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14 November 2013

Integrating Europe
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Articles from 07 November 2013 - 14 November 2013

Political

President Barroso: From 1946 till today – a European success story. Why leadership matters
Speaking in Zurich, Barroso said that the current generation of EU leaders must revive Winston Churchill's vision of a United States of Europe.  View Article
Le Pen and Wilders forge plan to 'wreck' EU from within
The French Front National and the Dutch Freedom party aim to exploit euroscepticism at European elections to block policymaking within parliament.  View Article
KAS/McAllister: Europe needs a strong democratic control
David McAllister, probable top CDU candidate for the EP elections, warned against EP fragmentation.  View Article
Leading business people from the UK, Germany and Sweden join to call for bold EU reforms
In a pan-European initiative, organised by Open Europe, business leaders call upon EU politicians "to embrace a bold reform agenda" ahead of next year's European elections.  View Article
CER/Brady: The EU's 'yellow card' comes of age - Subsidiarity unbound?
The spectacle of national parliaments acting in concert to limit EU action is aptly symbolic at a time when euroscepticism is rising to unprecedented levels across the Union.  View Article

Financial

ESM/Regling: Interview with with Cinco Días, Spain
Regling discussed i.a. the Spanish bank restructuring programme, the ESM's role, the AQR/stress tests and future assistance for Greece.   View Article
NewEurope: Regling very optimistic about eurozone future
"The strategy is delivering results", the ESM's MD told a group of Brussels correspondents in Luxembourg, adding that "divergences within the EU are now declining".  View Article
ESM issues 10-year bond
ESM placed a €3 billion 10-year benchmark bond with a coupon of 2.125 per cent maturing on 20 November 2023. The issuance spread at reoffer was fixed at mid swap plus 19 basis points. This implies a reoffer yield for investors of 2.26 per cent.  View Article
VoxEU: Revisiting sovereign bankruptcy
If the euro is to survive, this will require better ways to resolve debt crises and stronger, market-based incentives that prevent debt problems from occurring in the first place.   View Article
Bundesbank/Weidmann: The euro area between individual and shared responsibility
Weidmann looked at whether the eurozone might take inspiration from the Swiss model of balancing control and responsibility. He stressed that over the medium term, government bonds should be treated like other bonds or loans to companies.  View Article
Bundesbank/Lautenschläger: Current developments in macro-prudential oversight
Lautenschläger said that as critical developments on financial markets know no national borders, macro-prudential oversight and any measures resolved have to be harmonised internationally.  View Article
FT: ECB split stokes German backlash fears
The ECB is becoming increasingly concerned about the popular backlash from Germany against its loose monetary policy.  View Article
Peterson Institute/Funk Kirkegaard: The ECB is less hindered by euro area politics
The timing of ECB actions in the future will no longer be as dictated by political developments as in the past — a reflection of the euro area's new stability.  View Article
Peterson Institute/Posen: Three things the ECB should do beyond cutting rates
In an interview with the WSJ, Posen said the ECB needed to do much more to ensure that excessively low inflation doesn't keep the eurozone locked in economic stagnation far into the future.  View Article
IMF Working Paper: Bailouts and systemic insurance
This paper highlights that when there are risks beyond the control of individual banks, such as the risk of contagion, the expectation of government support, while creating moral hazard, also entails a virtuous "systemic insurance" effect on bank risk-taking.  View Article
Lithuanian Presidency: Agreement on Single Resolution Mechanism needed
ECOFIN Ministers are expected to discuss all key elements of the SRM, including the scope and financing arrangements, decision-making and voting mechanisms, as well as other related questions.  View Article
VP Almunia: A stronger regulatory framework and the Banking Union will support a return to growth
Almunia discussed i.a. the SRM and the upcoming ECB review. He said bank bailouts remained a possibility if the stress test revealed significant capital shortfalls or if the debt crisis were to flare up again.  View Article
ECB publishes its opinion on the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM)
The ECB fully supports the establishment of an SRM. It believes that centralised decision-making on resolution matters will strengthen the stability of EMU, and that the SRM will provide a necessary complement to the SSM.  View Article
ECB/Asmussen: The public and the private Banking Union
Asmussen said he was 'adamantly convinced' that the Banking Union would only function if the SSM was complemented by an SRM, and that it was of 'utmost importance' to have a political agreement on the SRM by the end of this year.  View Article

Economic

European Semester 2014: Strengthening the recovery (Annual Growth Survey)
The biggest challenge facing Europe's economy is how to sustain the recovery that is now underway. This is the main message of this year's Annual Growth Survey, adopted by the Commission.  View Article
Third Alert Mechanism Report on macro-economic imbalances in EU Member States
The AMR is the first stage in the yearly cycle of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP). It looks at all EU Member States except those benefiting from official financial assistance. This year's report highlights the German current account surplus.  View Article
President Barroso / VP Rehn: Statements on the European Semester 2014
Barroso said that this year's AGS had taken budgetary coordination in the euro area to a new level and it was a step change in economic governance. Rehn announced in-depth reviews for 13 Member States, saying Germany's would be done 'with an open mind'.  View Article
President van Rompuy: Post-wall Europe
In a speech on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, van Rompuy set out how the dramatic events of late 1989 had changed Germany and Europe as a whole. He also addressed the issue of populism in many countries.  View Article
Commissioner Barnier: Restoring confidence in the EU
Speaking at the EPC Annual Conference, Barnier said that three of Europe's 'failures' were being addressed - the lack of financial regulation; the level of public debt; poor economic governance - but more competitive economies were needed, also at global level.   View Article
Lorenzo Bini Smaghi: Austerity and stupidity
Bini Smaghi argues that today's eurozone austerity may arise from stupidity before the crisis – specifically lacklustre structural reform. The way out of austerity is fundamental pro-growth reforms that create room for more gradual fiscal adjustment.  View Article
Senior German lawmaker says FTT unlikely
Volker Bouffier, a deputy party leader to Angela Merkel, said he does not believe a financial transaction tax will be enacted in Germany, even though coalition negotiators have agreed to push for the tax. Further criticism of the FTT was voiced by Dutch pension fund APG and French Groupe BPCE.  View Article
Regional Economic Prospects in EBRD Countries of Operations - Weak growth despite eurozone pick-up
The recovery in advanced economies, including the eurozone, has taken hold, although growth in emerging markets has slowed. On balance, the outlook for growth in the transition region has weakened further.  View Article
Composite leading indicators continue to signal improvements in growth in most major OECD economies
The outlook for growth in developed economies improved further in September, with a fledgling recovery "gaining momentum" in the eurozone, the OECD said in its monthly indicator of international economic prospects.  View Article

Budgetary

European Commission: Agreement on EU budget 2014
The budget totals €135.5 billion in actual payments, a 6 per cent cut compared to 2013, and €142.6 billion in new spending commitments. Although they reached a political agreement, both the EP and the Council must still adopt it formally.  View Article
European Semester 2014: Commission previews economy and budgets package
On 15 November, the Commission will for the first time issue opinions on each of the 13 draft budgetary plans it received from euro area Member States, and proposals for Council opinions on five economic partnership programmes submitted by euro area Member States in the EDP.  View Article

Member State events

Statement by the European Commission, ECB and IMF on the Second Review Mission to Cyprus
Cyprus's programme is on track; all fiscal targets have been met with considerable margins. The main challenge is to repair the banks' balance sheets and restore depositor confidence.  View Article
ECB/Mersch: 'Greece today stands at a crossroads'
Mersch said that the process of restoring sustainability and growth in Greece is not yet complete nor so far secured. If the authorities fail to address the remaining challenges, they will put at risk what has already been achieved.   View Article
Greek government survives no-confidence vote
The conservative-led coalition government of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament. The vote had been tabled by the left-wing opposition party, SYRIZA, which is strongly opposed to the government's austerity measures.  View Article
Statement by the EC, ECB and IMF on the Twelfth and Final Review Mission to Ireland
Ireland's programme remains on track in the context of the nascent economic recovery. Discussions with the authorities focused on the conclusion of the programme and the remaining challenges. (Includes comments from Kenny, Noonan and Draghi.)  View Article
WSJ: As Ireland exits bailout, a life vest or just lifeguard?
This analysis suggests it is now looking increasingly likely that the Irish government will opt for a so-called 'clean exit' from its bailout programme, without the 'life vest' of a precautionary credit line from the eurozone rescue fund.  View Article
Portugal: IMF completes 8th & 9th reviews under an EFF arrangement, approves €1.91 billion disbursement
The IMF's Executive Board completed the 8th and 9th reviews of Portugal's performance under an economic programme supported by a three-year, ca. €27.03 billion EFF arrangement. Risks to Portugal's bailout plan are still high and the Constitutional Court could further complicate policy-making.  View Article
BoP/da Silva Costa: Portugal - Progress on financial stability
According to da Silva Costa, the Portuguese banking system is currently more capitalised, more transparent, in a more favourable liquidity position and in a much better position to handle financial strains than at the outset of the financial crisis.  View Article
BoS/Restoy: European reform - Challenges for the Spanish banking sector
Restoy argued that monetary union is now unquestionably at a crossroads. Its stability and proper functioning depend directly on the adoption of far-reaching reforms to heighten the integration of the participating national economies.  View Article
Reuters: Italian bank Monte Paschi submits restructuring plan to EU
The European Commission said it had received Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena's restructuring plan, which needs the EU's approval for a €4.1 billion state bailout.  View Article
EU to review excessive German trade surplus
The European Commission will launch an in-depth review into Germany's high current account surplus to see if its strong exports undermine EU markets. Germany stands accused of creating dangerous economic imbalances.  View Article
VP Rehn's blog: Turning Germany's surplus into a win-win for the eurozone
German money fuelled the credit and housing bubbles of the eurozone's periphery states and must now act to aid recovery, Rehn warned.  View Article
Simon Nixon: Germany's surplus isn't the problem
Efforts would be better directed towards urging weak economies to make themselves strong, rather than urging Europe's strongest economy to make itself weak, comments Nixon in the WSJ.  View Article
German coalition negotiations halfway but many issues still disputed
With little time left until the self-imposed deadline to draft a coalition accord by the end of the month, the first agreements have been reached between the CDU/CSU and SPD, i.a. on Banking Union, the ESM and the division of Cabinet posts.  View Article
German Council of Economic Experts publishes Annual Economic Report 2013/14 - "Against a back-oriented economic policy"
Taking the unusual step of interfering in the German coalition negotiations, the Council has leaked its report, which rails against the minimum wage, the introduction of rent controls, and other policies to water down the Schröder reforms.   View Article
Barroso calls France's 2014 budget 'satisfactory'; OECD urges competitiveness
Barroso has called France's 2014 budget "satisfactory", but has said the eurozone's second-largest economy still needs to do more to reduce unemployment. Meanwhile, the OECD has urged France to reinforce competitiveness.  View Article
Focus: Austria may face a budgetary crisis
It has emerged that Austria's budgetary deficit could reach up to €40 billion by 2018 – equivalent to around half of the country's federal budget.  View Article





© Graham Bishop

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