EU debate over 'economic government'

Forget It If You Were Hoping For An Easy Solution To The Eurozone Crisis In 2011
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. One of the biggest macro threats to the Global Economy in 2011 continues to be instability in the Eurozone. And while the Bailout fund, set to provide a financial backstop for fringe eurozone members, in in place, Germany and France cannot agree on what to do next. Germany wants a fund similar to the one that already exists (the EFSF), according to Der Spiegel, except it would be buying European Sovereign Debt, instead of the ECB. Germany, and...

EU may shift bank failure costs: official
By John O'Donnell Brussels | Tue Jan 4, 2011 11:58am EST Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose rules this week that could force those that lend to troubled banks to shoulder more of the cost of winding them up, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The proposal to pass the pain of a bank's failure on to bondholders is one of a series of measures designed to cope with lenders in difficulty. It could be law in Europe by 2012. Officials hope it will guard against a rep...

EU may shift bank failure costs: official
By John O'Donnell Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose rules this week that could force those that lend to troubled banks to shoulder more of the cost of winding them up, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The... Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose rules this week that could force those that lend to troubled banks to shoulder more of the cost of winding them up, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The proposal to pass the pain of a b...

Competing Visions: France and Germany Split over Plans for European Economic Government
Both France and Germany want an economic government for Europe. The only problem is they have completely different things in mind. The conflict threatens to derail any chances of progress. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood before reporters at the EU summit held in mid-December in Brussels, she took advantage of the opportunity to make a minor concession to neighboring France. "We have obviously been discussing the issue of an economic government for a long time," Merkel said. "What we...

EU eyes return to sanctions against Belarus
Brussels | Tue Jan 4, 2011 11:29am EST Brussels (Reuters) - The European Union may reinstate a visa ban on President Alexander Lukashenko and other Belarus officials, because of a crackdown on the opposition after December's presidential vote, EU Diplomats said on Tuesday. The 27-member bloc imposed sanctions on Belarus after a disputed ballot in 2006 but suspended their application in 2008 in order to encourage democratic reforms. EU governments have grown increasingly concerned over human r...

An End to 'Critical Dialogue' with Iran?
Berlin — Europe in general and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in particular have traditionally pursued a dual strategy of “critical dialogue” and “change through trade” in their efforts to influence the Iranian regime. The ongoing German hostage crisis is yet another example of what a flop this cognitive-behavioral Therapy for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and company has been. German Journalists Marcus Hellwig and Jens Koch, who were arrested in mid-October for interviewi...

Crisis In Euroland
The euro, that artificial Funny Money used by 331 million Europeans in17 nations -- the 17th, Estonia, joined the euro just this week -- was conceived in sin and born in Corruption. The New Year brings the prospect that the sins of the European Union's Founding Fathers will be visited on its hapless citizens in the form of financial turmoil and fiscal pain. The original sins at the euro's conception included stealth, lies, and hypocrisy. That at least was consistent with the creation of "Europe"...

Merkel must get Germans to back sound EU
The Debt crisis has strengthened Germany's hand in Europe, but Chancellor Angela Merkel will have a tough time convincing voters that leadership might also mean digging deep for additional aid. "So far, people do not see the costs that might be associated with what politicians have agreed to, namely some nation states underwriting the Debt of others," Barclays Capital Economist Thorsten Polleit told AFP. As the de facto Eurozone paymaster, Merkel has imposed strict aid conditions and insisted me...

Germany urges release of reporters jailed in Iran
BERLIN | Sun Jan 2, 2011 7:13am EST BERLIN (Reuters) - One hundred German political and business leaders published an appeal to Iran on Sunday to free two German reporters held in Iran since October. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was among members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet to join opposition leaders and celebrities in the appeal, published over 15 pages in German weekly Bild am Sonntag. "The two must be released as soon as possible and returned home to Germany," said Westerwe...

Backlash against perks for EU officials
A backlash against generous European Union pay and perks is growing after it emerged that 2,000 Brussels officials, earning from £104,000 to £185,000 a year, were entitled to three months time off work on full pay last year....

Greece to build wall on Turkish border
Young immigrants at a detention centre in Filakio on the Greek-Turkish border. Photo: AP Brussels: Greece has announced plans to build a wall along its 206-kilometre land border with Turkey to keep out Illegal Immigrants. Christos Papoutsis, a Greek Interior Minister, insisted the wall was necessary after Brussels intervened last year to prevent an Immigration crisis by sending an elite taskforce of border guards to protect the frontier between Greece and Turkey, the European Union's most insecu...

The world in 2011
THE EU THE fundamental question facing the EU this year is one of leadership - is there anyone with the vision to lead the 27-nation bloc forward after a very tough 2010? Britain is of course in a different position from the other big western European count ADVERTISEMENT ries, being outwith the Eurozone - it is the now 17 countries using the currency that have most to lose if national economic interest triumphs over concerted action. However, these are same European countries that make up...

Germany denies US spy project
BERLIN: Germany's aerospace centre has denied it is working with the United States on a $US270 million high-tech secret spy program, insisting that its plans for a high-resolution optical satellite have purely scientific and security uses. US State Department cables obtained by Wikileaks and published by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten say Germany joined a partnership with the US to create a satellite spying program that was presented as a commercial enterprise but is actually run by the German ...

Iran invites Russia, China to atom sites but not U.S.
Jay Deshmukh, Agence France-Presse · Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011 Tehran — Iran said Tuesday it will open its atomic sites to some world powers, in a rare move swiftly dismissed as “antics’ by the United States, which along with Britain, France and Germany, is not invited. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in Tehran that invitations to visit Iran’s nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak have been sent to ambassadors of some of the nations represented in t...

Iran opens nuclear sites to selected nations
Stumble This! Iran said on Tuesday it will open its atomic sites to some world powers, in a rare move swiftly dismissed as "antics' by the United States, which along with Britain, France and Germany, is not invited. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said invitations to visit Iran's nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak have been sent to ambassadors of some of the nations represented in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Diplomatic sources at the IAEA, the UN nuclear Watchdog ...

A Leader Under Siege: Immediate Threat Waning, But Westerwelle Faces Tough Year
Guido Westerwelle, the head of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party, has faced an unprecedented challenge within his party in recent days. His performance at a party conference this week and upcoming, pivotal state Elections are likely to determine his political fate. Only a week ago, it looked as though Guido Westerwelle's days as leader of Germany's business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) were numbered. The German foreign minister, whose party shares power with Chancellor Angela...

Harvard: Summers return to teaching, research
CAMBRIDGE - Harvard University says Lawrence Summers is returning to teaching and academic research at the Ivy League school after serving as President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser for two years. Summers will be based at Harvard Kennedy School, where he taught before taking a public service leave of absence in early 2009. Summers will also lead the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, which is Harvard’s hub for academic Scholarship, research ...

America COMPETES: Reauthorized and Regionalized
Perhaps lost in the flurry of last month’s Lame Duck session of Congress, America’s flagship “competitiveness” bill, America COMPETES, passed last month when the House accepted the Senate’s text and officially reauthorized it just before Congress adjourned. This is a Big Deal, because while there are several major disappointing omissions in the final bill, there is also a sense of relief and genuine progress that should be especially gratifying to the nation’...

Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama's new top Economic Policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday. Two sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton Administration Veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departing as director of the National Economic Council. Sperling is now seen as having an...

Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama's new top Economic Policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday. Several sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton Administration Veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departing as director of the National Economic Council. Sperling is seen as having an ...

Lawrence Summers to return to Harvard in January
Summers will be heading back to Harvard's Kennedy School, where he taught before leaving to join the administration in early 2009, and where his teaching "will focus on the implications of changes in the Global Economy for Public Policy." Summers departed his post as director of the National Economic Council on Friday after announcing last September that he would leave the Obama Administration in the new year. "It has been an enormous privilege to serve in the White House for the last two critic...

Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser
By Caren Bohan and Glenn Somerville WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 3, 2011 8:11pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama's new top Economic Policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday. Several sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton Administration Veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departi...

The failure of Obama economic policy
Image by Getty Images via @daylife Robert Samuelson: ... The trouble is that Obama, having stabilized The Economy, weakened the recovery. What's missing from Summers's valedictory is any sense of contradiction between the administration's ambitious social and regulatory agenda and the business confidence necessary for hiring and investing. Of course, the connections existed. The health-care law raises hiring costs by requiring in 2014 that all firms with more than 50 employees provide health i...

Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser
By Caren Bohan and Glenn Somerville WASHINGTON | Mon Jan 3, 2011 6:22pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama's new top Economic Policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday. Two sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton Administration Veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departing a...

Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama's new top Economic Policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday. Two sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton Administration Veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departing as director of the National Economic Council. Sperling is now seen as having an ...