Category Archives: Visions of the Political Future of Europe

Where you can find me these days

Posted on June 13, 2019 by fmpdea

As expected, I have moved to fresher pastures. I have been the Economics Editor at sister publications NordSIP and Ekonamik since the beginning of January 2019 and want to invite you to check out our content. Both publications are focused … Continue reading →

Posted in A € for your Thoughts, Aides Memoire, Banking, Blog Maintenance, Brazil, China, Current Events, ECB, Economic Concepts, Euro-zone Update, European Integration, European Interdependences, European National Politics, Finance, History, Indicators, Inflation, Media Coverage, News Round up & Comment, Political Concepts, Risk Scenario Analysis, Sovereign debt Crisis, UK, USA, Visions of the Political Future of Europe, Week Ahead, Weekly Bond Yield developments in the Euro Area, World Affairs | Leave a comment

American & Russian pressures build momentum towards a European army

Posted on March 9, 2015 by fmpdea

Every-so-often, discussions emerge regarding the need of establishing a European army. This is an idea as old as post-WWII European integration and the European Defence Community proposed in 1952 that died with the 1954 veto of the European Political Community. Beyond the … Continue reading →

Posted in A € for your Thoughts, Current Events, European Integration, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged EU army, Javier Solana, June 2015 Council Meeting, Junker, NeoCons, Russia, USA | 6 Comments

Germany’s Credit Fuelled Growth – Facts and Incomplete Recommendations

Posted on December 5, 2014 by fmpdea

Some time ago, I came across this European Voice article by Adair Turner, senior fellow at the Institute for New Economic Thinking and at the centre for financial studies in Frankfurt. He argues that German growth has been fuelled by foreign … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Concepts, European History, European Integration, Sovereign debt Crisis, Uncategorized, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged 1923, Adair Turner, Competitive Devaluation, current account, Debt Monetisation, ECB, Euro-Zone Crisis Management, Euro-Zone exit, George Soros, Germany, Germany's credit-fuelled growth, Hyper-inflation, Leverage, Moral Hazard, Optimum Currency Area, Ruhr, Savings, Seignoriage, Unit Labour Costs, Weimar Republic, Zimbabwe | Leave a comment

3 Accounts of Euro-Zone Crisis Management

Posted on November 21, 2014 by fmpdea

If you are interested in EU integration and if you’ve been following the Euro-Zone crisis for the last 5 years, then last week would have definitely registered the publication of the following blog post by Peter Spiegel on the FT’s Brussels … Continue reading →

Posted in A € for your Thoughts, ECB, European History, European Integration, European National Politics, Finance, Media Coverage, Sovereign debt Crisis, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged Deauville, Debt haircut, Discord, Draghi, EFSF, Euro-Zone Crisis Management, European Leadership, France, Geithner, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Matt Persson, OMT, Peter Spiegel, Sovereign debt crisis negotiations, Tony Barber | Leave a comment

Euroscepticism in the UK and the EU Budget – a case study

Posted on October 31, 2014 by fmpdea

Every so often I’ll be talking with people regarding the special brand of Euroscepticism that prevails in the UK and think to myself I don’t really have a serious case study in mind. Sure, there’s the Daily Express’ “Get us … Continue reading →

Posted in European Integration, European Interdependences, European National Politics, Uncategorized, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged Alienating EU partners, Capitalism, Capture, CIti AM, David Cameron, EU Budget, Euroscepticism, Growth, Identity, Kenneth Clarke, Leading from the rear, Media, Narratives, Norms, Paul Ormerod, Progressive Taxation, State Revenues, Theresa May, UK | Leave a comment

Challenges and the Future of Africa – What insights for Europe?

Posted on October 24, 2014 by fmpdea

On Wednesday, October 8th 2014, I was among the audience of the Wincott Lecture (hosted by the eponymous Foundation at Local Government House in London) given by Professor Sir Paul Collier, author of “The Bottom Billion – Why the poorest … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Concepts, European Integration, European Interdependences, European National Politics, Political Concepts, Uncategorized, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged Africa, Challenges for Africa, Corruption, cultural subsidiarity, Economic policies, economic subsidiarity, Europe, How Sociology links with Economics and Politics, Identity, Industrial Policy, Institutions, Narratives, Norms, Paul Collier, predation, Sociology, the tension between cultural and economic subsidiarity | Leave a comment

3 lessons from the Scottish referendum: the insult, the fear and the pork – where to from here?

Posted on October 17, 2014 by fmpdea

This post could have also been named “How to campaign: confirmation bias, framework effects and the flypaper effect“. But I’m trying to go for a less academic tone these days, so I thought I should at least give the post … Continue reading →

Posted in European Integration, European National Politics, History, Uncategorized, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, Aquitaine, Balkanisation of Europe, Brittany, Buying Votes, Catalonia, Confirmation Bias, Corsica, Elite assimilation, fear, Framing Effects, France, HIghland Clearances, Independentism, insult, Irish Potato Famine, Languedoc, Occitanie, Pork Barrel, Portugal, Referendum, Regionalism, Scotland, Scottish Independence, Spain, UK, UK membership of the EU | Leave a comment

2014 European Parliament Election Review – It’s not the end of the world…

Posted on May 28, 2014 by fmpdea

Following last Sunday’s European Parliament election the press has been gloomy and for a time, so was I. This is a quick post to see the forest and the trees and to consider “how much wood can these wood chucks … Continue reading →

Economic Growth and Military Expenditure: R&D, Consumption, Capture – What Future for Europe?

Posted on April 24, 2014 by fmpdea

Before anything else, I want to start by acknowledging the fact that the focus of this article represents a relatively narrow section of what is an enormously interesting, fertile and relevant field of economics with much to contribute to societal welfare and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economic Concepts, European History, European Integration, Political Concepts, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged Acemoglu et al. (2010), Atomic energy, Barro and Redlick (2011), Bionics, CERN, CFSP, China, Computers, Economies of Scale, European Military Integration, Exoskeletons, Fiscal Multipliers, France, Funding Government Spending, Germany, Ilzetzki et al (2010), Internet, Military Capture, Military coups, Military R&D, Missiles, Patents, Quantum Computing, R&D and Economic Growth, Research and Development, Returns to scale, Robotics, Ruttan (2006), Touchscreens, USA, World Wide Web, WWW | Leave a comment

How Will Europe’s Crisis End? And When?

Posted on September 13, 2013 by fmpdea

This post is based on a report I wrote some time ago about the future of the Euro-Zone crisis. It is divided in four parts: The first offers a recap of the crisis until May 2013. No details as to … Continue reading →

Posted in European Integration, Finance, Risk Scenario Analysis, Sovereign debt Crisis, Uncategorized, Visions of the Political Future of Europe | Tagged Crisis, Cyprus, ECB, EU, Euro-zone, Euro-Zone breakup, European Central Bank, European Fiscal Federalism, European Union, EZ, Fiscal Federalism, France, Future of the Euro-Zone, Germany, Greece, How Will Europe’s Crisis End?, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sovereign debt, Sovereign Debt Crisis, Sovereign debt Yields, Spain, Stealth Mutualisation, When will the Euro-Zone Crisis end? | Leave a comment