Single market, competition & trade
Eurozone debt crisis: To restructure or not?
01 June 2011
In March, European leaders agreed a 'grand bargain' that was designed to restore flagging confidence in the eurozone. The deal, they hoped, would return the most troubled countries – Greece, Ireland and Portugal – to debt sustainability and prevent catastrophic contagion to other, larger economies such as Italy and Spain.
Financial regulation: Will British euroscepticism collide with European populism?
21 May 2011
When EU finance ministers met in Brussels on 18 May, many observers expected sparks to fly. The reason? This was the first EU meeting that Britain’s newly-elected government would attend.
Debt restructuring will not end the euro crisis
09 May 2011
Even as the ink is still drying on Portugal’s EU/IMF ‘bail-out’ agreement, it is becoming clear that Greece’s 2010 bail-out has failed to improve the sustainability of its public finances.
The EU budget: The Union risks having the wrong debate
01 April 2011
In an age of fiscal austerity, the focus of the forthcoming EU budget talks will be even more strongly on net balances: how much a country pays in and how much it gets back.
The eurozone's grand bargain: Political pain without economic gain?
01 April 2011
Ever since the eurozone crisis broke out in late 2009, European leaders have sought to reconcile two mutually incompatible objectives: the need to restore market confidence in the zone's indebted periphery; and the unbending refusal of creditor countries in the core to turn the zone into a 'transfer union'.
Europe's damaging obsession with 'competitiveness'
31 March 2011
Many European policy-makers and business leaders believe that a country's economic growth prospects depend on its ability to capture a growing share of global markets.
Issue 77 - 2011
25 March 2011
- Europe needs a military avant-garde, Charles Grant
- The eurozone's grand bargain: Political pain without economic gain? , Philip Whyte
- The EU budget: The Union risks having the wrong debate, Stephen Tindale
A chance for further CAP reform
28 February 2011
This policy brief argues that the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy which Commissioner Fischler began over a decade ago must now be completed.
Is Germany really rebalancing?
01 February 2011
Germany has rightly been criticised for its dependence on exports and its huge trade surpluses. In normal times, when economies are growing healthily, trade imbalances pose less of a problem.
Issue 76 - 2011
28 January 2011
- European political parties are the key to EU legitimacy, Sir Julian Priestley
- A new opportunity for EU foreign policy, Charles Grant, Katinka Barysch, Tomas Valasek
- Is Germany really rebalancing?, Simon Tilford
Can Greece be saved?
20 January 2011
Will Greece have to restructure its debt? Among most West European economists and investors, this now seems to be a foregone conclusion.
Reflections on Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and the euro
13 January 2011
At the end of last year, Europe lost Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, an eminent central banker and economist, and one of the founding fathers of the euro.
Eurozone: Time for damage limitation
09 December 2010
Time is running out to prevent the eurozone crisis from imperilling Europe's banking system and with it the integrity of the currency union. It is beholden on policy-makers to minimise the economic (and hence political costs) to the EU.
The next five years of the euro crisis: Five key questions
01 December 2010
Will the euro break up?
The euro crisis is rooted in structural imbalances that even on an optimistic scenario will endure for years. Germany has a current account surplus and weak domestic demand, while Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - after years of profligacy - suffer from current account deficits...
The euro crisis is rooted in structural imbalances that even on an optimistic scenario will endure for years. Germany has a current account surplus and weak domestic demand, while Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain - after years of profligacy - suffer from current account deficits...
The eurozone enters a critical phase
01 December 2010
On November 21st Ireland accepted financial support totalling around €90 billion from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). There was an awful inevitability about this outcome.
Issue 75 - 2010
26 November 2010
- The eurozone enters a critical phase, Simon Tilford
- The next five years of the euro crisis: Five key questions, Charles Grant
- Britain cannot afford to neglect EU defence efforts, Clara Marina O'Donnell
Why Berlin won't back down on euro reform
19 November 2010
The German plan for a eurozone insolvency procedure has spooked the markets and drawn political fire.
Eurozone policy-makers are playing with fire
15 November 2010
There is an awful inevitability about the latest instalment of the eurozone crisis, which looks highly likely to culminate in Ireland being forced to seek a bailout from the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).
Why Germany is not a model for the eurozone
22 October 2010
Many Europeans believe that confidence in the eurozone is best restored by turning the region into a larger version of present-day Germany. However, Germany is not the world-beating economy of current myth.
What currency wars mean for the eurozone
15 October 2010
The dollar has now fallen to $1.40 against the euro. This is still below the low of almost $1.60 that it reached in the middle in July 2008, but it represents a steep decline from under $1.20 in early June. Moreover, the US currency is likely to weaken further.