debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
A recent speech delivered by Mr Asmussen (Executive Director of the ECB) at a seminar organised by the IIEA in Dublin (The Irish Case From An ECB Perspective), gives powerful (though unintended) grounds for a ‘no’ vote in the forthcoming referendum. Mr Asmussen emphasised that from an ECB perspective it was of the ‘utmost importance’ [...]
News is in that the UK is back in recession, its economy having contracted in the last quarter of 2011 and the first of this year. In fact whether output growth is a fraction above or below zero is of more symbolic than real significance – and the figures for the first quarter may subsequently [...]
The annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provided a window onto two fundamental trends driving global politics and the world economy. Geopolitics is moving decisively away from a world dominated by Europe and the United States to one with many regional powers but no global leader. And a [...]
These days, Europe appears to be a cold place viewed from the periphery in Ireland. We are being bailed out and supported in many ways by the Troika of the EU, ECB and IMF, but the terms imposed upon citizens largely reflect the liberal economic perspective. We are four long years into austerity. Indicators are [...]
Over the last four months, China has been claiming that it will help Europe’s financial woes by contributing billions of dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Recently the G20 finance leaders told Europe that, if the IMF is to fortify the eurozone financial facility, Brussels has to beef it up further. Such a warning [...]
The unanimous political response to the crisis across Europe today is that of austerity and budgetary discipline. Cutting pay and social welfare, attacking bargaining mechanisms and making employment contracts ultra-flexible: that is the current paradigm, the Berlin/Brussels consensus, offered as the only way forward. This solution is not working and will not work. It stifles [...]
It is now clear that the eurozone crisis will continue well into 2012, despite early February’s recovery in stock markets. Negotiations between Greece and the banks over Greek sovereign debt may yet be concluded, but sufficiently wide participation by banks in the deal remains very much in doubt. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has raised [...]
Since 2008, the world has been witnessing a struggle between politics and financial markets. The objective of a number of policy-makers is to limit the power of the financial industry to avoid another rescue package. The objective of the financial industry is to protect itself from economic interference. The result of this uneven struggle seems [...]
If you were a Greek MP would you have voted for the austerity package in the Greek Parliament on Sunday evening? The fate of Greece and perhaps of the euro area was, according to both Greek and EU policymakers, on the line. And despite riots in the streets and resignations from the government, the Greek [...]
The Eurozone crisis has been a battle over who will ultimately be liable for the billions worth of actual and potential losses on sovereign debt held by European financial institutions. With neither the issuance of collectively backed Eurobonds nor the use of the European Central Bank (ECB) as lender of last resort initially available as [...]
In numerous countries such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, and others, the European Commission (EC) – in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB) – has imposed a dramatic policy mix that consists of blind austerity, privatisation and wage cuts. Following the adoption of the notorious ‘six-pack’ in December 2011, [...]
The measures introduced by the European Central Bank last December, especially the Long Term Refinancing Operation (LTRO), have relieved the liquidity problems of European banks, but have not cured the financing disadvantage of the highly indebted member states. Since high-risk premiums on government bonds endanger the capital adequacy of banks, half a solution is not [...]
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