Tag: economic policy

Ahead of the G20 meeting in London next week, the head of the Bank of England (BoE), the UK's central bank, called for caution over attempts by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get other European countries to agree to come up with additional stimulus packages to kick start the world economy.

The European Parliament will mobilise a majority against Commission President's José Manuel Barroso's five billion euro stimulus plan, Claude Turmes, vice-president of the Greens / European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament, told EurActiv in an interview.

Amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, resurgent violence and war in the Middle East, a row between Russia and the Ukraine over gas supplies which left Europe freezing, and skyrocketing expectations for the first Afro-American US President, EurActiv asked European Commission director generals to spell out their hopes for 2009.

EU finance ministers have half-heartedly supported the broad terms of a proposed EU plan to fight off the ongoing recession, but removed references to the 200 billion euro figure initially put forward by the European Commission.

Member states will be offered "temporary" flexibility to deviate from the Union's strict budget deficit rules in 2009-2010 under an "economic recovery plan" seen by EurActiv, set to be unveiled today (26 November) by the European Commission.

The 27 EU countries will be asked to give away 1% of their GDP to contribute to a Europe-wide economic stimulus package, including loans for automakers, aimed at helping restart the economy and weather the effects of the recession, it emerged yesterday.

The German upswing will continue next year "but will clearly weaken", raising the question of how it first came about, writes Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich.

This paper by Daniel Gros for the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) analyses the predicament of the original EU-15 member states as they face a weakening economy in terms of both demand and supply.

Lithuania and EU Commission set medium-term economic policy priorities until 2005.