New York Times (July 8)
The euro has “stopped being a force for unity. In many ways, it…” has become… “a weapon that each side seized upon to advance its cause.”
The Economist (May 16)
The referendum to stay in the EU is “winnable. Over the next year or so Mr Cameron and his chancellor, George Osborne, can probably extract enough from their partners to persuade Britons to vote to stay in. Yet that victory must be just a first step. The real agenda—the one that matters to Britain’s prosperity and to the EU as a whole—will take longer to bear fruit.”
Tags: Cameron, EU, Osborne, Prosperity, Referendum, Victory
Financial Times (May 4)
EU policy makers’ now have their “sights have fixed upon ‘Gafa’ — the acronym used to denote Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.” The regulators do not hate technology. “They understand that digital services invigorate the economy. But…. Europe has recently felt itself to be more on the losing side; however measured, not one of the world’s largest internet companies is European.”
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Digital services, Economy, EU, Facebook, Gafa, Google, Technology
Bloomberg (April 24)
“European Union leaders have been unequivocal in their insistence that Greece has been ring-fenced, and that the common-currency project can survive the departure of its weakest member. They may be right; but we won’t know for sure whether contagion is alive or dead unless and until Greece bows out.”
Tags: Contagion, Currency, EU, Greece, Ring-fenced
Institutional Investor (April 20)
“Like an old couple that can’t seem to stop fighting, Greece and its European Union partners are wondering if it’s time to head for divorce court.” The long-running saga has “been threatening to undermine the single currency for more than five years. Yet the Greek crisis appears to be entering a new, and potentially fatal, phase as exhaustion and mutual recriminations push both sides to the brink of an irrevocable rupture.”
New York Times (April 7)
“Greece cannot count on Russia to ride to its financial rescue. The sharp drop in oil prices and, to a lesser extent, Western sanctions have damaged the Russian economy and limited Mr. Putin’s ability to dole out aid to other countries.” The Greeks can, however, be sure that Putin will try to exploit any chinks in the EU’s armor. “Mr. Tsipras should be careful not to let himself be used to undermine European unity.”
Tags: Economy, EU, Financial rescue, Greece, Oil prices, Putin, Russia, Tsipras, Unity, Western sanctions
Financial Times (March 16)
“Since nobody knows how many days or weeks Athens is from insolvency, the risk of a sudden exit is clear and present. Grexit may never happen — but it is time to get ready.” Without preparation, it is possible that “a sudden seizure of the Greek financial system” could “bring about a humanitarian crisis, global financial contagion and reputational damage to the EU.”
Tags: Contagion, EU, Financial system, Greece, Grexit, Humanitarian crisis, Insolvency, Reputational damage, Risk
Wall Street Journal (February 6)
“The Greek effort to divide and conquer by negotiating individually with other EU members instead of with the bloc as a whole is going nowhere.” Nevertheless, there may still be “room for a prudent compromise that might involve a bridge deal to allow time for a permanent agreement, followed by some easing of the terms of bailout loans in exchange for a commitment to economic reform.”
Tags: Bailout, Compromise, Economic reform, Effort, EU, Greek, Loans, Negotiations
Bloomberg (January 19)
“The actions that the European Central Bank will finally announce this week won’t give the continent the boost it needs.” The EU still depends on a “broken” system of economic governance. “What’s remarkable is that Europe’s governments haven’t even begun to confront this larger issue.” It is unrealistic to think that the ECB can again save the day. “Not even Mario Draghi can save Europe now.”
Tags: Broken, ECB, EU, Governance, Governments, Mario Draghi
Bloomberg (December 29)
“The Greek parliament’s decision to trigger elections by rejecting Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s presidential candidate throws Europe back into turmoil. The European Union can avert a full-blown existential crisis, however, if it acknowledges that Greece’s economic pain is real and not entirely self-inflicted.”