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Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

02.11.10: Brussels lays down plans for permanent bailout mechanism - 0 views

euractiv.com/...-bailout-mechanism-news-500203

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 02 Dec 10 - Cached
  • With the future of the euro currency in the balance, the European Commission on Wednesday (1 December) outlined details for a permanent strategy to help countries at risk of defaulting on their debts.
  • The European Commission presented plans for fundamental treaty changes that will extend the current aid mechanism – the European Financial Stability Facility – beyond its 2013 sunset provision. Details of the proposal will be debated by European leaders at their next EU summit on 16-17 December. The changes, which have been rumoured in financial markets for weeks, would increase risk for sovereign investors. Under the proposal, bonds issued after June 2013 would include a provision to allow creditors to renegotiate new terms if the country is on the brink of insolvency.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Irish government applies for EU#-IMF bail-out of up to € 90 billion - 0 views

euobserver.com/31321

eu-policies currency-policy economic-policy eu-policy_memberstates ireland euro eurozone

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 22 Nov 10 - Cached

  • The Irish government has applied for an EU-IMF bail-out of up to €90 billion to save its banking sector from collapse and reduce its borrowing costs, a move that in effect places Irish democracy, like that of Greece, under the protectorship of experts from Brussels and Washington.

    Ireland's finance minister, Brian Lenihan, made the announcement speaking to public radio on Sunday evening (21 November) that he would recommend the application to a cabinet meeting later that night. The taoiseach, the country's prime minister, Brian Cowen, publicly addressed his nation, admitting to what had been denied for a week.

Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

23.11.10: Merkel - euro in 'serious condition'. Rehn - adoption of the Irish budget in ... - 0 views

euobserver.com/31337

eu-policies currency-policy economic-policy euro eurozone eu-policy_memberstates ireland germany eu-commission

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 24 Nov 10 - Cached
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday (23 November) warned that the euro is in an "exceptionally serious" situation as the European Commission issued a veiled warning to the Irish political class not to topple the government. "I don't want to paint a dramatic picture, but I just want to say that a year ago we couldn't imagine the debate we had in the spring and the measures we had to take," she said in a speech in Berlin to the Confederation of German Employers, the BDA.
  • Meanwhile, EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn issued a veiled warning to Irish opposition politicians not to topple the government. Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg asking about worries the Fianna Fail-Green government in Dublin could fall, Mr Rehn said: "Stability is important." "We don't have a position on the domestic democratic politics of Ireland but it is essential that the budget will be adopted in time and we will be able to conclude the negotiations on the EU-IMF programme in time."
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

24.11.10: Ireland unveils radical austerity program to meet conditions of the EU-IMF ba... - 0 views

euobserver.com/31348

eu-policies currency-policy economic-policy euro eurozone eu-policy_memberstates ireland

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 24 Nov 10 - Cached
  • The Irish government has unveiled a far-reaching austerity package with sweeping cuts and tax hikes in an effort to meet the tough conditions of an €85 billion EU-IMF bail-out plan, an architecture of adjustment that will radically alter the very structure of how the country is run.
  • It is a plan that will hit every citizen and sector of the Irish economy, but will hit working people, students and low-income earners the hardest, a move that has already provoked both a deep fury from many but also a bitter resignation amongst others. Key measures include a slashing of welfare benefits, a hiking and broadening of income taxes, a sharp increase in university fees, the imposition of property taxes and water charges.
  • Dublin appears to have won the day against pressure from other EU member states and the commission that it hike its ultra-low corporation tax of 12.5 percent, calling the rate "a cornerstone of our industrial policy". Acquiescing to an IMF demand that labour costs be slashed, pay for minimum wage earners will be reduced by a full 12 percent, higher than the 10 percent that had been predicted, from €8.65 an hour to €7.65.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Naurin (2010): Out in the cold? Flexible integration and the political status of Euro o... - 0 views

eup.sagepub.com/...485.abstract

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 03 Dec 10 - Cached
  • A common argument against flexible integration as a solution to increased preference heterogeneity is that a likely consequence for those member states opting out of the enhanced cooperation is a loss of status and influence generally in the European Union (EU). It has been argued, for example, that the decisions by Denmark, Sweden and the UK not to join the Euro is considered to be free-riding, which leads to a bad reputation and exclusion from informal networks. We test this proposed free-rider effect by comparing the network capital of Euro-outsiders with insiders in the Council of the EU, using survey data of more than 600 member state representatives. The findings speak strongly against the free-rider hypothesis, as the Euro-outsiders are highly ranked in terms of network capital.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

31.12.08: Corruption in Bulgaria tests EU expansion - 0 views

www.csmonitor.com/...p06s04-wogn.html

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 31 Dec 08 - Cached
  • Frustrations mount over Bulgaria – the most violent, corrupt, and poorest of EU members. Aid is being withheld as reform promises are made (and broken). Can it be fixed?
  • Bulgaria's case was putting the credibility of EU enlargement at stake: Brussels needed to send a message to those arguing against further expansion and to candidates banging on the door, including Croatia, Serbia, Albania, and Turkey. Just last month, EU officials warned Croatia that its failure to crack down on organized crime and corruption jeopardizes its chance to join the EU next year. "Brussels needed to get serious, to show they're not just taking a country's word for fighting corruption," says Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Center for European Reform in London. "If they can't do that with Bulgaria, how are you going to do that with the countries still queuing outside?" In late November, Brussels slapped Sofia with an unprecedented penalty, withdrawing €220 million ($315 million) in development assistance – less than the initial threat of €500 million, but still a huge sum for the poorest EU member.
  • When Bulgaria and Romania were finally admitted to the EU in January 2007, they became the first to enter with strings attached: They were given several months to clean up their legal systems and to develop methods of tracking EU funding. Promises were made, but deadlines were missed, prompting a growing litany of threats from Brussels.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The next EU evaluation of Bulgaria is due in January. Another $15 billion in assistance that Bulgaria stands to receive from the EU over the next few years could be pulled. A greater humiliation, says Ruslan Stefanov, an analyst with the Center for Study of Democracy in Sofia, would be internal shunning: Brussels could bar Bulgaria from joining both the eurozone of shared European currency and the visa-free travel area known as the "Schengen." Something has to give. Bulgarian lawmakers, up for reelection next year, find little sympathy at home. Opinion polls indicate greater support for Brussels than their own leaders.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

04.01.08: Smooth switch to euro in Cyprus and Malta - 0 views

euobserver.com/25395

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 04 Jan 08 - Cached
  • The European Commission has praised the smooth changeover to the euro in the two newest eurozone member countries, Cyprus and Malta, while the effect on their overall inflation rates is to be evaluated later.
  • In comparison, the 2007 switchover to the euro in Slovenia was followed by higher prices for some services, such as restaurants and cafes. Meanwhile, figures late last year indicated a significant rise in overall consumer price inflation in the ex-Yugoslav country, with the commission predicting an average level of 3.5 percent in 2007 and 3.7 percent in 2008, compared to 2.5 percent in 2006.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

19.02.10: Commissioner calls for 'deeds' in Macedonia name dispute - 0 views

euobserver.com/29512

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 20 Feb 10 - Cached
  • A solution to Macedonia's name dispute with Greece should be found in the coming four months, so as to start EU accession negotiations under the Spanish EU presidency, enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said during his visit to Skopje on Friday (19 February). "There is a unique opportunity to find a solution and it should be seized. I am fully committed to supporting the talks, which along with the required political will, should lead to a solution," Mr Fuele told local media after meeting Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
  • It is still unknown how Greece's current financial and economic troubles will have an impact on the Macedonian name dispute. Athens is currently under tremendous pressure from big eurozone countries such as Germany and France to cut back spending and provide accurate data on its deficit, while facing unprecedented scrutiny by the European Commission. Some diplomats suggest that this offers a window of opportunity which should be seized, while others say that because of the painful economic measures, Athens will be even less inclined to compromise on the name issue, a matter of national pride.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

Hungary outlines EU presidency priorities (SETimes.com) - 0 views

www.setimes.com/...feature-01

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 29 Dec 10 - Cached
  • Hungary, which is due to replace Belgium at the EU helm on January 1st, has said that further consolidation and enlargement of the 27-nation bloc will be among the key priorities of its six-month chairmanship of the Union.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

28.02.11: Lukewarm response to Barroso-Van-Rompuy economic plan - 1 views

euobserver.com/31890

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shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 01 Mar 11 - Cached
  • New proposals on joint economic governance put forward by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy on Monday (28 February) have failed to overcome resistance from some member states.
  • The Barroso-Van-Rompuy plan does contain a requirement that German-style 'debt brakes' be implemented across the eurozone, however. Resistance to this element comes from those who do not want to open the Pandora's Box of constitutional amendments this could entail. Opposition to the Franco-German pact also revolved around the proposal that countries that maintain inflation-indexed wage systems abandon this practice. Belgium and Luxembourg in particular were resistant.
  • As key figures on the left in Europe, including within the commission itself, have begun to issue their misgivings over the path of austerity chosen by the EU as a response to the crisis, the commission warned social democrats that throughout the crisis, they have also backed this process. Last week, Greece's EU commissioner, Maria Damanaki, publicly distanced herself from EU austerity, saying it is leading to "social degradation." Former commission president Jacques Delors, a French Socialist, has also called the commission's recent Annual Growth Survey, a first step in the EU's new system of oversight of and intervention in national budgets, as "The most reactionary document ever produced by the commission."
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

04.03.11: European Socialists propose alternative to Barroso-Van-Rompuy pact - 0 views

euobserver.com/31928

eu-policies monetary-policy currency-policy economic-policy eu-policy_memberstates eu-policy_political_parties EU-socialists

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 05 Mar 11 - Cached
  • Europe's Socialist leaders have proposed a ‘growth pact' as an alternative to the ‘competitiveness pact' originally proposed by France and Germany as a solution to the bloc's economic woes. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and most of the continent's social democratic leaders, many of whom currently sit on opposition benches in their parliaments, including French Socialist leader Martine Aubry and Germany's head of the SPD, Sigmar Gabriel, met at a summit in Athens to co-ordinate their strategy ahead of an EU summit where a ‘comprehensive response' to the eurozone crisis is to be finalised.
  • The centre-left leaders endorsed a plan that still backs austerity, but alongside it the introduction of a financial transactions tax that they say would deliver €250 billion a year to European coffers that could be invested in green technologies and infrastructure.
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

04.03.11: Centre-right leaders prepare economic battle-lines - 0 views

euobserver.com/31927

eu-policies monetary-policy currency-policy economic-policy eu-policy_memberstates political_parties

shared by Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann on 05 Mar 11 - Cached
  • Europe's centre-right leaders are gathering in Helsinki to prepare the political family's strategy ahead of two crucial summits on economic issues later this month. An overhaul of the bloc's emergency lending fund, fiscal discipline and measures to boost economic competitiveness are all high on the agenda of Friday (4 March) evening's meeting. Print Comment article "We are preparing for the eurozone summit on 11 March so we can agree on significant measures there to stabilise the euro and strengthen the competitiveness of the EU," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists prior to the talks.
  • Berlin meanwhile is keen so see any changes to Europe's emergency lending fund accompanied by tough new fiscal laws and measures to boost the economic competitiveness of member states.
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