German politicians and media are intensifying pressure on Rome in anticipation of today’s EU Commission verdict on Italy’s national budget. Already last week, EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger announced, in reference to the Italian deficit, that the Italian government must “correct” its draft budget. Media reports refer to a “black week” for Rome. Negative reporting – like rating agencies’ devaluation of Italy’s creditworthiness – can contribute to the destabilization of Italy’s financial and credit markets. The country’s current downward spiral threatens to re-escalate the banking crisis. Whereas Berlin insists that the EU take sharp measures against deficits, Germany’s Finance Minister at the time, Wolfgang Schäuble had prevented the EU Commission from taking measures against excessive surpluses, which the commission sees as potentially just as destabilizing. Germany has been achieving these surpluses year after year.
EU politics
Owen Jones: The Tories can’t fix the debt crisis: their doctrine caused it
According to Thatcherite doctrine, to overcome their insecurity Britons had to be liberated from the oppressive state and its social policies. This has resulted in a freedom to be undefended from the ravages and iniquities […]
Climate Crisis
Balkan Green Energy News: Wind turbine giant Siemens Gamesa to lay off 10% of workforce
While hundreds of billions of euros in windfall profits are being given by EU government to gas companies, renewable energy appears to be making little progress. We see where the priority of the EU political […]
Economics
Seth Schindler, Ilias Alami, Nick Jepson: Who’s in control? Wall Street Consensus, state capitalism, and spatialised industrial policy
The apparent contradiction between the Wall Street Consensus and contemporary state capitalism Read Here
Be the first to comment