optimistic—they call for 1.9% growth by 2015, still be not enough to create jobs under historical trends.
As for the breaking point, Mr. Robertson notes unemployment rose to 33% during the Great Depression in the Netherlands—one of the last countries to abandon the gold standard, in a comparable instance of a massive breakdown in a currency system.
Investors would be well advised not to see Mr. Robertson as a crank. A significant number of economists believe Spain will struggle to reconcile euro-zone membership, a still rigid labor market and a massive debt overhang—a struggle that will make the allure of a return to an easily devalued peseta more attractive, whatever its actual merits.
Those potential merits are already the subject of much debate. Last week, the analysts of Capital Economics said a post-Spaxit currency devaluation could drive Spain’s economic growth to an average of 3.7% in coming years. That would be less of a boost than that for the likes of Greece and Portugal, and about the same as Italy would get.
At the very least, Capital Economics adds, “it could be a lot better than the desperate future some appear to face inside the currency union.”
============================
SANTANDER IS REPORTEDLY CLOSING 700 BRANCHES
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Re: New EC Thread
wjk Mon 17 Dec - 16:41
Dear god!!Panda wrote:Berlusconi Engaged: Age Gap 'Little Excessive'
Italy's former PM announces he is engaged to a woman 49 years his junior, who he describes as bringing "continuous joy".
11:58pm UK, Sunday 16 December 2012
Silvo Berlusconi with fiancee Francesca Pascale at a football match
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced he is engaged to a woman almost 50 years younger than him - an age gap he admitted was "a little excessive".
Speaking on one of his own TV channels, the tycoon, 76, said he was due to marry his 27-year-old girlfriend Francesca Pascale.
He told an interviewer: "Yes, I'm engaged, to a Neapolitan (a person from Naples). It's official. She is so much younger that there is an age difference of 49 years between me and her - so a little excessive.
He added: "She is 27-years-old, she is called Francesca and she is a beautiful girl, beautiful from the outside, but even more beautiful inside.
"She brings continuous joy. She's very close to me, she loves me very much and I love her back."
Mr Berlusconi has been married and divorced twice and has five children.
In October, he was sentenced to four years in prison for tax fraud connected to his television channels.
At a separate trial that month, he denied hosting raunchy parties, having sex with an underage girl and abusing his powers by pressuring police.
Mr Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with Moroccan exotic dancer Karima El Mahroug, better known as Ruby the Heart Stealer, when she was 17.
Referring to the 'Bunga Bunga' parties at his villa near Milan, he said: "I can exclude with absolute certainty that there were ever scenes of a sexual nature."
The 'Bunga Bunga' - described by many of his female guests as a type of lap dance he enjoyed - was "only a joke I used to tell which then got picked up by the press", he told the court's three female judges.
In the latest TV interview, he also spoke about his possible plans to become Italy's PM once again.
Mr Berlusconi repeated he would only withdraw as a candidate if current leader Mario Monti agreed to run as head of an alliance of moderates.
Mr Monti's government of non-political technocrats had been supported by Mr Berlusconi's People of Freedom party (PDL).
But the PDL withdrew its support about 10 days ago, prompting Mr Monti to announce his resignation and bring forward elections to a likely date in February.
However, shortly after his party withdrew support, Mr Berlusconi announced he would pull out as an election candidate if Mr Monti were to run, in an apparent u-turn.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 17 Dec - 17:29
I know wjk, do you think she loves HIM or his MONEY.
He is loaded wjk but very corrupt and has a b****y cheek trying to get into politics again.If he ever becomes President again he will ruin the Country, Monti was doing a hard job and like all the Southern Countries the populations will not accept the fiscal remedy Merkel demands.
He is loaded wjk but very corrupt and has a b****y cheek trying to get into politics again.If he ever becomes President again he will ruin the Country, Monti was doing a hard job and like all the Southern Countries the populations will not accept the fiscal remedy Merkel demands.
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Re: New EC Thread
wjk Mon 17 Dec - 17:43
It MUST be his good looks, surely Panda. Who could resist?Panda wrote:I know wjk, do you think she loves HIM or his MONEY.
He is loaded wjk but very corrupt and has a b****y cheek trying to get into politics again.If he ever becomes President again he will ruin the Country, Monti was doing a hard job and like all the Southern Countries the populations will not accept the fiscal remedy Merkel demands.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 18 Dec - 8:16
France : Taxing times for wealthy Gauls
17 December 2012Le Monde Paris
Actor Gérard Depardieu tells French President François Hollande: “I'm not backing you any more, Asterix"
Nicolas Vadot
Actor Gérard Depardieu, an icon of French cinema, is settling in Belgium to benefit from the country's lower tax rates. His decision unleashed a passionate debate on tax rates for the wealthy, economic patriotism and European fiscal policy.
Two centuries or so ago, French aristocrats chose exile to escape the "sans culottes" [revolutionary rabble] and the guillotine. New times, new trends. Today the (very) wealthy today choose fiscal exile to flee taxation that they see as killing them or, at the very least, as "expropriation".
Gérard Depardieu is one of these people. And, as is often the case with this icon of the French cinema, his case has taken on proportions that are as huge as they are incongruous. His choice, announced in early December, to reside in Belgium is unambiguous: he intends to benefit from the benevolent tax policies on the other side of the border.
He was not afraid to set off a national drama worthy of his celebrity status. "Pretty pathetic," commented Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "Who are you to judge me in this way?" Depardieu replied with his best dramatic flourish, even threatening to return his passport and to give-up his French nationality.
Slanging match
This set off a new hue and cry with the Labour Minister referring outright to "a kind of personal decline" and the Minister of Culture, showing a tad more humour, called on the actor to "return to silent films".
One Socialist MP went so far as to suggest that tax exiles be stripped of their nationality. Playful minds will see in this "affair" a surrealist farce. The more politically-minded will see a cold response of the wealthiest to the severity of French tax authorities as well as the demonstration that, for them, managing their capital is of much greater concern than the national interest. Nonetheless, everyone would do well to think about the cause of this drama.
It goes back to the presidential campaign. Wanting to make an impression and to provide some guarantees to the Left, François Hollande caused a surprise by proposing to tax revenues above €1m at a rate of 75 per cent.
Seen as expropriation by conservatives – which is questionable since similar rates existed previously in the 1970s [under conservative governments] – the rate was justified, he assured, by the duty of solidarity and the need to redress calamitous public accounts. Obviously, these arguments did not convince those concerned. There is a reason for this.
Punitive rate
On the one hand, the 75 per cent rate seems punitive. If Hollande wanted to respect the spirit of the Declaration of Human Rights, according to which citizens must make tax contributions "according to their ability", he would have imposed two, three, even four additional brackets, reaching, if need be, the rate of 75 per cent.
On the other hand, it shows that fiscal policy in a single country is inefficient in these days of globalisation and of free circulation of European citizens.
Holland runs the risk of paying the political price for his shock electoral announcement last spring. He may be dragging this controversy in the same way [former conservative President] Nicolas Sarkozy towed his fiscal shield [which, conversely, capped taxes on the wealthiest].
Raising taxes is necessary; the wealthiest must contribute more than the others. But, in the end, the symbolic brutality of the 75 per cent rate undermines this message
17 December 2012Le Monde Paris
Actor Gérard Depardieu tells French President François Hollande: “I'm not backing you any more, Asterix"
Nicolas Vadot
Actor Gérard Depardieu, an icon of French cinema, is settling in Belgium to benefit from the country's lower tax rates. His decision unleashed a passionate debate on tax rates for the wealthy, economic patriotism and European fiscal policy.
Two centuries or so ago, French aristocrats chose exile to escape the "sans culottes" [revolutionary rabble] and the guillotine. New times, new trends. Today the (very) wealthy today choose fiscal exile to flee taxation that they see as killing them or, at the very least, as "expropriation".
Gérard Depardieu is one of these people. And, as is often the case with this icon of the French cinema, his case has taken on proportions that are as huge as they are incongruous. His choice, announced in early December, to reside in Belgium is unambiguous: he intends to benefit from the benevolent tax policies on the other side of the border.
He was not afraid to set off a national drama worthy of his celebrity status. "Pretty pathetic," commented Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "Who are you to judge me in this way?" Depardieu replied with his best dramatic flourish, even threatening to return his passport and to give-up his French nationality.
Slanging match
This set off a new hue and cry with the Labour Minister referring outright to "a kind of personal decline" and the Minister of Culture, showing a tad more humour, called on the actor to "return to silent films".
One Socialist MP went so far as to suggest that tax exiles be stripped of their nationality. Playful minds will see in this "affair" a surrealist farce. The more politically-minded will see a cold response of the wealthiest to the severity of French tax authorities as well as the demonstration that, for them, managing their capital is of much greater concern than the national interest. Nonetheless, everyone would do well to think about the cause of this drama.
It goes back to the presidential campaign. Wanting to make an impression and to provide some guarantees to the Left, François Hollande caused a surprise by proposing to tax revenues above €1m at a rate of 75 per cent.
Seen as expropriation by conservatives – which is questionable since similar rates existed previously in the 1970s [under conservative governments] – the rate was justified, he assured, by the duty of solidarity and the need to redress calamitous public accounts. Obviously, these arguments did not convince those concerned. There is a reason for this.
Punitive rate
On the one hand, the 75 per cent rate seems punitive. If Hollande wanted to respect the spirit of the Declaration of Human Rights, according to which citizens must make tax contributions "according to their ability", he would have imposed two, three, even four additional brackets, reaching, if need be, the rate of 75 per cent.
On the other hand, it shows that fiscal policy in a single country is inefficient in these days of globalisation and of free circulation of European citizens.
Holland runs the risk of paying the political price for his shock electoral announcement last spring. He may be dragging this controversy in the same way [former conservative President] Nicolas Sarkozy towed his fiscal shield [which, conversely, capped taxes on the wealthiest].
Raising taxes is necessary; the wealthiest must contribute more than the others. But, in the end, the symbolic brutality of the 75 per cent rate undermines this message
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European Union: Is Europe standing on its head?
18 December 2012Dagens Nyheter Stockholm
Kazanevski
Born to give a political dimension to the common values of Europeans, the Union, with the complicity of the member States, has acquired power and skills that have weakened the people it was supposed to defend, argues the Irish writer Colm Tóibín.
Colm Tóibín
The European Union seems like a strange dream we had; it was a way of shaping and crafting a set of political values into a complex system which would place human values, a rich culture and ideas of equality at the very centre of our concerns. It turns out that as a system the European Union could withstand anything except a crisis.
Now, under the stress of a financial crisis, every country is sure of one thing only – that its own borders and its own interests matter more than any common good. While the old currencies may have gone, or most of them have, the old ways of thinking remain.
In our loyalties, once the pressure is on, we live in nation states, even though our banks function under a new global dispensation. Money moves now in the same way as air does, utterly free, being blown back and forth by the wind, unregulated, unstable, uncertain. It is ideas which have remained under lock and key. And with ideas, identities. We are sure now who is German and who is Greek; we are sure that we are Irish and you are Swedish.
Remember the dream
It is important to remember what the dream meant. It is important now at the periphery of Europe where I live to begin again to use the language of political and cultural idealism, to take the language which has been debased by our political masters and see if certain (or uncertain) words or concepts might mean something, even if only to offer us the comfort than poetry does, language used sonorously and responsibility, in a time of private hardship.
One aspect of our European heritage is a way of laughing. In our daily lives, our folk tales and our literature, mockery and self-deprecation are at the very core of the European sensibility. We have a right to laugh at the Emperor as he passes in all his pomp. He has no clothes. We have been laughing at our leaders all our lives. The general knows that the corporal, once he gets home, or has some drinks, will lose all respect for the general’s medals and uniform.
In Shakespeare, the Fool or the gravedigger will talk more sense than the king or the prince. In Cervantes, Don Quixote is a hero only because he is so obviously such a fool. And in Europe, if we feel like it, we laugh at God and think what a fool he must be. This is what makes us different from citizens of the United States, or China, or the Middle East.
Humanist culture
In Europe there is an idea of a humanist culture which is common to us all, something which comes from a freedom to write and read whatever we please, and think fresh thoughts and create fresh images. There were times when the European Union seemed to embody this, seemed to be a secularising influence on Europe, placing humanist ideas and tolerance and equality of opportunity and the possibility of progress at its very centre.
Europe came to mean progress, especially in countries such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, which had bad roads and backward politics. It came to mean peace in the countries which had known war. We improved our infrastructure courtesy of Europe, and slowly our political culture changed too. But there were times when Europe came to mean money and power. We noticed, for example, that when Irish politicians or civil servants or judges went to work in Europe, their salaries seemed very high.
What also came was the secrecy that those who love power enjoy. The European Union based itself on a diplomatic system rather than, say, a parliamentary system. Thus what happened behind closed doors, and appeared in secret memos, affected our lives more than what happened in our own parliaments. When the members of the Council of Ministers met they issued bland statements and stood for a photograph. No one knew what they had really decided, or how. The European Parliament remains a large and expensive alibi for transparency.
Making an enemy of the people
The European Union seemed ready to take more and more power for itself. It appeared also to have no interest in reforming itself, or examining its own procedures. In using the systems which diplomats use, it created a strange enemy called the people. Thus there were two power blocs – the citizens of Europe who had less and less power, and the rulers of Europe who had more each year. The rulers often fooled the people; the rulers seemed to know what was best for the people.
Some of the changes they made were marvellous, however. We could cross borders in Europe without having our passports stamped, or, if driving, without having any controls at all. We could move goods, for the most part, without paying duty.
We could live and work where we liked within Europe. I loved how western Europe embraced the countries of the east after 1989. I loved the idea that Europe would become a place of cities rather than states, because our cities, and the ideas and images that spread in them, were our great European creation.
I loved the idea that the concept of nationhood and nationalism would belong to a 19th Century dream and a 20th Century nightmare, ended now. I even loved the euro when it came and was proud that Ireland had joined it from the beginning. I loved the new edicts coming from Europe on the environment; I loved the deregulation of air travel. I even believed that a time would come when Europe would mean something in the world, when our concept of human rights would stand powerful like the euro and make a difference to what happened in China or the Middle East.
Irish heyday
In Ireland during the boom years we had full employment. We did not have to emigrate as we usually do. We worked very hard. In a downturn, we would normally be able to devalue our currency, or allow for inflation. We cannot do this now. Just as the euro suits Germany and other rich countries and makes their exports competitive, it does not suit us. But we are locked into it.
In the meantime, Germany and other rich European countries speak as the source of all wisdom in Europe and, perhaps more important, the source of all authority.
Under pressure, the idea of a European Union has failed. There are only nation-states now looking after their own interests. We have woken from the great dream. It is daytime in Europe. All we have to comfort us are our ability to laugh at our foolishness and theirs; all we have is the memory of what was once possible. And then the paintings, the books, the songs and symphonies, the great galleries and museums and libraries and public buildings which make up our culture.
We can wander alone at night in the city streets in Lisbon and Riga, Athens and Dublin, Constanza and Stockholm, and know that the impulse towards social solidarity and political idealism may come again, perhaps more intensely now that we know how fragile it is. But not for a while.
18 December 2012Dagens Nyheter Stockholm
Kazanevski
Born to give a political dimension to the common values of Europeans, the Union, with the complicity of the member States, has acquired power and skills that have weakened the people it was supposed to defend, argues the Irish writer Colm Tóibín.
Colm Tóibín
The European Union seems like a strange dream we had; it was a way of shaping and crafting a set of political values into a complex system which would place human values, a rich culture and ideas of equality at the very centre of our concerns. It turns out that as a system the European Union could withstand anything except a crisis.
Now, under the stress of a financial crisis, every country is sure of one thing only – that its own borders and its own interests matter more than any common good. While the old currencies may have gone, or most of them have, the old ways of thinking remain.
In our loyalties, once the pressure is on, we live in nation states, even though our banks function under a new global dispensation. Money moves now in the same way as air does, utterly free, being blown back and forth by the wind, unregulated, unstable, uncertain. It is ideas which have remained under lock and key. And with ideas, identities. We are sure now who is German and who is Greek; we are sure that we are Irish and you are Swedish.
Remember the dream
It is important to remember what the dream meant. It is important now at the periphery of Europe where I live to begin again to use the language of political and cultural idealism, to take the language which has been debased by our political masters and see if certain (or uncertain) words or concepts might mean something, even if only to offer us the comfort than poetry does, language used sonorously and responsibility, in a time of private hardship.
One aspect of our European heritage is a way of laughing. In our daily lives, our folk tales and our literature, mockery and self-deprecation are at the very core of the European sensibility. We have a right to laugh at the Emperor as he passes in all his pomp. He has no clothes. We have been laughing at our leaders all our lives. The general knows that the corporal, once he gets home, or has some drinks, will lose all respect for the general’s medals and uniform.
In Shakespeare, the Fool or the gravedigger will talk more sense than the king or the prince. In Cervantes, Don Quixote is a hero only because he is so obviously such a fool. And in Europe, if we feel like it, we laugh at God and think what a fool he must be. This is what makes us different from citizens of the United States, or China, or the Middle East.
Humanist culture
In Europe there is an idea of a humanist culture which is common to us all, something which comes from a freedom to write and read whatever we please, and think fresh thoughts and create fresh images. There were times when the European Union seemed to embody this, seemed to be a secularising influence on Europe, placing humanist ideas and tolerance and equality of opportunity and the possibility of progress at its very centre.
Europe came to mean progress, especially in countries such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, which had bad roads and backward politics. It came to mean peace in the countries which had known war. We improved our infrastructure courtesy of Europe, and slowly our political culture changed too. But there were times when Europe came to mean money and power. We noticed, for example, that when Irish politicians or civil servants or judges went to work in Europe, their salaries seemed very high.
What also came was the secrecy that those who love power enjoy. The European Union based itself on a diplomatic system rather than, say, a parliamentary system. Thus what happened behind closed doors, and appeared in secret memos, affected our lives more than what happened in our own parliaments. When the members of the Council of Ministers met they issued bland statements and stood for a photograph. No one knew what they had really decided, or how. The European Parliament remains a large and expensive alibi for transparency.
Making an enemy of the people
The European Union seemed ready to take more and more power for itself. It appeared also to have no interest in reforming itself, or examining its own procedures. In using the systems which diplomats use, it created a strange enemy called the people. Thus there were two power blocs – the citizens of Europe who had less and less power, and the rulers of Europe who had more each year. The rulers often fooled the people; the rulers seemed to know what was best for the people.
Some of the changes they made were marvellous, however. We could cross borders in Europe without having our passports stamped, or, if driving, without having any controls at all. We could move goods, for the most part, without paying duty.
We could live and work where we liked within Europe. I loved how western Europe embraced the countries of the east after 1989. I loved the idea that Europe would become a place of cities rather than states, because our cities, and the ideas and images that spread in them, were our great European creation.
I loved the idea that the concept of nationhood and nationalism would belong to a 19th Century dream and a 20th Century nightmare, ended now. I even loved the euro when it came and was proud that Ireland had joined it from the beginning. I loved the new edicts coming from Europe on the environment; I loved the deregulation of air travel. I even believed that a time would come when Europe would mean something in the world, when our concept of human rights would stand powerful like the euro and make a difference to what happened in China or the Middle East.
Irish heyday
In Ireland during the boom years we had full employment. We did not have to emigrate as we usually do. We worked very hard. In a downturn, we would normally be able to devalue our currency, or allow for inflation. We cannot do this now. Just as the euro suits Germany and other rich countries and makes their exports competitive, it does not suit us. But we are locked into it.
In the meantime, Germany and other rich European countries speak as the source of all wisdom in Europe and, perhaps more important, the source of all authority.
Under pressure, the idea of a European Union has failed. There are only nation-states now looking after their own interests. We have woken from the great dream. It is daytime in Europe. All we have to comfort us are our ability to laugh at our foolishness and theirs; all we have is the memory of what was once possible. And then the paintings, the books, the songs and symphonies, the great galleries and museums and libraries and public buildings which make up our culture.
We can wander alone at night in the city streets in Lisbon and Riga, Athens and Dublin, Constanza and Stockholm, and know that the impulse towards social solidarity and political idealism may come again, perhaps more intensely now that we know how fragile it is. But not for a while.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 19 Dec - 6:57
Britain will be weaker without EU, says USA
The White House has warned Britain that its position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by leaving the European Union.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now 'imaginable', US agitation has reached a new high Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent
9:00PM GMT 18 Dec 2012
647 Comments
The Obama administration has expressed concern at what US officials see as Britain's slide towards the European exit door.
Washington firmly believes that the departure of its strongest partner in Europe would also reduce American influence on the continent, as Britain so often shares American views.
An EU without Britain would be seen as weaker on free trade and less reliable on defence and foreign policy issues.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now "imaginable", US agitation has reached a new high.
After observing the rise in popularity of Ukip and the rise of anti-European sentiment generally, the issue was raised by President Barack Obama in a video-conference call with the Prime Minister on Tuesday. It was also high on the agenda of a visit by a US national security council official to Downing Street and the Foreign Office earlier this week.
Related Articles
"It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest," said a senior US administration official. "We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier."
The White House is perplexed by the view held by some Euro-sceptics that the so-called Special Relationship would be enhanced by a British exit, because it believes Britain would have more clout as a full partner of the European club.
It acknowledges that some countries, like Britain, matter more than others in the EU, dismissing the notion that Washington only wants one phone number to dial for Europe to make life easier.
Britain's free trade philosophy is regarded as vital in preventing the union from drifting towards protectionism, while since World War Two, successive British governments have been more assertive on a variety of foreign policy issues, and more in line with American thinking, than other major European nations.
"We understand that a Europe without the UK would be a weaker Europe," said a Whitehall source.
"We are getting more and more questions about this, particularly from the US and China. People want to know what it would mean.
"But at the moment we are focussed on making Europe work better for us. We are on focussing on free trade, the single market and commerce. We are committed to making the EU more competitive."
With the eurozone still in danger of collapse, and momentum building on the continent for greater fiscal and political union, the Government has edged towards holding a referendum on EU membership.
Conservatives are increasingly envisaging a future where Britain's involvement withdraws from European institution and limits its connections to the single market and free trade.
Ukip, which supports withdrawal from the union Britain joined under a Conservative government in 1973, has enjoyed strong showings in recent by-elections and has overtaken the Lib Dems to poll at between seven and 14 per cent.
The coalition is already considering opting out of numerous common judicial and policing measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty, which enshrined closer European integration, most notably the European arrest warrant.
Adding to American apprehension about Europe is the eurozone's slide back into recession, which Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has attributed to "austerity policies taking effect".
"I want to urge European leaders to keep working to address the challenge of economic growth and jobs," she said.
Senior US officials believe that even if an immediate threat of collapse has passed, eurozone leaders have not resolved problems in manner that gives long-term comfort.
William Dartmouth MEP, Ukip's foreign affairs spokesman said: "There have been times in history when the US has been very pleased that Britain has remained independent of the continent, and we expect that to continue.
"It is not the job of the UK to make the work of US diplomats easier. It is our job to secure our own interests."
Hear Hear.!!!
The White House has warned Britain that its position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by leaving the European Union.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now 'imaginable', US agitation has reached a new high Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent
9:00PM GMT 18 Dec 2012
647 Comments The Obama administration has expressed concern at what US officials see as Britain's slide towards the European exit door.
Washington firmly believes that the departure of its strongest partner in Europe would also reduce American influence on the continent, as Britain so often shares American views.
An EU without Britain would be seen as weaker on free trade and less reliable on defence and foreign policy issues.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now "imaginable", US agitation has reached a new high.
After observing the rise in popularity of Ukip and the rise of anti-European sentiment generally, the issue was raised by President Barack Obama in a video-conference call with the Prime Minister on Tuesday. It was also high on the agenda of a visit by a US national security council official to Downing Street and the Foreign Office earlier this week.
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27 Nov 2012
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18 Dec 2012
"It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest," said a senior US administration official. "We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier."
The White House is perplexed by the view held by some Euro-sceptics that the so-called Special Relationship would be enhanced by a British exit, because it believes Britain would have more clout as a full partner of the European club.
It acknowledges that some countries, like Britain, matter more than others in the EU, dismissing the notion that Washington only wants one phone number to dial for Europe to make life easier.
Britain's free trade philosophy is regarded as vital in preventing the union from drifting towards protectionism, while since World War Two, successive British governments have been more assertive on a variety of foreign policy issues, and more in line with American thinking, than other major European nations.
"We understand that a Europe without the UK would be a weaker Europe," said a Whitehall source.
"We are getting more and more questions about this, particularly from the US and China. People want to know what it would mean.
"But at the moment we are focussed on making Europe work better for us. We are on focussing on free trade, the single market and commerce. We are committed to making the EU more competitive."
With the eurozone still in danger of collapse, and momentum building on the continent for greater fiscal and political union, the Government has edged towards holding a referendum on EU membership.
Conservatives are increasingly envisaging a future where Britain's involvement withdraws from European institution and limits its connections to the single market and free trade.
Ukip, which supports withdrawal from the union Britain joined under a Conservative government in 1973, has enjoyed strong showings in recent by-elections and has overtaken the Lib Dems to poll at between seven and 14 per cent.
The coalition is already considering opting out of numerous common judicial and policing measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty, which enshrined closer European integration, most notably the European arrest warrant.
Adding to American apprehension about Europe is the eurozone's slide back into recession, which Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has attributed to "austerity policies taking effect".
"I want to urge European leaders to keep working to address the challenge of economic growth and jobs," she said.
Senior US officials believe that even if an immediate threat of collapse has passed, eurozone leaders have not resolved problems in manner that gives long-term comfort.
William Dartmouth MEP, Ukip's foreign affairs spokesman said: "There have been times in history when the US has been very pleased that Britain has remained independent of the continent, and we expect that to continue.
"It is not the job of the UK to make the work of US diplomats easier. It is our job to secure our own interests."
Hear Hear.!!!
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 20 Dec - 0:07
Poland: Kids are so last century
17 December 2012Polityka Warsaw
Shared 220 times in 10 languages
Children in the European Fairy Tales Centre in Pacanów, 200km from Warsaw
AFP
Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future, writes a Polityka commentator.
Martyna Bunda
If the current declining pregnancy rate trend holds, demographers say, only two out of three Polish girls today will ever become a mother. It is already clear that of those born in the 1970s and 1980s, one in five are likely to remain childless, compared with one in eight for those born in the 1960s and just a few percent for those born back in the 1950s.
If one in three women never became a mother, Poland would have the lowest maternity rate in the world, lower than Japan, the US or Great Britain, where roughly one in four women never give birth.
Researchers believe that longer education is the key factor behind the globally declining fertility rate. And Poland has been undergoing a boom in educational services: the education rate rose from 13 per cent in 1991 to nearly 54 per cent in 2011. Of the 2.5 million Polish youths aged 18-12, as many as 1.9 million are students. Add the highly liberal labour market conditions, junk contracts, high risk of unemployment among young people and big expectations, and this his means that women are having their first baby later in life – a whole two years later than fifteen years ago. The percentage of women who delay having children until they are 30 has risen twice during the same period.
But changes in the genetic code have not followed as quickly as the cultural change. Bodies are not adapted to entering maternity in the fourth decade of life.
Doctors estimate that as many as one in five couples in Poland have a problem getting pregnant. Medicine can help but in vitro fertilization (IVF), the most reliable last-resort method, had until now been available only to the affluent as the costs were high.
Circumventing parliament, the government has recently issued a ruling, that opens the way for 30,000 IVF procedures to be financed with public money. First, however, in keeping with international law, Poland has to pass a bioethics bill and since the Church is opposed to supported fertilization, the risk remains that infertile couples will be left out in the cold.
Temporary relationships
Single women holding a tertiary degree have trouble finding the right partner. The Famwell research project, carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics’ Institute of Demography, shows that as many as one in two childless women born in the 1960s have never had a serious relationship which lasted long enough to consider children.
This is, first and foremost, because a Polish woman with an university degree will not marry a man without a degree. Statistics show such marriages are almost nonexistent. The other reason, especially outside of big cities, is that the potential grooms are stuck between the cultures of past and present.
As in the days of yore, they feel exempt from household chores, but today they also no longer feel obliged to fulfil their traditional function, that is, providing for the family materially.
Ever more independent, educated and more mobile (young women were the latest – and largest – wave of Polish post EU-accession labour emigration), graduate single women do not want a partner they will have to be carrying on their back for the rest of their lives.
They would even accept the traditional scenario of staying at home if the man brought home a decent salary. But well-paid and easily available jobs are in scarce supply in Poland today, so they are caught in a tricky bind.
Intimacy issues
Big-city single women, on the other hand, complain about the oversupply of male partners keen to avoid long-term relationships. This is partly due to a surprisingly high percentage of youths who have a psychological problem with being close. This is a matter of brain make-up: the lack of childhood-developed patterns suggesting that closeness and intimacy are good things; the dominant attitude perceives intimacy as a dangerous thing.
Young people are increasingly unable to create lasting relationships. In this context, internet researchers point out the effect that dating portals or the web culture in general have had on both sexes, as it has never been easier to sail from one encounter to another without the chance of entering in a long-term relationship.
Demographers estimate that some 7 million Poles aged 25-45 are single. As many as four in ten of those aged 25-35 live with their parents, maintaining at best a loose relationship with someone, OECD research shows.
At the same time, women themselves have been less and less keen to enter in relationships, for the same reasons as stated above and because they are the daughters of the “mother-Poles”, who worked themselves to exhaustion, slogging away at two jobs – the professional one and the household one.
For women born in the 1950s, marrying meant an automatic decline in self-esteem and self-integrity. Their daughters do not want to follow the same path.
Maternal instinct
Anthropologists add, that the importance of having children has fundamentally altered in people’s minds.
Wanting but not being able to have a child remains one of the hardest experiences in life, resulting in profound, legitimate mourning, therapists note, but this is not true for everyone.
Contemporary science says there is no longer such thing as a maternal instinct. Or, at least, that it does not manifest itself in every woman, which unfortunately includes also mothers.
Some simply do not accept themselves in the role and the price for unwanted parenthood is paid by the child. Non-parenthood is thus as inherently a part of civilisational development as, say, life-span extension.
But the need and desire to be a parent can be immense. Regardless of their mindset, most people still need to have babies, perceiving them as a fundamental love-related experience. An experience that gives meaning and completeness to life.
It is, in fact, the one ally that the birth rate has.
17 December 2012Polityka Warsaw
- Comment54
Shared 220 times in 10 languages
Children in the European Fairy Tales Centre in Pacanów, 200km from Warsaw
AFP
Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future, writes a Polityka commentator.
Martyna Bunda
If the current declining pregnancy rate trend holds, demographers say, only two out of three Polish girls today will ever become a mother. It is already clear that of those born in the 1970s and 1980s, one in five are likely to remain childless, compared with one in eight for those born in the 1960s and just a few percent for those born back in the 1950s.
If one in three women never became a mother, Poland would have the lowest maternity rate in the world, lower than Japan, the US or Great Britain, where roughly one in four women never give birth.
Researchers believe that longer education is the key factor behind the globally declining fertility rate. And Poland has been undergoing a boom in educational services: the education rate rose from 13 per cent in 1991 to nearly 54 per cent in 2011. Of the 2.5 million Polish youths aged 18-12, as many as 1.9 million are students. Add the highly liberal labour market conditions, junk contracts, high risk of unemployment among young people and big expectations, and this his means that women are having their first baby later in life – a whole two years later than fifteen years ago. The percentage of women who delay having children until they are 30 has risen twice during the same period.
But changes in the genetic code have not followed as quickly as the cultural change. Bodies are not adapted to entering maternity in the fourth decade of life.
Doctors estimate that as many as one in five couples in Poland have a problem getting pregnant. Medicine can help but in vitro fertilization (IVF), the most reliable last-resort method, had until now been available only to the affluent as the costs were high.
Circumventing parliament, the government has recently issued a ruling, that opens the way for 30,000 IVF procedures to be financed with public money. First, however, in keeping with international law, Poland has to pass a bioethics bill and since the Church is opposed to supported fertilization, the risk remains that infertile couples will be left out in the cold.
Temporary relationships
Single women holding a tertiary degree have trouble finding the right partner. The Famwell research project, carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics’ Institute of Demography, shows that as many as one in two childless women born in the 1960s have never had a serious relationship which lasted long enough to consider children.
This is, first and foremost, because a Polish woman with an university degree will not marry a man without a degree. Statistics show such marriages are almost nonexistent. The other reason, especially outside of big cities, is that the potential grooms are stuck between the cultures of past and present.
As in the days of yore, they feel exempt from household chores, but today they also no longer feel obliged to fulfil their traditional function, that is, providing for the family materially.
Ever more independent, educated and more mobile (young women were the latest – and largest – wave of Polish post EU-accession labour emigration), graduate single women do not want a partner they will have to be carrying on their back for the rest of their lives.
They would even accept the traditional scenario of staying at home if the man brought home a decent salary. But well-paid and easily available jobs are in scarce supply in Poland today, so they are caught in a tricky bind.
Intimacy issues
Big-city single women, on the other hand, complain about the oversupply of male partners keen to avoid long-term relationships. This is partly due to a surprisingly high percentage of youths who have a psychological problem with being close. This is a matter of brain make-up: the lack of childhood-developed patterns suggesting that closeness and intimacy are good things; the dominant attitude perceives intimacy as a dangerous thing.
Young people are increasingly unable to create lasting relationships. In this context, internet researchers point out the effect that dating portals or the web culture in general have had on both sexes, as it has never been easier to sail from one encounter to another without the chance of entering in a long-term relationship.
Demographers estimate that some 7 million Poles aged 25-45 are single. As many as four in ten of those aged 25-35 live with their parents, maintaining at best a loose relationship with someone, OECD research shows.
At the same time, women themselves have been less and less keen to enter in relationships, for the same reasons as stated above and because they are the daughters of the “mother-Poles”, who worked themselves to exhaustion, slogging away at two jobs – the professional one and the household one.
For women born in the 1950s, marrying meant an automatic decline in self-esteem and self-integrity. Their daughters do not want to follow the same path.
Maternal instinct
Anthropologists add, that the importance of having children has fundamentally altered in people’s minds.
Wanting but not being able to have a child remains one of the hardest experiences in life, resulting in profound, legitimate mourning, therapists note, but this is not true for everyone.
Contemporary science says there is no longer such thing as a maternal instinct. Or, at least, that it does not manifest itself in every woman, which unfortunately includes also mothers.
Some simply do not accept themselves in the role and the price for unwanted parenthood is paid by the child. Non-parenthood is thus as inherently a part of civilisational development as, say, life-span extension.
But the need and desire to be a parent can be immense. Regardless of their mindset, most people still need to have babies, perceiving them as a fundamental love-related experience. An experience that gives meaning and completeness to life.
It is, in fact, the one ally that the birth rate has.
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Greece: A therapist’s worst nightmare
19 December 2012Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt
People eat food donated by the Greek church in central Athens on 17 October 2012
AFP
A German trauma therapist journeys to Greece. What he sees there surpasses his worst fears. Greek society is crumbling under the pressure of the crisis. Excerpts.
Melanie Mühl
Trauma is Georg Pieper's business. Whenever a disaster hits Germany, the traumatologist is on the spot. Following the attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Pieper travelled to Norway and supervised his colleagues there. He knows what it means to look closely study and measure the scale of a disaster.
In October Pieper, spent a few days in Athens, where he gave continuing education courses for psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors on trauma therapy. Although he had prepared himself for some shocks, the reality was even worse than he had gloomily expected.
For Germans who watch the news, the crisis is very remote. It encroaches on us first and foremost in hearing terms like "rescue fund" or "billion-euro holes". Instead of understanding the global context, we see Angela Merkel in Berlin, Brussels or somewhere else, stepping out of dark limousines with a grave expression on her face.
We don't learn the whole truth, not about Greece, or Germany, or about Europe. Pieper calls what is happening right before our very eyes a “massive displacement effort.” The defence mechanism of politicians in particular functions superbly.
Begging and scavanging
In October 2012 he saw a Greece where heavily pregnant women were rushing around, going from from hospital to hospital begging, but because they had neither health insurance nor enough money, nobody wanted to help them bring their child into the world. In a suburb of Athens, people who were until recently middle class, were gathering fruit and vegetable scraps from the street.
An old man said that he could no longer afford the medication for his heart condition. His pension had been slashed by half. He had worked for more than forty years, and he thought he had done everything right. Now he no longer understands the world.
People who go to a hospital must bring their own bedding, and even their food. Since the cleaning staff was fired, doctors and nurses, who have not been paid for months, have been cleaning the wards. There aren't enough disposable gloves and catheters, and the EU is warning of the danger of the spread of infectious diseases.
Whole blocks of flats have in the meantime had their oil supplies cut off for lack of money. In spring a 77 year old man shot himself in front of the Parliament in Athens. Shortly before his act, he is said to have cried out: “This is how I leave my children with no debts.” In the past three years the suicide rate in Greece has doubled.
Whirlwind of helplessness
A trauma is an event that shakes the world of the individual to its foundations. The experience is so overwhelming that it pulls the victim into a whirlwind of absolute helplessness. Only a cynic speaking about Greece talks about its “social decline”. What we are living through now is a collective trauma.
“The Greek men have been particularly hard hit by the crisis,” says Pieper. Much more than women do, men derive their identity from their work – in other words, their value to the labour market. But the value to the market of the vast majority of them keeps falling. That's also an attack on their masculinity. Mental illnesses such as depression are spreading in an epidemic across Greece. No one will be surprised that three quarters of all suicides are men.
One doesn't have to be either a pessimist or an expert to grasp what that means for the social relationships among people and for the bonds holding Greek society together.
The anger at a corrupt and perverted domestic system and at the international political system that spends the tranches of aid money to bail out the banks, but not to save people, is terrible. And it is growing. The men bring this anger home to their families, and their sons take it out to the street. The number of violent gangs that attack minorities is increasing.
That was why in November the United States issued a travel warning for Greece, advising that people with dark skin were particularly vulnerable. That, says Pieper, shocked him – that such a warning should be issued for a country like Greece, which sees itself as a hospitable land.
Societal collapse
Even the most devastating blow need not bring an individual to his knees, says Pieper, because each of us has a tremendous will to survive. So much for the good news. The bad news is that a social safety net needs a functioning society. What power such a society can have was shown by Utøya. All of Norway stood behind the victims of the massacre, as if someone had rung out a bell of solidarity across the country.
In Greece the functioning society has been undermined for so long that it has finally collapsed: the crisis has wiped out the welfare state. “In such dramatic situations,” says Pieper, “man turns into a kind of predator.” Sheer necessity drives him into casting off his reasonableness, and selfishness displaces solidarity.
A few days ago Transparency International published its Corruption Index. Greece holds bottom ranking in the EU, rubbing elbows with Colombia and Djibouti. News like that is pure poison.
Georg Pieper says, “I wonder how much longer this society can hold out before it explodes.” Greece is on the brink of civil war. That affects us all.
On the web
Related
19 December 2012Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt
People eat food donated by the Greek church in central Athens on 17 October 2012
AFP
A German trauma therapist journeys to Greece. What he sees there surpasses his worst fears. Greek society is crumbling under the pressure of the crisis. Excerpts.
Melanie Mühl
Trauma is Georg Pieper's business. Whenever a disaster hits Germany, the traumatologist is on the spot. Following the attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Pieper travelled to Norway and supervised his colleagues there. He knows what it means to look closely study and measure the scale of a disaster.
In October Pieper, spent a few days in Athens, where he gave continuing education courses for psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors on trauma therapy. Although he had prepared himself for some shocks, the reality was even worse than he had gloomily expected.
For Germans who watch the news, the crisis is very remote. It encroaches on us first and foremost in hearing terms like "rescue fund" or "billion-euro holes". Instead of understanding the global context, we see Angela Merkel in Berlin, Brussels or somewhere else, stepping out of dark limousines with a grave expression on her face.
We don't learn the whole truth, not about Greece, or Germany, or about Europe. Pieper calls what is happening right before our very eyes a “massive displacement effort.” The defence mechanism of politicians in particular functions superbly.
Begging and scavanging
In October 2012 he saw a Greece where heavily pregnant women were rushing around, going from from hospital to hospital begging, but because they had neither health insurance nor enough money, nobody wanted to help them bring their child into the world. In a suburb of Athens, people who were until recently middle class, were gathering fruit and vegetable scraps from the street.
An old man said that he could no longer afford the medication for his heart condition. His pension had been slashed by half. He had worked for more than forty years, and he thought he had done everything right. Now he no longer understands the world.
People who go to a hospital must bring their own bedding, and even their food. Since the cleaning staff was fired, doctors and nurses, who have not been paid for months, have been cleaning the wards. There aren't enough disposable gloves and catheters, and the EU is warning of the danger of the spread of infectious diseases.
Whole blocks of flats have in the meantime had their oil supplies cut off for lack of money. In spring a 77 year old man shot himself in front of the Parliament in Athens. Shortly before his act, he is said to have cried out: “This is how I leave my children with no debts.” In the past three years the suicide rate in Greece has doubled.
Whirlwind of helplessness
A trauma is an event that shakes the world of the individual to its foundations. The experience is so overwhelming that it pulls the victim into a whirlwind of absolute helplessness. Only a cynic speaking about Greece talks about its “social decline”. What we are living through now is a collective trauma.
“The Greek men have been particularly hard hit by the crisis,” says Pieper. Much more than women do, men derive their identity from their work – in other words, their value to the labour market. But the value to the market of the vast majority of them keeps falling. That's also an attack on their masculinity. Mental illnesses such as depression are spreading in an epidemic across Greece. No one will be surprised that three quarters of all suicides are men.
One doesn't have to be either a pessimist or an expert to grasp what that means for the social relationships among people and for the bonds holding Greek society together.
The anger at a corrupt and perverted domestic system and at the international political system that spends the tranches of aid money to bail out the banks, but not to save people, is terrible. And it is growing. The men bring this anger home to their families, and their sons take it out to the street. The number of violent gangs that attack minorities is increasing.
That was why in November the United States issued a travel warning for Greece, advising that people with dark skin were particularly vulnerable. That, says Pieper, shocked him – that such a warning should be issued for a country like Greece, which sees itself as a hospitable land.
Societal collapse
Even the most devastating blow need not bring an individual to his knees, says Pieper, because each of us has a tremendous will to survive. So much for the good news. The bad news is that a social safety net needs a functioning society. What power such a society can have was shown by Utøya. All of Norway stood behind the victims of the massacre, as if someone had rung out a bell of solidarity across the country.
In Greece the functioning society has been undermined for so long that it has finally collapsed: the crisis has wiped out the welfare state. “In such dramatic situations,” says Pieper, “man turns into a kind of predator.” Sheer necessity drives him into casting off his reasonableness, and selfishness displaces solidarity.
A few days ago Transparency International published its Corruption Index. Greece holds bottom ranking in the EU, rubbing elbows with Colombia and Djibouti. News like that is pure poison.
Georg Pieper says, “I wonder how much longer this society can hold out before it explodes.” Greece is on the brink of civil war. That affects us all.
On the web
Related
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 20 Dec - 12:51
Ireland bank debt easing 'essential' IMF warns EU
The International Monetary Fund has warned Europe its inaction over Irish bank debt could threaten the nation's exit from its bail-out programme by the end of 2013.
In November 2010, the Irish government was forced to seek an €85bn bail out from the European Central Bank, IMF and European Commission. Photo: AP
By Denise Roland, and agencies
6:07PM GMT 19 Dec 2012
6 Comments The IMF, one arm of Dublin's 'troika' of lenders, which also includes the European Commission and European Central Bank, toughened up its language towards eurozone leaders, who agreed six months ago to improve the conditions of Ireland's bank rescue.
A central issue is the €31bn used to rescue the former Anglo Irish Bank, which at the time was provided in so-called promissory notes - a time-fixed IOU - but which Dublin is pushing the European Central Bank to replace with long term government securities.
The IMF's report will reinforce Dublin's call for the debt to be restructured by March, when the next payment of €3.1bn is due.
The Irish government struck a deal to avoid immediate payment of the €3.1bn owed last March, settling the bill by issuing a 13-year bond, and has indicated it wants a similar deal on the entire debt before March 2013.
"We consider that resolving this issue is an essential part of the whole package that would be needed for a smooth exit to reliance on market funding," said Craig Beaumont, the International Monetary Fund's Ireland mission chief.
"We are strongly encouraging that a resolution of the issue be reached by the end of March."
The eurozone leaders' accord in June helped push Irish bond yields down sharply, allowing Ireland to become the first bailed-out euro country to return to long-term bond markets and begin to pre-fund a sizable chunk of the funding it will need once its €85bn bail-out ends next December.
However, Ireland is not yet in a position to resume monthly bond auctions. The IMF said prospects for durable market access depended greatly on the delivery of European commitments, particularly via a so-called retroactive recapitalisation of viable Irish banks with European rescue funds.
Eurozone creditor countries have proved reluctant to allow Dublin to tap precious rescue funds, while talks with the European Central Bank to secure longer-term funding for its banks have made slow progress.
After cutting its growth forecast for 2013 for the fifth successive review, the IMF also raised the prospect that slower growth might leave the government on the hook to cover even more banking losses if the bank-sovereign loop is not broken.
"In this context, market doubts about debt sustainability could easily re-emerge, undermining the availability of the substantial market financing needed and resulting in prolonged dependence on official support," the IMF said in a statement.
"The most definitive way to forestall such a scenario would be through decisive direct bank recapitalisation by the European Stability Mechanism, which would reduce public debt directly and insulate the sovereign from potential contingent liabilities from the banking sector. The way forward is clear
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Panda Thu 20 Dec - 18:03
Portugal: How the Troika stole Christmas!
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
The race between four competing consortia eager to acquire Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) is also equally controversial. “France’s Vinci have offered €3bn for ANA," reports Jornal de Negócios.
The state fell into a trap: just one interested buyer and no time to do it better. (...) All of the money Efromovich proposes will be spent ‘inside’ TAP. (...) The state, which is handing over the company, will receive little or nothing in return.
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 21 Dec - 4:55
Presseurop
Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?
14 December 2012
Yes
29% (358 votes)
No
59% (728 votes)
Don't know
12% (150 votes)
Total votes: 1236
Your comments
=============================
Some comments from around Europe, as you can see the Brits are not the only people who criticise the EU
Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?
14 December 2012
Yes
29% (358 votes)
No
59% (728 votes)
Don't know
12% (150 votes)
Total votes: 1236
Your comments
English
AnotherTommy7043314.12.2012 | 17:43Link
Anyone had any bright ideas yet about how to solve the fact that the Euro is slightly undervalued for the German economy, about right for the Dutch and Finnish economies, marginally over-valued for the French, Irish, Belgians and hopelessly and ruinously overvalued for the Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese? Anyone? Anyone?
Portuguese
NunoD13253014.12.2012 | 20:36Link
What the hell are you talking about? Haven't you heard Monsieur le President? This crisis is over!
Anyone had any bright ideas yet about how to solve the fact that the Euro is slightly undervalued for the German economy, about right for the Dutch and Finnish economies, marginally over-valued for the French, Irish, Belgians and hopelessly and ruinously overvalued for the Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese? Anyone? Anyone?
NunoD13253014.12.2012 | 20:41Link
BTW Tommy, some economists have estimated the escudo was overvalued by 30-40% to the DM in 1999. Worst than that, the escudo was even overvalued to the peseta (Germany and Spain = nearly a third of all our external trade). Do you see the atomic bomb we have in our hands?
About
PresseuropEnglish
AnotherTommy7043314.12.2012 | 21:13Link
I'm afraid I do see, my friend.
BTW Tommy, some economists have estimated the escudo was overvalued by 30-40% to the DM in 1999. Worst than that, the escudo was even overvalued to the peseta (Germany and Spain = nearly a third of all our external trade). Do you see the atomic bomb we have in our hands?
About
Portuguese
merkurio1515.12.2012 | 00:21Link
That is also why we have to break up the Euro and the Eu by any means necessary. All the rest is circus.
About
Dutch
Neo9115.12.2012 | 11:09Link
With all those Goldman-Sachs terminators on the buttons it will only get worse for the people of Europe and also the Germans, Fins, Dutch etc will get infected. I am afraid this economic 'atomic bomb' will cause violence in the end, just the same as we dealt with all suppression for centuries in the past.
AboutEnglish
bohoo13653017.12.2012 | 21:33Link
"Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?"
Yes, of course, what else?
Hahahahaha!
About
French
rms292005118.12.2012 | 19:08Link
Roosevelt avait imposé cela puis cette mesure avait été annulée par la suite pour le plus grand profit des banques et des spéculateurs. Il faut absolument revenir là dessus. D'autre part revenir également aux banques centrales au lieu d'emprunter aux banques privées à des taux impossibles. Nous marchons vraiment sur la tête. Nul pays ne peut s'en sortir avec les règles actuelles si ce n'est à affamer leurs peuples !
AboutTranslate
About
French
kyszyl26319.12.2012 | 09:44Link
Of course, didn't you notice how Goldman Sachs is good at preventing crisis, how you cannot be sure that its puppet Mr Draghi will act otherwise. Do not worry, everything is under control many benefits from a crisis.
=============================
Some comments from around Europe, as you can see the Brits are not the only people who criticise the EU
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 22 Dec - 10:13
Italy's Mario Monti resigns, as MPs pass budget
Mario Monti has been in office for just over a year
Continue reading the main story
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Mario Monti has resigned as Italian prime minister, officials say, keeping a promise to step down after the passing of his budget by parliament.
MPs earlier passed the 2013 budget drawn up by his government with 309 votes in favour and 55 against.
An announcement on whether Mr Monti will take part in elections - expected in February - will probably be made at a news conference on Sunday.
Mr Monti was brought in to form a technocratic government last year.
However, the conservative People of Freedom party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew its support for his cabinet this month.
Mr Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister already, is fighting his sixth election campaign.
The new political uncertainty in Italy, the third-biggest economy in the eurozone, has unsettled investors.
'Undecided'
Mr Monti travelled to the presidential palace after a cabinet meeting late on Friday to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.
President Napolitano accepted the resignation and called on Mr Monti to remain as head of an interim administration until the elections, which analysts say will most probably be held on 24 February.
The date will be determined after President Napolitano consults with political leaders on Saturday and dissolves the two chambers.
In his last speech before his resignation, Mr Monti said his 13 months in office had been "difficult but fascinating".
Opinion polls suggest the Democratic Party's Pierluigi Bersani will be the biggest election winner
"The work we did... has made the country more trustworthy... more competitive and attractive to foreign investors," he told foreign diplomats in Rome.
Opinion polls suggest the centre-left Democratic Party, under Pierluigi Bersani, will win the largest share of the vote in the election.
Since taking office with his non-party team of ministers, Mr Monti has been implementing economic austerity measures and argues that his spending cuts and tax hikes have staved off disaster.
The economist and former European commissioner cannot stand for election himself as he is already a senator for life but he could theoretically return as a minister, perhaps as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition.
"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.
"Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."
On Thursday, Mr Monti, 69, defended the "bitter medicine" of budgetary discipline, in what appeared to be a response to attacks by Mr Berlusconi on austerity policies.
Mr Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians [had] made".
On Friday, he joked that the impending end of his technocratic government was "not the fault of the Mayan prophecy", referring to a prediction that the world would end on Friday.
Mario Monti has been in office for just over a year Continue reading the main story
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Mario Monti has resigned as Italian prime minister, officials say, keeping a promise to step down after the passing of his budget by parliament.
MPs earlier passed the 2013 budget drawn up by his government with 309 votes in favour and 55 against.
An announcement on whether Mr Monti will take part in elections - expected in February - will probably be made at a news conference on Sunday.
Mr Monti was brought in to form a technocratic government last year.
However, the conservative People of Freedom party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew its support for his cabinet this month.
Mr Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister already, is fighting his sixth election campaign.
The new political uncertainty in Italy, the third-biggest economy in the eurozone, has unsettled investors.
'Undecided'
Mr Monti travelled to the presidential palace after a cabinet meeting late on Friday to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.
President Napolitano accepted the resignation and called on Mr Monti to remain as head of an interim administration until the elections, which analysts say will most probably be held on 24 February.
The date will be determined after President Napolitano consults with political leaders on Saturday and dissolves the two chambers.
In his last speech before his resignation, Mr Monti said his 13 months in office had been "difficult but fascinating".
Opinion polls suggest the Democratic Party's Pierluigi Bersani will be the biggest election winner "The work we did... has made the country more trustworthy... more competitive and attractive to foreign investors," he told foreign diplomats in Rome.
Opinion polls suggest the centre-left Democratic Party, under Pierluigi Bersani, will win the largest share of the vote in the election.
Since taking office with his non-party team of ministers, Mr Monti has been implementing economic austerity measures and argues that his spending cuts and tax hikes have staved off disaster.
The economist and former European commissioner cannot stand for election himself as he is already a senator for life but he could theoretically return as a minister, perhaps as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition.
"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.
"Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."
On Thursday, Mr Monti, 69, defended the "bitter medicine" of budgetary discipline, in what appeared to be a response to attacks by Mr Berlusconi on austerity policies.
Mr Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians [had] made".
On Friday, he joked that the impending end of his technocratic government was "not the fault of the Mayan prophecy", referring to a prediction that the world would end on Friday.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 23 Dec - 10:23
Some comments from Europe:-
Shared 17 times in 10 languages
Your comments
Shared 17 times in 10 languages
Your comments
SAK111120.12.2012 | 17:49Link
In the crisis the ECB seems so far to be the only decision-making body at EU level driven by truly European goals, able to take meaningful actions. The EU council is essentially driven by national goals, and the EU Parliament is, unfortunately, still too weak. so 'thank you' ECB!
Neo929220.12.2012 | 22:14Link
The EU nobel price is by far the most funny; The french will soon learn why we fought against communism for decades; A Grexit is not a threat but a must to regain some confidence in EU regulations and law making especially from those few countries that pay for the majority; These parties seem to be the only politics telling at least some true story
The OS were nice like every 4 years...
But the ECB involvement is a potential ecomomic H-bomb with debts rising towrds US standards, a turbo towards a full collapse and potential violence. Good luck for 2013everyone!
ckoureas8310831020.12.2012 | 23:55Link
Why is Grexit seen as a threat and not an opportunity? Only the socialists in Brussels see it as a threat.
Lx21734327343221.12.2012 | 03:41Link
Because of China. They want us to solve our own mess, they don't want to be left with an atomic bomb on their hands, like a greek default. And in my opinion, they are absolutely right. Last time Angela went to China (and she is allways going there) she got warned: if Greece defaults and leaves the euro, China will loose its trust in the euro, meaning, she will probably get rid of public debt certificates from the EZ and buy no more eurozone countries debt bonds. Try to imagine what effect would have to Europe if those billions or trillions or megazillions of euros from China stoped to be invested on the euro and in Europe. Greece cannot leave just like that. If Greece leaves without its problem solved we will all be in big trouble. Merkel absurd approach to the eurocrisis pushed us all to a complete dependency on foreign powers moods, not only in terms of exports, but also in terms of debt. Just another point to make her work as german chancellor look even more miserable.
Why is Grexit seen as a threat and not an opportunity? Only the socialists in Brussels see it as a threat.
ckoureas8310831021.12.2012 | 04:37Link
Oh so it is a threat to Germany but an opportunity to everyone else. Got it!
Jeleg83183121.12.2012 | 09:47Link
It is not what Lx21 says. I don't know if he is right, but he explains that it is a threat to all countries in the Euro zone, and by extension, for the other European countries too, including UK.
Oh so it is a threat to Germany but an opportunity to everyone else. Got it!
Benno von Arschimboldi13913921.12.2012 | 10:51Link
Toutes les propositions sont des non-évènements.
.12.2012 | 13:45Link
Hi Jeleg, read this link
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/analysis-of-chancellor-merkel...
Specially the paragraph: "It's difficult to say why Merkel eventually chose the domino theory. Perhaps it was partly the doing of Chinese fund managers who, during her visit to Beijing in the summer, bluntly described to her what they saw as the devastating consequences of ejecting Greece from the euro zone. If that happened, they said, China would no longer have any confidence in the euro and, as a result, would stop buying bonds issued by euro-zone member states
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