Tag: ECB

Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi and Thei Sein head Foreign Policy magazine's list of Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, at number 12, is the highest-ranking European.

The last four months created an illusion that the worst is over in the eurozone crisis and more attention can be devoted to the project's future, writes Paweł Świeboda. However, much remains to be done and the golden rule of the new European Union will be to "Trust and verify", he says.

The European Parliament is voting in committee this week on the legislation which installs the single supervisory mechanism for Europe's banks. Tricky stuff - especially when certain governments in the Council appear to be backsliding on the banking union, writes Andrew Duff.

Spain has blocked the appointment of Yves Mersch to the European Central Bank's executive board, delaying the process of filling a post that is critical to tackling Europe's debt crisis.

While the UK goes one way, the rest of the EU goes another. Europe’s ongoing financial crisis exposes systemic weakness in the way the political economy is run. Executive authority is dispersed amongst different and fairly obscure institutions, and democratic accountability is thin, writes Andrew Duff in a BlogActiv post.

Amidst the euphoria unleashed by the European Central Bank’s bond-buying plan, it is easy to miss the immense challenges posed by two complex dossiers that have just landed on leaders’ desks: the proposed EADS/BAE merger and a planned single banking supervisor, writes Hugo Dixon.

Safeguards proposed by Brussels to stop a newly beefed-up European Central Bank from calling the shots on banks beyond the eurozone are unlikely to satisfy Britain and other EU countries that do not use the common currency.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi faces the most decisive moment of his presidency today (6 September) when he tries to heal divisions among policymakers and deliver on his promise to save the euro. A leaked draft reveals that the plan includes buying 'unlimited' quantities of government debt from troubled countries.

Moody's has lowered the EU’s triple A rating outlook to negative, warning it might downgrade the bloc if it decides to cut the ratings on the EU's four biggest budget backers: Germany, France, UK and Netherlands.

The Spanish autonomous region of Catalonia, which generates around one-fifth of Spain’s economic output, has said it will request a €5-billion emergency credit line from Madrid, heightening debt fears a week before the European Central Bank is to unveil its bond-buying plan.

The euro rose to a seven-week high against the US dollar yesterday (21 August), fuelled by speculation the European Central Bank could soon act to stem the region's debt crisis by lowering Spanish and Italian borrowing costs.

The number of jobless in the 17 eurozone countries has hit a new record in June, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to find ways to help indebted states and spur growth, when it meets tomorrow (2 August).

The European Union's internal watchdog has launched an investigation of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, following a complaint of conflict of interest, the institution's spokeswoman said yesterday (30 July).

In an unusual departure from traditional EU language, European Commission vice-president Olli Rehn and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti have issued dramatic warnings yesterday (31 May) on the euro zone, while European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi openly admitted that the common currency was fighting for its survival. 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, facing the first round of elections this weekend, said in a campaign speech yesterday (15 April) that he wanted to open a debate on extending the mandate of the European Central Bank (ECB) to support economic growth.

Eurozone finance ministers are expected to approve a second bailout for Greece today (20 February), a move they hope will draw a line under months of turmoil that has shaken the currency bloc, although there is work to be done to make the figures add up.

The proposed 'fiscal compact' treaty currently being negotiated overly emphasises austerity and is insufficient to resolve the economic difficulties, says German MEP Jo Leinen. However the unprecedented attention brought to the EU by the crisis also presents an opportunity for European federalists to make their case to the public, he says.

European stock markets and the euro fluctuated as investors tried to make sense of the deal struck by EU leaders earlier today (9 December), in the attempt to forge measures that would halt the slide of eurozone government bond markets after two years of deepening crisis.

Going for a treaty change is unnecessary and the proposal submitted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy being discussed at the EU summit today (8 December) is unveiling the disaccord of the German-French couple, Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, told EurActiv in an interview. 

France and Germany are expected to outline joint proposals today (5 December) to address the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone. However, in many respects, the views of Europe's two largest economies remain far apart over the details of a 'fiscal union', EurActiv.fr and EurActiv.de report.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter point to 1.25% in a surprise move on Thursday (3 November), acting boldly to support the ailing eurozone economy at the first policy meeting where President Mario Draghi's was in charge.

The euro's rise as an international exchange and reserve currency is being slowed by the incoherence of European monetary and fiscal policy, said economist Barry Eichengreen in an interview with EurActiv.

Italy's decision to drop a proposed tax on the wealthy from its emergency austerity package announced earlier this month has triggered a wave of criticism, while the country's first debt auction since the European Central Bank stepped in to buy Italian bonds was met with lukewarm demand.

Political leaders failed to halt a global stock market rout that gathered steam yesterday (8 August) as investors lost confidence that Europe and the United States can rein in their budgets quickly and fear spread of a double-dip recession.