Tag: euro

The European Central Bank unveiled yesterday (10 January) a new 5-euro note, with warmed colours and better protection against counterfeiting. For the first time, it also carries the name ‘Euro’ written in the Cyrillic alphabet, and displays a portrait of Europa, a figure from Greek mythology.

Latvia is very close to meeting requirements for adopting the euro in 2014 and becoming the currency union’s 18th member, a senior analyst at Danske Bank said yesterday (17 December). The European Commission told EurActiv that if Latvia wished to adopt the euro in 2014, it should make an assessment request now.

A European-level corporate tax could have bigger and more effective anti-cyclical effects than the financial transaction tax backed by some EU leaders, Ian Begg argues.

Only one-fifth of Danes want increased economic integration with Europe, according to the latest polls. A referendum on potential euro membership is not in sight, say members of the government.

While Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have shelved plans to join the common European currency anytime soon, Latvia announced that it wants to become the 18^th eurozone member in early 2014. 

More muddling-through in the EU is in the pipeline. If that wasn’t so dangerous, one could somehow live with it. But the problem with muddling-through is that it does not offer a perspective for those countries that are really suffering in this crisis. It does not create hope. Europe is in a bind, writes Jan Techau.

Bulgaria has abandoned plans to adopt the single currency in response to deteriorating economic conditions and rising uncertainty over the prospects of the European Union, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said in a newspaper interview.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, his voters are being bled dry on all sides. At the same time, an impatient EU is piling on the pressure to inflict even more pain at speed. It is a difficult balancing act for Rajoy, who needs his voters to believe that he has their best interests at heart under relentless pressure from the markets and the EU, writes Andy Langenkamp.

Countries in Eastern Europe have until now shown remarkable economic resilience, after being hit harder by the 2008–2009. But their economic future relies on a new model of growth, argues Jana Grittersova.

The leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Spain will try to find common ground in Rome today (22 June) to restore confidence in the eurozone ahead of a full EU summit next week.

Despite having a number of reasons to want the EU to break up, Washington knows that a European meltdown could destabilise the United States. Therefore, keeping the Europeans in a state of long-term unease is acceptable to the United States, says Stratfor.

The Obama administration has quietly endorsed the International Monetary Fund's support for European bailouts because the White House believes the deals will enforce "austerity" and gradually revive Europe's struggling economies. Now is the time to question that assumption, says Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Even though austerity depresses economic output, the Adjustment Programme is not the root of Greece's woes, argues Nikos Chrysoloras, a Brussels-based correspondent for Kathimerini, Greece’s leading newspaper and a Robert Bosch Stiftung “EU Journalism Fellow” for 2012, on a journalism practice with EurActiv.com.  The op-ed was first published on the Euro Crisis blog. 

Only one in ten Swedes would today support the adoption of the euro, according to a research study published by Gothenburg University.

​The only way to save the euro and get Europe out its financial crisis while maintaining people’s living standards is to have a more integrated union, the economist Jacques Attali said in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.

Italy and Britain called on the European Union yesterday (18 January) to promote steps to boost economic growth and not focus solely on austerity to bring down the debt levels that have thrown the single currency into crisis.

Following Britain's veto of last week's treaty deal for fiscal union, Irish leaders have had to walk an increasingly narrow line between Brussels and London. Finance Minister Michael Noonan has mentioned the possibility of a referendum on the euro, EurActiv France reports.

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), shows the disaccord of the German-French couple, Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, told EurActiv in an interview. 

Involving IMF member countries such as China and Russia in leveraging the firepower of the euro zone bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), is one of two options that remained on the table – but unagreed – as the European Council and Eurozone countries met in Brussels today (23 October).

Greece has a future beyond the current crisis, whether the country defaults or not, argues Sophia Chrysopoulou.

Only Slovaks and Italians think that the euro is good for their country's economy, according to a recent poll by the German Marshall Fund. While most EU citizens from the 12 member states surveyed said that EU membership is beneficial for their country, only a minority has a positive view of the common currency.

In its fight against inflation and calls for fiscal consolidation, the European Central Bank has overestimated the strength of the economic recovery and underestimated the threat of a second recession, economist Barry Eichengreen said in an interview with EurActiv.

The eurozone crisis will likely see the emergence of a new tax- and debt-raising authority in Brussels, according to Andrew Lilico. The economist, who has the ear of the UK government, tells EurActiv in an exclusive interview Brussels would be trusted by Germans to distribute money in the euro zone, but Silvio Berlusconi is not.

The euro zone needs greater European cohesion, more responsibility from its member states and increased coordination if it is to overcome the current crisis, argues Maria João Rodrigues in an exclusive op-ed for EurActiv.