Angela Merkel, political leadership and the Euro crisis
Many observers expect the German elections on Sunday to result in a third mandate for Angela Merkel but with a switch in government coalition partner from the more free market liberals of the FDP to...
View ArticleDivided leadership in the biggest world economies?
Lack of leadership is how many have characterised the European Union over the past years. Europeans reacted too slowly to the Euro crisis, it is argued, and kicked the can down the road as their...
View ArticleSinners and Saints in the Eurozone Crisis
In a talk at Harvard, German central bank governor Jens Weidmann warned against an overload of expectations on the European Central Bank for resolving the Euro crisis. Having recently opposed a...
View Article2014 European elections: an electoral shake-up, and a similar Parliament?
From January onwards, the election heat will rise in Brussels. Next May, people in 28 European Union countries can vote for a new European Parliament. With widespread anger at austerity and record...
View ArticleA bonus under your Christmas tree?
End of the year marks the start of the bonus season on Wall Street and in the City of London. Stories on who gets what will be followed closely, not just by anti-bank populists but also by traders...
View ArticleElections, change and policy legacy
European Union watchers are bracing themselves for the political excitement of the next seven weeks. All major political parties will nominate their candidate for the European Commission Presidency,...
View ArticleCrisis, deficits and democracy
As the May European elections are approaching for the 28 member countries, it is time to revisit the famous or rather infamous “democratic deficit” in European Union decision-making. Singing Power to...
View ArticleThe German Judge and the Italian Banker
Wednesday, on a flight from Brussels to Boston, the NSA agent sitting next to me had a transcript from a telephone conversation between Herbert Landau, who is a judge on Germany’s Federal...
View ArticleWhat kind of EU democracy is emerging?
All political party candidates for the European Commission Presidency are known since last Friday when the majority of European People’s Party delegates in Dublin designated Jean-Claude Juncker from...
View ArticleCrimea and Kosovo, one stands where one sits
Vladimir Putin stated on Tuesday that Crimea and Kosovo are both break-away regions where an ethnic minority used its unilateral right to secede from their state. He accused the US of applying double...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....