Euro

Category: Eurozone 2013

  • Parallel Currencies are no Alternative for the Euro

    Many are upset about the ‘TINA-type solutions’ for the euro crisis. ‘There-is-no-alternative’ (TINA) seems to have been an irrevocable characteristic of the euro right from the start. A sense of ‘having been forced onto the people’ was kindled by the fact that in most countries the single currency was adopted without referenda. Subsequently, many of…

  • The Eurozone Crisis: Finance 2 – Society 0

    An interesting and crucial feature of the eurozone crisis, which hardly ever gets mentioned, is the extent to which it corresponds to a massive, lengthy, disguised and undemocratic process of socialisation of debt relations. What started out as a massive build-up of debt/credit relations between private debtors and private creditors has been gradually converted into…

  • Do the German elections matter?

    As journalists from across Europe flock to Germany to report on the federal elections this coming Sunday, the question that is asked by many is “Does their outcome matter for Europe?” There is no simple answer to this. Indeed the visions of the major parties on the future of the eurozone and the union as…

  • Much Ado about Nothing

    As many readers will have heard or read through other media, the last few weeks have seen a political crisis emerge, develop and finally subside in Portugal. The plot has been a convoluted one, with much toing-and-froing and backtracking, as well as attempts to change the game altogether – but all it came down to…

  • German Government Embraces Multi-Speed Europe

    It almost slipped off my radar in the summer break, which Berlin dived into at the end of June: the German government seems to change course on its stance towards a multi-speed Europe or, as analysts like to put it, differentiated integration. If this is really the case then here is some revolutionary news that…

  • Barroso Stretches the Limits of Subsidiarity

    By Adriaan Schout and Judith Hoevenaars (Instituut Clingendael) The eurocrisis has reignited debates on subsidiarity. On June 21st, the Dutch government presented the (disappointing) results of a subsidiarity review, listing 54 EU measures or policy fields which could better be regulated at the national level. The UK is working on a more extensive proposal to…

  • German Federal Constitutional Court Chews on Role of European Central Bank

    Verdicts from Karlsruhe usually serve as pacifiers for the German public and, more recently, for the eurozone as a whole. Remember the ruling on the ESM and the Fiscal Compact, which the German Federal Constitutional Court concluded was reconcilable with the country’s basic law, or Grundgesetz, in September 2012. What a relief this announcement was…

  • Reckless Spending and Excessive Wage Growth: Myths Debunked

    If I were to pinpoint the two most harmful and most often repeated myths at the core of the orthodox account of the euro crisis, these would surely be, first, that the public debt crisis across the eurozone was solely or mostly caused by reckless government spending; and second, that the fundamental competitiveness problem of…

  • The Commission and the European Semester: is the Fox Guarding the Chicken?

    2013 is a pivotal year for Commissioner Rehn, the European Semester and the Commission. All three have had to prove their legitimacy regarding economic governance. Rehn’s credibility and that of the European Semester centre on the reputation of the Commission and that of DG EcFin in particular. Given the importance of the European Semester, it…

  • Frau Merkel and the ‘C-Word’

    Both the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have just published findings about the performance of the German economy and the state of structural reforms. While there is plenty of discussions in Berlin about what ‘the others’ (in particular France) are not getting right, there is not much of a debate on what…