Tag: European Central Bank

The European Central Bank will defend its bond-buying programme in a German court this week against charges it is really an illegal scheme to fund euro zone members through the back door.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday (8 April) that Europe should look at changing the powers that the European Central Bank has, to align it more with other monetary authorities around the world and support pro-growth policies.

European Central Bank policymaker Benoit Coeuré urged eurozone governments on Saturday (1 December) to forge a closer political union, arguing "the euro is a currency with a state" whose branches of government need more clearly defining.

Europe's debt crisis represents a "clear and present danger" and has not improved despite some helpful measures by policymakers, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in some of his harshest language yet on the issue.

Proposals to be published today (12 September) on creating a European banking union face months of blockage if non-eurozone countries’ demands are not met, officials have warned.

The European Commission plans to give the European Central Bank (ECB) oversight of all banks in the eurozone from 2014, said Michel Barnier, in charge of the internal market at the EU executive.

The European Central Bank is working out plans to launch a new and more transparent scheme for purchasing sovereign debt that will be tied to intervention by the European rescue funds and political action. But Germany's Bundesbank on Monday (20 August) stepped up its resistance to the idea.

Italy needs moral support from Germany but not its cash, Prime Minister Mario Monti said in an interview published on Sunday (5 August), as German conservatives renewed calls for Greece to leave the euro zone.

Luxembourg won out last night (9 July) as eurozone ministers agreed that Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker should continue to chair the group, whilst his compatriot Yves Mersch will join the European Central Bank’s six-member executive board.

Hans-Werner Sinn, one of Germany’s most influential economists, attacked excessive use of European funds to aid struggling eurozone countries, arguing in an interview with EurActiv France that it dissuades them from pursuing necessary reforms and reductions in prices and wages.

At least 15 German police officers were injured, one seriously, during rioting that lasted into Sunday morning, following an anti-capitalist protest in Frankfurt, police said. The rioters broke off from a demonstration against the German and European politics of crisis regulation.

Europe's economy would have 'vanished into the underworld' had the European Central Bank not intervened in the eurozone debt crisis, says stockbroker Dirk Müller. He argues that a European ratings agency would ease the crisis and that the current combination of loans and austerity in Greece will lead to default.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso asked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán yesterday (20 December) to withdraw legislation that could threaten the central bank's independence.

EU politicians have to move fast to make their bailout fund operational, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Sunday (18 December), killing hopes that the ECB would engage in full-blown quantitative easing – printing money – to buy government bonds and ease  funding strains.

According to German minds, monetising the EU's debt via the European Central Bank would only boost inflation and eliminate pressure for Southern countries to reform their economies, says Peter Zeihan, from the Stratfor intelligence commentary website. But it seems like the only tool available right now to prevent a eurozone failure, he adds.

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 European Central Bank was caught by surprise last night after learning that the UK government was taking legal action against the bank's rules for clearing houses, which may rule out non-eurozone countries from overseeing trades.

EU leaders appointed Italy's Mario Draghi as the new head of the European Central Bank on Friday, to replace current ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet as of 1 November, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced.

Senior eurozone officials have agreed in principle on a new international bailout of Greece which will give it more time to try to resolve its debt crisis, a source close to the talks said yesterday (2 June).

Trade union leaders from across Europe are gathering in Athens this week, for the 12th Congress of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Veteran trade unionist George Dassis shared with EurActiv his views on the social impacts of the financial crisis, and how the EU should show solidarity with countries such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

While the Irish must understand the constraints imposed by the bailout package, the EU also bears some responsibility for the banking crisis and should not undermine Ireland's economic model, writes former Taoiseach John Bruton.

The German government's proposed debt-restructuring mechanism immediately shifts weaker eurozone countries towards default, write Simon Johnson, former chief economist of the IMF and Peter Boone, chairman of Effective Intervention at the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance.

John Stuart Mill's economic thinking would be more useful than the European Central Bank's in reversing the global economic downturn, writes J. Bradford DeLong, professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley, research associate at the National Bureau for Economic Research and a former US assistant secretary of the Treasury.