Monthly Archives: February 2011

Events to look out for in March 2011: Black Swans

I had originally called this section “Economic Developments”, but in truth, it seemed too restricted an approach. In this section I like to consider that which we all fail to see because we are too immersed in our little lives … Continue reading

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Events to look out for in March 2011: Council Meetings

From a purely economic point of view, there will be three notorious gatherings. The meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB on the 3rd of March, and the two Council of the EU meetings. An informal one will take … Continue reading

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Events to look out for in March 2011: Debt Auctions

Debt auctions always matter, but they matter even more in the present context of solvency and liquidity crises, where the markets fear that sovereigns have digged themselves so deep into debt that they won’t be able to fulfill their obligations. … Continue reading

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Events to look out for in March 2011: Elections

March will be a promising month, kicked off on the heels of a paradigm shifting election in Ireland. As can be read in this article from the FT citing Cian O’Callaghan, “The two largest parties in Ireland for the first … Continue reading

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Events to look out for in March 2011: Introduction

As March dawns upon us, I thought that it would be interesting to inspect the calendars in order to understand what lies ahead for the EU. Particularly, given that I have written so extensively about Portugal, it seemed appropriate to … Continue reading

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Thank you Mr Bini Smaghi, but Fiscal Federalism is not Centralisation…

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Mr Lorenzo Bini Smaghi recently gave a speech where he addressed the issue of European Fiscal Union, at length. That post gave a pure report of the speech and made no efforts to … Continue reading

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A € for your Thoughts (3): Mr Bini Smaghi on European Fiscal Union

Mr Bini Smaghi gave a speech in Hall, Germany, on February 14. His St. Valentines gift to Europe is interesting and much more complicated than this comment from the FT’s money supply leads us to believe. Honestly, I am not … Continue reading

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Euro Update(18): Portugal in the dangerous month ahead

I mentioned that the Portuguese  Finance Minister wasn’t very happy with the result of the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers that took place on Monday. I’m putting my money on the fact that the vote of no confidence scheduled for … Continue reading

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Euro Update(17): Eco-Fin Council – From EFSF to EMS and Portugal

If we are to believe the reports coming out of Monday night’s meeting of eurozone Finance ministers, the metaphorical ball is rolling on the negotiations of the permanent version of the EFSF. According to the FT , the parties agreed … Continue reading

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The EP wants to stay in Brussels, Weber withdraws, Barroso claims relevance and border issues

A quick post with some highlights of the news: So the European Parliament was at it again… They are fed up of having to move to Strasbourg once a month, and rightfully so. As they so often do, they are … Continue reading

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