Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Single Market: How single is single?



A labyrinth of federal, state and local laws make life difficult for average citizens & SMEs even in the USA.

A "single market" that works for ave people & SMEs needs single laws.

Hence a United States of Europe may not be what Europe actually needs. Maybe it's a Federal Republic of Europe? How single is the German single/internal market?


Sunday, June 10, 2012

What does Europe really need?

Food for thought:

Many, among them George Soros (see eg "We need to do whatever we can to convince Germany to show leadership and preserve the European Union as the fantastic object that it used to be. The future of Europe depends on it", June 2) and  Charles S. Maier (professor of history at Harvard, "Europe Needs a German Marshall Plan" New York Times, June 9)  have called on Germany and its PM, Anglea Merkel. to "save" the Eurozone and even the EU. The latter even suggests a German Marshall on Europe.

But as Soros points out in his Trento speech/comments )see link above) the Euro crisis started with a flawed EMU design in the Maastricht Treaty (for which he blames the "center" of Europe as opposed to the "periphery")and adds this crucial comment: "The first step was taken by Germany when, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Angela Merkel declared that the virtual guarantee extended to other financial institutions should come from each country acting separately, not by Europe acting jointly".

As he points out, "it took financial markets more than a year to realize the implication of that declaration, showing that they are not perfect".  That Merkel pinpointed the flaw and limitation of the Maastricht based Euro and EMU.

I would add that Merkel's behaviour in the last 2-3 yrs has turned European political union from a difficult to an impossible mission.

So which are the key elements of a solution to the European predicament?

a) The austerity road? Fewer and fewer yet still many think so.
b) A German Marshall Plan on Europe?
c) An orderly termination of the Euro project, possibly with the beginning of a political union project that may or may not include Germany (a political union of the willing and able (in terms of national Constitutional constraints) not necessarily the same 17 as the Euro, after all such a political union would not include a common currency at first, not until full union was established and working)?

If we accept the premise that the Euro was working until Merkel burst the bubble of a flawed Euro architecture with her post Lehman comments, then maybe, I say, what is needed the most is neither austerity not money or unrealistically urgent (if not clumsy or even barbaric) "structural reforms" in the labour markets etc (economic cold showers for the ordinary people, while popular with many economists and policy makers, can be viewed as a form of "torture") but a concrete affirmation of unity of Europe, the one that Merkel may have burst with her post Lehman comments Soros refers to or Merkel's "micromanagement" of the Euro crisis that inter alia alienated The Greeks and many other Europeans, thus making a political union a near mission impossible (while I( argue, before that, it was difficult already).

What would constitute such a re-affirmation though?

That is Europe current 10 trillion plus survival question.



Sunday, June 3, 2012

Fiscal integration w/o political union?

Fiscal integration? That IMO requires a federal EU or Eurozone income tax thus political union!

Good luck with that Mr.Rajoy et al

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Is there an NRW effect in the SPD?

My understanding is the NRW election was mainly a referendum on the non-austerity policy of NRW gov headed by Kraft.

And Kraft (NRW SPD) plus the Greens won big, getting some 50% of the vote vs some 35% for CDU and FDP.

But did the NRW and other state results active the anti-austerity - anti-Fiscal Compact sensitivities in federal SPD and Greens? Das is the question, for Germany, the Eurozone and the EU. And the world economy.

If you want to be a game changer ...

Game changing is a buzz-concept these days.

But IMO:

If you want to be a game changer, first you need to understand the game

The Euro was meant to ....

The Euro was meant to facilitate the Single Market for goods, services, work,

Instead it's been destroying it since almost the start.

EU: Economic or Social engine?

Economic & Monetary Union as a prelude to political union seems to have failed. Time to try Social Union as a prelude?

The No 1 structural reform needed is ...

The No 1 structural reform needed in the Eurozone and the EU in general is a real EU single market.

On deadlines

Some know how to set deadlines. Others know how to meet them (the deadlines)

Irish Referendum: The Days After

4 of the 17 Euro member states have by now ratified the Fiscal Compact: Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Ireland. 12 of 17 needed for entry into force.


Plus of the 25 EU that signed the Fiscal Compact, The 4 Euro plus  Romania, Latvia, Denmark and Poland have ratified.

So, now Fiscal Compact needs ratification by 8 of the rest 13 Euro members to enter into force.


6 Nos among the 13 can block it.

Or Germany's SPD or France.

Over-thinking is ...

Over-thinking is rarely a problem in business decisions and policy making in 2012. Faulty thinking is.

The cost of denial

How many of the EU 27 and Euro 17 are former super and/or colonial powers still in denial of their lost status?

What is the effect on the EU and the Euro?