Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on a new debt target for Greece on Monday in a breakthrough towards releasing an urgently needed tranche of loans to the near-bankrupt economy, officials said. After nearly 10 hours of talks at their third meeting on the issue in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders […]
In the otherwise ugly EU quarter in Brussels, something of a building boom is going on. There’s the €300m (£241m)-plus being spent to convert an art deco pile into a palace fit for a European president. In a nearby park another €100m makeover is creating the European parliament‘s version of the continent’s postwar history. That’s […]
One might be tempted to draw comparisons, but it can also become an obsession. Still, that’s exactly what Berliners tend to do, at least when it comes to their city. Whenever it happens, Berlin suddenly isn’t good enough for them, and they constantly feel compelled to draw comparisons — not with just any old cities, […]
The euro zone economy is on course for its weakest quarter since the dark days of early 2009, according to business surveys that showed companies toiling against shrinking order books in November. Service sector firms like banks and hotels that comprise the bulk of the economy fared particularly badly this month, and laid off staff at a […]
As Jürgen Habermas’ new book “The Crisis of the European Union: A Response” arrived at bookstores, The Global Journal asked Francis Fukuyama to interview the German philosopher, one of the most influential thinkers of our time. In a highly relevant and exclusive discussion, Professor Fukuyama and Professor Habermas articulate Europe’s most pressing issues, such as the building of a more integrated […]
THE threat of the euro’s collapse has abated for the moment, but putting the single currency right will involve years of pain. The pressure for reform and budget cuts is fiercest in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, which all saw mass strikes and clashes with police this week (see article). But ahead looms a bigger problem […]
Workers protesting austerity on the streets of southern Europe weren’t to know it, but earlier this month there was also a strike at the heart of the European Union – by bureaucrats fighting possible cuts. For an increasing number of Europeans, cuts in Brussels are what is needed. The European capital has told member states […]
It’s official: Europe has double-dipped. The 17-country euro zone has fallen into its second recession since 2008, as figures released on Nov. 15 showed gross domestic product declining 0.1 percent during the third quarter. That followed a 0.2 percent contraction during the previous three months, according to the European Union’s statistics office. There were some […]
THE port of Barcelona, Spain’s third-busiest, used to handle more imports than exports. This has now turned around, says Santiago Garcia-Milà, the port’s deputy general manager; among many other things, ships are now for the first time taking cars off to China. The European Commission believes that this year exports of goods and services from […]
Police and protesters clashed in Spain as millions of workers went on strike across Europe to protest spending cuts they say have made the economic crisis worse. Hundreds of flights were cancelled, car factories and ports were at a standstill and trains barely ran in Spain and Portugal where unions held their first ever coordinated general strike. Riot police arrested […]
looking beyond borders 