Integrating Europe

28 November 2013



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Graham Bishop

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Articles from 21 November 2013 - 28 November 2013

Graham Bishop

Graham Bishop's Blog: The Grand Coalition in Germany - Some implications
Finally, the two major German parties signed their coalition agreement – in just short of 200 pages with only 10 pages on Europe.  View Article
Graham Bishop: The Grand Coalition in Germany - Some implications
Finally, the two major German parties signed their coalition agreement – in just short of 200 pages with only 10 pages on Europe.  View Article

Political

ECB/Cœuré: The political dimension of European economic integration
Cœuré discussed three pillars for a renewed European political project: a common European culture; European cohesion; and ensuring a high degree of democratic accountability at European level.  View Article
Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Inst: What political balance of power in the next EP?
The political balance of power in the next European Parliament is the great unknown six months before the May 2014 elections.  View Article
ECFR/Leonard: The rise of euroscepticism
There is a real danger that eurosceptic forces will be strongly present in what Leonard dubs a "self-hating" next European Parliament. With that, he warns, the traditional dynamic at the core of European integration would be turned on its head.  View Article
EV editorial: Fight the far-right with distinctions
Those who oppose the extremism of the far-right should not delude themselves that euro-enthusiasm is the only way of combating the unpalatable. Instead, they should be wary of sending those already disaffected with the EU into the arms of the far-right.  View Article
CEPS/Piedrafita: EU democratic legitimacy and national parliaments
This essay examines the difficulty of defining and addressing the question of the democratic legitimacy in the EU. It examines the role of the national parliaments in the treaties and explores ways in which they can contribute to improving that legitimacy.   View Article
CEPS/De Grauwe & Ji: Strong governments, weak banks
Paradoxically, financially strong governments breed fragile banks. The opposite occurs in countries with financially weak governments.  View Article

Financial

ECB: Financial Stability Review suggests alleviation of financial market tensions, challenges remain
Stress indicators and euro area fundamentals suggest an alleviation of financial market tensions, especially on the banks' funding side. However, financial stability conditions remain fragile and the euro area adjustment process is incomplete.  View Article
ECB/Asmussen: Europe 2014 – an outlook from the ECB
Asmussen argued that the changes taking place in the euro area today would ensure that a different path was taken from that of Japan – although it would take perseverance to ensure that a "lost decade" was definitively avoided.  View Article
Merkel: "Germany is ready to develop the EU treaties further"
Merkel said that treaty change was needed to create a sense of responsibility among Member States to implement necessary changes. Eurogroup chief Dijsselbloem stressed that France's crisis measures in particular were still "not enough".   View Article
Bundesbank/Weidmann: What can monetary policy do?
Weidmann said that to minimise the risks posed by the crisis measures to the euro area operational framework, the monetary policy mandate must be interpreted as narrowly as possible, reducing the danger of suspicions of fiscal or financial dominance.  View Article
Bundesbank/Weidmann: Europe's Monetary Union - Making it prosperous and resilient
Weidmann argued that to disentangle the euro area's fiscal and financial conundrums, the sovereign bank doom loop had to be broken and walls erected between banks and sovereigns.   View Article
Bundesbank/Dombret: How to overcome fragmentation in the European financial market
Dombret made four main points on fragmentation: diagnosis requires normative judgement; it reflects structural differences and is not bad per se; Banking Union will help financial market integration; and differences or fragmentation in the real economy may also be justified.  View Article
EFSF issues €1.5 billion 16-year bond
EFSF placed a €1.5 billion 16-year bond maturing on 3 December, 2029. The issuance spread was fixed at mid swap plus 29 basis points. This implies a reoffer yield for investors of 2.758 per cent.  View Article
Germany's FCC won't rule this year on ECB bond-buying programme
Germany's top court will not rule before 2014 on lawsuits challenging the ECB's plan to buy bonds of crisis countries. Several suits are targeting the central bank's OMT programme, arguing it oversteps the ECB's mandate to conduct monetary policy.  View Article
Reuters: Eurozone mulls cheap loans as incentive for economic reforms - document
Eurozone states are considering cheap loans to member governments as an incentive to carry out painful economic reforms, an EU document showed, introducing a discussion on fiscal transfers.  View Article
NYT: IMF shifts its approach to bailouts
The IMF is pushing hard for a plan that would impose upfront losses on bondholders the next time a country in the euro area requests a bailout. But the proposal is encountering stiff resistance, with Germany leading the opposition. (Includes link to Expert Group report.)  View Article
Bruegel/O'Neill & Terzi: Addressing competitiveness or financial fragmentation? – A false dilemma
The weakness of the banking sector and the worsening of firm credit availability are likely to be addressed better by a well-designed and fully effective Banking Union than by country-level structural reforms.  View Article
IMF Working Paper: Debt Reduction, Fiscal Adjustment, and Growth in Credit-Constrained Economies
This paper shows that gradual and adequately balanced fiscal adjustments may be more appropriate to spur medium-term economic growth than deficit reductions driven by spending cuts in the context of financial constraints.  View Article
ECON Committee: Candidate for boss of EU bank supervisor quizzed by MEPs
Danièle Nouy, the ECB's nominee for the new post of EU bank supervisor, was quizzed about her views on banks' exposure to sovereign debt, the accountability of the future supervisor, and the need to develop all the pillars of Banking Union.  View Article
ECB/Draghi: Opening speech at the European Banking Congress "The future of Europe"
"Once the SSM is established, it offers a real possibility to take a new, European approach towards governance of the financial sector – and hence to reverse the harmful financial fragmentation we have seen during the crisis."  View Article
EP President Schulz: Europe's path out of the crisis
Schulz addressed i.a. the need for an effective SRM under the authority of the Commission, and criticised those who have been calling for national resolution funds.  View Article
Bundesbank/Lautenschläger: The stress tests will be strict
In an interview with Handelsblatt, Lautenschläger highlighted the importance of rigorous stress tests and warned that she expected some banks to lie below the required core capital ratio.   View Article
Bruegel/Wolff: Europe rightly pursues the road to a Single Resolution Mechanism
A purely national solution would severely undermine financial stability and lower growth, writes Wolff.  View Article
CEPS: The new European framework for managing bank crises
This Policy Brief describes and discusses the proposals for a European SRM for banks and for a Directive on Bank Recovery and Resolution. It makes a number of key recommendations.  View Article

Economic

ECON/EMPL Committees: Commission beset by critics of Annual Growth Survey
Many MEPs disputed VP Rehn's claim that economies were improving, and criticised the Commission for continuing to administer more of the same medicine. German centre-right MEPs chided the Commission for having taken aim at their country in its latest assessment of EU economies.  View Article
ECB/Mersch: Economic and legal limits of central banking
Mersch discussed the institutional and legal foundations of the EMU. "We need to stay ambitious to continue institutional and structural reforms in order to facilitate the economic recovery and reduce fragmentation in the euro area."  View Article
Commissioner Andor: A Social Maastricht – A stronger social base for a more competitive EMU
"What is required is a credible macro-economic framework that would finally give economic players confidence that all EMU countries will actually return to growth and that they all have an acceptable future inside the monetary union."  View Article
Commissioner Šemeta: EU taxation - Taking stock and looking ahead
Šemeta discussed current and future developments in EU tax policy, including i.a. tax evasion, the Savings Directive, the CCCTB and the FTT.  View Article
PwC: FTT – The Impacts and Arguments – A Literature Review
This report, commissioned by the financial industry, offers an impartial view and provides an indication of the expected impact of the FTT across the financial services sector, as well as the spillover effects beyond the EU11 states.  View Article

Budgetary

Eurogroup welcomes first round of new budgetary coordination process
The Eurogroup meeting was dedicated to the assessment of the draft budgetary plans of the euro area Member States, as well as the fiscal situation and prospects for the euro area as a whole.  View Article
Remarks by President Dijsselbloem / VP Rehn at the press conference following the meeting of the Eurogroup
The Eurogroup found that the planned or announced fiscal effort for 2014 was 'broadly appropriate'. However, all Member States should continue to pursue the sustainability of their public finances.  View Article
EU's Financial Report 2012: EU budget increasingly an investment tool in the EU
The 2012 Financial Report published today by the European Commission shows that 94 per cent of the total €135.6 billion of the EU 2012 budget was dedicated to beneficiaries across Europe such as researchers, students, SMEs, towns and regions and NGOs.  View Article

Member State events

President Barroso commends Cypriot 'resolve' for reform after government visit
Barroso commended Cyprus for its resolve in implementing the financial assistance programme, and urged the Cypriot government to make the best use of EU assistance to bolster the recovery.  View Article
IMF/Velculescu: "Cyprus on the mend?"
The IMF's Mission Chief for Cyprus looked at what is needed to bring back growth and prosperity for the Cypriot economy.  View Article
OECD: Greece - Structural reforms under way but more progress needed in boosting market dynamism
Greece has made impressive headway in consolidating its public finances and undertaking key structural reforms to boost productivity and enhance competitiveness. These reforms need to be implemented swiftly and in full to put Greece on a path of stronger, more inclusive growth, says the OECD.  View Article
Light at the end of the tunnel for Greece?
Greece is on the right track, said Chancellor Merkel after meeting with Greek Prime Minister Samaras in Berlin. Samaras used the occasion to hold the Troika to its past promises of relief.  View Article
Irish Times: ECB spells out bond-buying programme conditions
Jörg Asmussen, one of the prime figures in the troika's management of Ireland's assistance programme, answered questions on Ireland's position vis-à-vis the OMT scheme in the wake of Ireland's bailout. Separately, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been asked for his feedback on the troika.  View Article
Irish watchdog warns key deficit target 'at risk due to soft budget'
The decision to have a softer-than-expected budget means a greater risk that a crucial EU deficit target will not be met by 2015, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned. The Council also said it would have supported an application for a precautionary credit line.  View Article
FT: Portugal - On the verge of a second bailout?
Many officials in Lisbon and Brussels believe Portugal is almost certain to avail itself of the backstop when its bailout ends next June. The Secretary of State to the PM disagrees however, saying the successful reforms Portugal has embarked upon will prevent the need for a second bailout.  View Article
IMF: Spain - Financial Sector Reform - Fourth Progress Report
Implementation of Spain's financial sector programme remains on track. Essentially all measures specified in the programme have now been implemented, as envisaged under its front-loaded timetable. (Includes comments by PM Rajoy.)  View Article
BoS/Linde: A review of the Spanish economic situation
Linde stressed the importance of seeing through fiscal consolidation and structural reform, so that the ongoing reduction in budgetary imbalances may combine with an improvement in potential growth.  View Article
Reuters: Uncertain phase opens for Italy after Berlusconi expelled
Although Berlusconi no longer commands enough support in parliament to bring down the government, he will still be able to inflict damage from the sidelines.  View Article
Simon Nixon: Is Italy facing the stability of the graveyard?
Many Italian business people consider the prospect of another 18 months of the Letta government seriously alarming, writes Nixon for the WSJ.  View Article
CDU/CSU and SPD reach grand coalition agreement
Two months after the general elections, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU) and allied CSU have agreed terms for a coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The deal will now go to a ballot of SPD members to be signed off.  View Article
Telegraph: UK would be 'shooting itself in the foot' if it left EU, says Pascal Lamy
The former head of the World Trade Organisation told The Telegraph that only by remaining in the EU would Britain stand a chance of retaining its status as one of the architects of the Single Market.  View Article
IP/Pertusot: Britain outside Europe? The French view
France has a tradition of ambivalence vis-à-vis Britain and the EU. There are a number of fundamental differences between Paris and London regarding Europe's direction, yet on other issues, Britain is an important partner France would not want to lose.  View Article
ECFIN Country Focus - Is the traditional Austrian thriftiness under threat?
One of the thriftier EU countries saw its household saving rate decline abruptly in 2010-2011. Such a turnaround warrants examination, as a trend decline of the saving rate might be a cause for multiple concerns.  View Article
FPÖ tops polls in Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), the right-wing populist political party, has topped recent polls.   View Article




© Graham Bishop