Tag archive for ‘Germany’
The Greek Aftershock – Will it Make or Break Europe?
After the earthquake come the aftershocks. That is a law of geophysics, and now apparently of economics. Well over a year ago, the world economy suffered a massive economic quake of 8.0 on the Richter scale. Since then different countries have been experiencing a number of aftershocks.
Two aftershocks have grabbed headlines, one recently in [...]
A Greek Tragedy or a European Farce? Time to Re-Write the Script
In the official account of the unfolding Greek tragedy the villain is readily identified, the plot is clear, and the dénouement inevitable, tragic, but ultimately both just and morally uplifting.
The villain of the piece is Greece itself: a bloated and inefficient public sector, rampant corruption, and decade-long fiscal incontinence partially shielded from public scrutiny by [...]
The EU must act on a Tobin Tax
Have Gordon Brown, Nicholas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and other EU leaders dropped their support for a Tobin tax, or will they press home the idea in the near future? This question is crucial, particularly now that there are widespread plans for ‘budget cuts’ amongst EU member states, including possible rises in VAT in the UK.
A [...]
The Right to Towers
The Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets shows that Europe’s view of Islam is still plagued by fear and ignorance.
The Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets has led to a global outbreak of irritation and indignation. On the surface this may have concerned a building ban, but the core issue was [...]
What now for Social Democracy in Europe?
Only social democratic solutions are capable of addressing the crises we face.
I was listening to a French trade unionist recently who started his speech by saying ‘there is not one crisis, there are three crises’ – and then added, rather cheerfully, ‘at least’. He was referring to the economic crisis, the environmental crisis and the [...]
And the winner is… abstention!
German Christian-Democrats and Portuguese Socialists are happy. They won the elections. It is true that in terms of percentage of votes, they did much better than their competitors. However I can’t help but think that the real winner of these elections is abstention. And if abstention is the big winner, then it means that democracy [...]
Will there be an ‘unconstitutional’ Election Victory in Germany?
Germany will vote for a new federal government on Sunday and the polls predict a tight race between the red-red-green and conservative-liberal camps. Given the party’s announcements about potential coalitions, however, there are only two possible governments: a conservative-liberal (preferred by Angela Merkel) or another grand coalition.
Yet one of the important questions is how a [...]
Power Games on the German Left – Lafontaine, the radical Riddle
On the evening of the 30th August the ghost of Weimar walked abroad in the Saarland. The social democrats of Heiko Maas were only just over three percentage points ahead of their left-wing rivals. This was uncannily reminiscent of the last Reichstag elections to be held in the Weimar Republic in November 1932. Then the [...]
Unbalanced Germany – Yes, but why?
I am making a bit of a habit now of writing the ‘News behind the News’ in reaction to articles in the mainstream media. Here comes another one!
The current issue of the Economist includes an article on Germany’s unbalanced economy. The article contains several good points but leaves some other crucial connections unmentioned.
Apart from an [...]
The Return of the Market Radicals
Apparently now is the time when market radicals dare to come out of the trenches again, not just in the Anglo-American sphere. An article by two German economists on the website of DER SPIEGEL (only in German, sorry) today made me want to bang my head against the wall.
“The far-reaching application of short-term hours has [...]
German Dominance in the new European Parliament – Part II
After a Romanian think tank published a study allegedly showing German over-representation in key positions in the new European Parliament, now it is the French’s turn. EurActiv France reports that French influence in the EP remains modest compared to the German.
Well, this is not true if you believe that the Romanians at least got their [...]
Is Germany over-represented in Key Positions in the new European Parliament?
The Romanian think tank European Institute for Participative Democracy (Qvorum) has published an influence ranking of the new European Parliament (EP) allocating points for key positions such as group leaders, committee chairmen, heads of delegations, …
The researchers’ conclusion: Germany is over-represented in those key positions.
The problem I have with this study is not the result [...]