Europe

Gideon Rachman What Thatcher got right about the euro

April 14, 2013 8:49 pm by Gideon Rachman

In the week of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral – and with the euro-crisis bubbling along – it is interesting to take a look back at what Thatcher had to say about the single currency. Much of the commentary since her death has portrayed Thatcher’s views on Europe as irrational and backward-looking. For example, Anne-Marie Slaughter in the FT, wrote that “her attitude to Europe was a throwback to the 19th century”. For good measure, Prof Slaughter adds that Thatcher’s views were “deeply anachronistic and dangerous”. Of course, there was a strong element of emotion in Thatcher’s views of Europe. So what? It is more interesting to note that she also made some quite precise criticisms of the European single currency that look increasingly prescient, as time wears on. Read more

Posted in Britain, Europe, Financial crisis, France, Germany, Greece, Italy |

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

April 11, 2013 11:49 pm by Financial Times

Portugal’s painful austerity programme runs into trouble
Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal’s prime minister, is one of Europe’s staunchest backers of austerity. But his government’s painful two-year programme of structural adjustment has yet to deliver the results promised. And late last week, the country’s constitutional court issued a ruling that could fatally undermine his efforts to get the economy back on track. Read more

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Posted in Europe, Financial crisis |
From FT.com April 8, 2013

By Gideon Rachman
Margaret Thatcher had an impact on the global scene that is still playing out today. The three most important aspects of her legacy were her impact on globalisation, on the EU and on the cold war. Of the three, only the debates surrounding the cold war are now safely consigned to the past. Read more

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Posted in Britain, Europe, World affairs |

Gideon Rachman Spain, and the threat from Portugal and Cyprus

April 7, 2013 12:20 pm by Gideon Rachman

The refusal of the Portuguese courts to authorise the full version of the latest round of austerity cuts will be watched closely in neighbouring Spain – which is, of course, a bigger and more systemically important economy. The Spanish fear that, economically and politically, Portugal offers a vision of their future. The recession there is deeper and so are the cuts to government spending. But with Spain facing another year of recession and cuts – the Spanish too are wondering how long their public will tolerate austerity. Read more

Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, Spain |
From FT.com March 25, 2013

By Gideon Rachman

In the end, the Cypriots swallowed the bitter medicine. Facing national humiliation and a bleak future many complain their small nation has been forced to succumb to the will of a larger, merciless power – Germany. Read more

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Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, Germany |

FT podcast: World Weekly with Gideon Rachman

March 21, 2013 10:47 pm by Financial Times

What lies ahead for Cyprus and the eurozone?
After a failed bailout plan that involved taxing the deposits of small savers, Cyprus is now the epicentre of the eurozone crisis. Lawmakers are now seeking an alternative before Monday, when the European Central Bank will cut emergency liquidity to Cyprus’s foundering banks. Kerin Hope, Greece and Cyprus correspondent; Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief; and Patrick Jenkins, banking editor, join Ben Hall to discuss what’s happened and what lies ahead. Read more

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Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, Foreign affairs |

Ferdinando Giugliano Waiting for white smoke in Italian politics

March 20, 2013 8:35 pm by Ferdinando Giugliano

Situation vacant? Mario Monti (Getty)

There were two big job vacancies in Rome last month. The Catholic Church began looking for a new pope after the shock resignation of Benedict XVI. Meanwhile, Italians went about the business of picking a new head of government who would end Mario Monti’s technocratic interlude.

The Vatican is not exactly known for its speedy decision-making. Yet it only took the conclave of cardinals a couple of days to elect Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new head of the church. Pope Francis – as he is now – is already making headlines with his new message centred on the need for a humbler and more austere church.

On the other side of the Tiber, Italian politicians are still struggling to choose a new prime minister. Today and tomorrow, President Giorgio Napolitano is meeting party leaders and other institutional figures to talk about what to do next. But Italy-watchers do not expect white smoke to come out of the presidential palace any time soon.

Last month’s inconclusive elections have produced a three-way deadlock in the Senate between Pier Luigi Bersani’s centre-left coalition, Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right alliance, and Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement. The only solution to the impasse is a government that is backed by at least two of these forces. But this trilemma has no easy solution. Read more

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Posted in Europe, Foreign affairs, Italy, Italy elections, World affairs |
From FT.com March 18, 2013

By Gideon Rachman
European leaders must surely know that they are taking a big risk with Cyprus. The danger is obvious. Now that everybody with money in Cypriot banks is being forced to take a hit, nervous depositors elsewhere in Europe might notice that a dangerous precedent has been set. Rather than run even a small risk of an unwanted financial “haircut” in the future, the customers of Greek, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian banks might choose to get their money out now. If that starts to happen, the euro crisis will be back on again – with a vengeance. Read more

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Posted in Europe, Financial crisis |
From FT.com March 4, 2013

By Gideon Rachman

Some months ago, I was discussing the euro crisis with a high-ranking US diplomat. “It’s back to the 1930s, isn’t it?” said my companion with a mixture of gloom and relish. “The extremists are on the rise.” Read more

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Posted in Europe, Financial crisis, Italy, Italy elections |

From Monti, a warning to France…and others

February 28, 2013 5:50 pm by Financial Times

Monti casts his vote in this week’s Italian parliamentary elections.

Just 48 hours after receiving a drubbing at the polls, outgoing Italian prime minister Mario Monti came to Brussels and delivered his first major address since the election, in which he issued a dire warning to other leaders attempting to reform their countries in the midst of a deepening recession: what just happened to me can happen to you.

Monti’s remarks, which appeared off the cuff, came at the end of a detailed review of Italian and EU competition policy as part of a conference Thursday hosted by Joaquin Almunia, one of Monti’s successors as EU competition commissioner.

Monti warned that because economies take a long time to grow after implementing tough austerity and economic reform measures, public opinion quickly turns against the policies and the result is “the coming up of political forces that, of course, oppose the right policies” – a not-so-veiled reference to the Five Star Movement of Italian populist Beppe Grillo, which well outpolled Monti’s coalition in this week’s vote.

 Read more

Posted in Europe |
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