Financial Times (December 13)
“France is in a similar situation to Italy. Both are attempting structural reform while fighting the threat of recession and asking the EU—which is to say Berlin—for more leeway on fiscal policy.” The reforms will help to remove “the bureaucratic sclerosis that chokes off innovation and growth.”
Tags: Berlin, Bureaucracy, EU, Fiscal policy, France, Growth, Innovation, Italy, Recession, Structural reform, Threat
New York Times (October 28)
“It is anyone’s guess how much more turmoil the Ukrainian people can take after they have watched their country battered, dismembered and bankrupted.” Nevertheless, Sunday’s elections “demonstrated that a large majority still support reform and a Westward course. At this critical juncture, it is imperative that the United States and European Union support them with immediate, tangible and generous support.”
Financial Times (August 18)
With the momentum of the Solidarity movement, Poland broke free of the Soviet Union on August 24, 1989. “Twenty-five years on, a generation of Poles has grown up with no personal experience of communism. Poland is a sovereign democracy, an increasingly prosperous market economy and a proud member of Nato and the EU— a nation transformed from the dreadful era of one-party rule, dismal living standards and subservience to Moscow. Poland, you could say, has never had it so good.”
Tags: Communism, Democracy, EU, Market economy, Momentum, Moscow, Nato, Poland, Solidarity, Soviet Union
Institutional Investor (August 12)
“Disappointing sentiment data and continued conflict in eastern Ukraine” are leading to investor apprehension. “Slowing production levels and low inflation appear to leave the door open for European Central Bank intervention but political support for action from European Union leaders is still far from consensus. With a strong correlation between primary global equity indexes that has been noted by multiple strategists in recent sessions, deteriorating investor confidence in Europe is likely to cast a shadow over U.S. equity markets in the near term.”
Tags: Confidence, Conflict, Consensus, Disappointing, ECB, Equities, EU, Inflation, Intervention, Investors, Production, Sentiment, U.S., Ukraine
Wall Street Journal (July 30)
“The U.S. and European Union on Tuesday finally made good on their threats of robust sanctions on Russia. The question now is whether this new approach isn’t too late to save Ukraine.”
Financial Times (July 24)
“With pressure mounting to act swiftly, commercial interests and jobs at stake and national pride in play, there is a danger that the EU’s effort to respond coherently to Russian actions will get bogged down in acrimony. Avoiding that fate requires a willingness to compromise and some clear thinking.”
Tags: Act, Clear thinking, Commercial interests, Compromise, Danger, EU, Jobs, Pressure, Pride, Russia, Swiftly
Financial Times (May 29)
Britain’s GDP is set to increase by £10 billion as the Office for National Statistics begins to include illegal drug sales and prostitution in its calculations. To move into alignment with EU standards many countries have already taken this step. Italy is also advancing plans to include “among other activities, the sale of cocaine and prostitution.” Estonia, Austria, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Norway have already added prostitution and illegal drugs to their GDP calculations.
Tags: Alignment, Austria, Britain, Calculations, Cocaine, Drug sales, Estonia, EU, Finland, GDP, Italy, Norway, Prostitution, Slovenia, Statistics, Sweden
Washington Post (May 27)
The EU’s many achievements have been “accompanied by an ever-expanding bureaucracy and a loss of any purpose higher than crisis management, as if the powers that be in the European Union see ‘Europe’ as an end in itself, independent of its actual impact on the daily lives of ordinary people.” It is this disconnect that must be fixed, “otherwise, the very real benefits that union has brought will be at risk.”
Tags: Achievements, Benefits, Bureaucracy, Crisis management, Daily lives, Disconnect, EU, Fix, Higher purpose, Impact, Risk, Union
New York Times (May 22)
With nearly 400 million voters registered, the European Parliament elections “are second only to India’s in size.” Yet low turnout may result in the election of “fringe parties whose ultimate goal is to dismantle the very union they’re supposed to be serving.” This would be regrettable. “The problems that Europe has endured in the past five years demonstrate that the need for European unity is greater than ever, and despite what the nationalists and populists argue, these elections matter all the more.”
Tags: Elections, EU, Europe, Fringe, India, Nationalists, Parliament, Populists, Registered, Turnout, Union, Voters
Financial Times (April 15)
“Putin’s insidious tactics in Ukraine” should convince EU leaders of the need to spell out the consequences of further incursion. “Russia’s Achilles heel throughout this crisis has been its economy. If Mr Putin persists in his attempt to destabilise Ukraine, European leaders need to be prepared to apply punishment – even if this means inflicting some pain on their own economies.”
Tags: Consequences, Crisis, Economy, EU, Insidious, Leaders, Punishment, Putin, Tactics, Ukraine