The Greek Way of Life – Austerity measures aimed at rescuing Greece have hammered the economy, the Washington Post reports. Figures released Tuesday show the GDP dropped by 7% for the final quarter of 2011. Response to the …
Greece
“The German conversation is obsessed with export and national competitiveness.”
50%
Why Did Merkel Endorse Sarkozy’s French Presidential Re-Election Bid?
How odd is this picture? The leader of one country visits the head of state of a neighboring nation to explicitly support the host’s uphill re-election plans — despite the political and diplomatic problems that may arise if …
General Strike Leads to Anti-Austerity Protests in Greece
Alarmed by another round of budget cuts, the country’s two main trade unions went on strike against policies they claim have pushed the economy into a downward spiral.
Human Rights Under Threat: Five Not-So-Usual Suspects
Human Rights Watch this week released its 2012 World Report. The 676-page write-up covers some of the biggest stories of the year, including China’s crackdown on dissent, ongoing attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic …
For Now, the Eurozone and the Markets Pooh-pooh the Downgrades. But the Long-Term Looms
Modestly positive trading on European stock markets Monday morning appeared to confirm what euro zone leaders had predicted for weeks: that the decision Friday by Standard & Poor’s to cut the credit rating of nine European …
Yesterday’s Gone: Euro Optimism Goes Flat and Here Comes 2012
As has become common during the nearly two years of Europe’s escalating debt crisis, reasons for guarded optimism that surfaced this week are being replaced with concern and doubt. In the wake of last week’s uplifting news …
More Taxes, Please: We’re French
Europe may be agonizing amid the worst financial crisis since the Second World War, but that still isn’t forcing France to accept the logic of economic liberalism that dominates much of world. That largely “Anglo-Saxon” …
The French on a Credit Downgrade Threat: Pick on Britain
Tis the season—for painful downgrades by credit agencies that is, as Thursday’s move by Fitch targeting six of the world’s largest banks again shows. And indeed, because such action is now so common, the big question …
As the Crisis Refuses to Calm, Scenarios of Euro Collapse Appear
Despite the distracting political drama over the UK’s outlier rejection at last week’s European Union agreement on fiscal and budgetary coordination, it’s now become clear that main objective of the collective effort–to ensure …
Crunch Time for the Euro and Europe: Taking Note of the Elephant
Elephant, meet room.
Doubt and despair returned to Europe by Tuesday despite positive reaction a day earlier to the French-German proposals to save the teetering euro. The reason? The pachyderm in the room that markets see all …
Is Sarkozy and Merkel’s New Debt Proposal The Beginning of The End To The Euro Crisis?
The details of the campaign by France and Germany to save the euro became a little clearer Monday though substantial questions about it remain as the week winds toward a European Union summit on the euro crisis summit on Friday. …