Monday, March 7, 2011

Eurozone: One issue, many perspectives

1) "Socialist leaders demand 'huge progress' in financial regulation": The article by TheParliament.com paints a good picture of the current row, after the Helsinki and Athens meets of the EPP and the PES re the "German-French competitiveness pact" on the road to next Friday's (March 11) 1st ever Eurozone Summit (in Brussels)

2) "Banks? What banks?" in an article that appears today on PressEurop.eu, an official reprint of a very interesting article by Christian Siedenbiedel in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (ie on Sunday).

Among other things of this must read article, Irish economist Edgar Morgenroth is quoted arguing ".... That's why other countries should now grant some concessions to Ireland in the negotiations for lower interest rates." And the author of the article concludes: "We Irishmen, the thinking goes, have rescued your own banks. Now it’s time to show us some gratitude".

IMO, the Eurozone and the German-French competitiveness pact debate has become much more "interesting", with more POVs now on the "table" of the European public opinion - media than was the case months or even weeks ago!

3) "Caught in the Euro Trap: Internal Opposition Grows to Further Bailout Measures" is another must read article today, this one in Spiegel Online International (in English).
My comments:
What CSU, FDP & others "forget" to tell the German taxpayer is what his/her cost would be to help German banks if X or Y Eurozone member decided to give haircuts (w/o leaving the Eurozone of course, because there no such EU rule).
Plus, to explain to the German taxpayers and voters the German role and benefits in reaching the crisis, from 2002 to 2009.

4) Food for thought: China joined the WTO on 11 Dec 2001. The Euro notes & coins were introduced on 1 Jan 2002. Consider the combined effect since then. Especially the dynamic presence of cheap Chinese products under "WTO free trade" terms affected the systemics and dynamics of the Eurozone and of the EU Single Market. As well as particular economies of the Eurozone that did not specialise in products of low price/value-quality ratio

A CNN brief report, on Nov. 10, 2001: "China officially joins WTO" makes good, ex post facto, reading especially re the benefits the US and the EU expected from China's WTO membership. Compare them to what actually happened.

5) In UK affairs:
Does PPE include entrepreneurship studies?

6) On the lighter (?) side: To go where it has never gone before (maybe) the EU needs a Captain Kirk and a Vulcan (Spock)!

7) The second and fuller part of "Eurozone Systemics" (see yesterday's "Diary of a Policy Analyst" on this blog) will be posted hopefully tomorrow, because there are more hand calculations to be made in order to present a systemic view of the Eurozone and its dynamics.

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