Morgan Kelly, the reluctant hero of Michael Lewis’ tale of Gaelic misadventure and Irish banking woes in March’s Vanity Fair, had the leading op-ed in Ireland Sunday warning that by agreeing to a bailout, the Irish economy has actually doomed its economy. To recap, in 2009 the Irish government decided to nationalize four major banks […]
Germany and Austria opened their labor markets for the EU class of 2004 over the weekend, the last EU nations to do so. However, based on press reports from Germany and Poland, there appear to be divergent views regarding how much labor will actually transfer. The Frankfurter Allegmeine Zeitung believes that any Pole seeking work […]
European leaders seem to ardent letter writers, after Sarkozy’s and Berlusconi’s co-missive to EU Commission President Barroso, the latter has now replied. In the case of the Franco-Italian letter dealing with a – supposed – immigration crisis caused by more than 20,000 recent arrivals from Tunisia, most observers focused on the proposal of a temporary […]
A judge ruled today that the trial of controversial Dutch minister Geert Wilders trail can resume in two weeks. Wilders has compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “I’ve had enough of Islam in the Netherlands – ban that fascist book,” he said. In fact he was wrung up on both comments individually; the judge […]
Elections in two German states (Länder) led to one historic result while confirming the national government’s unpopularity and its perceived mishandling of a number of (inter)national and local issues. A historically unprecedented development is the emergence of the Greens as a third major party which will lead a coalition on eye level – there is […]
Okay, I’m ready to reconsider my previous criticism of Catherine Ashton and her seeming fecklessness on hammering out a common EU foreign policy. Though it’s been clear since the Libyan crisis began that EU coordination has been disorganized at best, this summary from Deutsche Presse-Agenteur demonstrates that any hope for a coherent security policy, in […]
So posits Teresa de Sousa, a columnist in the Portugese daily Público, anticipating yesterday’s announcement that Prime Minister José Sócrates is resigning after parliament rejected his austerity plan. De Sousa points out that the country was poised to receive favorable terms on accessing the Eurozone’s provisional rescue fund if it adopted the EU’s so-called competitiveness […]
Long op-ed in La Repubblica yesterday about the failure of Europe to resolve its Mediterranean question, defined as a lack of economic integration, the ongoing immigration crisis, corruption and environmental concerns. The piece recounts the litany of declarations, conferences and organizations over the past few decades that grapple with these issues, culminating most recently with […]
It’s Saturday morning Central European time and the world has changed significantly in the last week. Fukushima has confirmed the worst suspicions of the possibilities of a nuclear meltdown which industry and political experts had been denouncing as outrageously wild for decades. Meanwhile a French proposition to enact – and enforce – a no-fly zone […]
…and other positions of European countries explained through song in this brilliant WSJ post: “EU Politics Explained Through Song“
Joe Biden made a pit stop in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, during his recent trip to Europe. On paper, the visit was designed to acknowledge the people behind the tiny former Soviet satellite’s minor color revolution (and some say first Twitter revolution) in 2009. But nothing happens in Eastern Europe without a Russian subtext, […]
Image courtesy news.bbc.co.uk In light of this morning’s news of another flotilla of North African migrants approaching Lampedusa in Italy, wanted to quickly post a link (in French) to an excellent post on the generally-excellent BondyBlog, which covers issues related to inner-city France and Europe. It is a first-hand account of what leads one of […]
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