Single market, competition & trade
Why Germany is not a model for Europe
10 November 2010
Der Tagesspiel
Germany's economy has been winning numerous plaudits of late. It is not hard to see why. Previously much-vaunted economies "Ireland, Spain, the UK and the US, to name just four" lived way beyond their means for far too long.
David Cameron's budget fight remains an EU sideshow
29 October 2010
The Guardian
David Cameron has won his first European victory. At this week's EU summit in Brussels, he seemingly persuaded a dozen other European leaders to back his demand to limit to 2.9% next year's EU spending increase. Britain's eurosceptics wanted a freeze or a reduction.
How to fix the eurozone
27 September 2010
International Herald Tribune
A recent European Union meeting to review blueprints for better management of the euro got overshadowed by a noisy row over France’s decision to send scores of Roma – or gypsies – back to Bulgaria and Romania.
The strategic consequences of the euro crisis
01 September 2010
Europe's world
The euro crisis will be with us for many years. The underlying causes, such as southern Europe's lack of competitiveness, cannot be remedied overnight; Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain face years of low growth, severe curbs on public spending and perhaps social unrest.
The euro's success requires liberalisation
26 August 2010
The Wall Street Journal
Critics of the euro zone have long claimed that it suffers from structural flaws that threaten its long-term survival. The Greek sovereign-debt crisis has done much to vindicate these misgivings.
Merkels bezuiniging is onverantwoordelijk
14 June 2010
NRC Handelsblad
Het Duitse besluit om sterk te gaan bezuinigingen is volkomen verkeerd. De Duitsers moeten juist gaan consumeren, betoogt Simon Tilford.
Elke economie in de eurozone slaat halsoverkop aan het hakken in de overheidsuitgaven. Het lijdt geen twijfel dat de eurozone en de EU als geheel een grote uitdaging op begrotingsterrein te...
Elke economie in de eurozone slaat halsoverkop aan het hakken in de overheidsuitgaven. Het lijdt geen twijfel dat de eurozone en de EU als geheel een grote uitdaging op begrotingsterrein te...
EU learnt from Greek experience
09 May 2010
Financial Times
Sir, Lex on the Portuguese bail-out (May 4) implies that the International Monetary Fund would have imposed more rigorous criteria on the crisis-hit country than the “soft-touch” European Union.
Greece rescue is just a sticking plaster
30 March 2010
The Guardian
For several years it has been evident that any momentum the European Union had for further integration has been dwindling. For instance, despite the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, the EU shows few signs of developing more united and effective foreign policies.
Europe cannot afford to let Greece default
15 January 2010
Financial Times
The eurozone cannot afford to make an example of crisis-hit Greece. Claims by officials and politicians in the currency bloc's fiscally more robust economies - including Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister - that the Greeks will have to find their own way out of the crisis, are not credible.
Look who's sclerotic
28 September 2009
International Herald Tribune
A popular Continental misconception about Britain is that it is some kind of ultra-free economy where there is limited social welfare and where the market has been introduced into every aspect of life.
Germany will not drive a European recovery
01 September 2009
Financial Times
The European Union’s biggest member goes to the polls in less than four weeks. Yet while Germany’s economic prospects rest precariously on a recovery in foreign demand, the campaign has been free of any real debate about the country’s extraordinary export dependence. This is worrying.
A sustainable EU economic recovery requires...
A sustainable EU economic recovery requires...
Economic liberalism in retreat
16 July 2009
The New York Times
Is the brief flowering of economic liberalism in Europe over? It is too soon to read the last rites, but the prognosis is not good.
The financial crisis, the subsequent discrediting of the Anglo-Saxon economies and the passing of the most economically liberal European Commission there has ever been have put liberal economic thinking on the defensive.
The financial crisis, the subsequent discrediting of the Anglo-Saxon economies and the passing of the most economically liberal European Commission there has ever been have put liberal economic thinking on the defensive.
The eurosceptic illusion
05 July 2009
The Guardian
Britain's Eurosceptics need to come clean. The media and political class have a right to be sceptical about the EU, even hostile to it. But they also have an obligation to be honest about the economic implications of a retreat from full membership of the union.
Their failure to do so...
Their failure to do so...
The wages of recovery
15 April 2009
The Wall Street Journal
Everywhere in Europe the talk is of the need to cut costs. Companies have no choice but to respond to declining profits by reducing expenses.
Ten years on, the eurozone must beware of Greeks bearing debts
29 March 2009
The Times
Europe's leaders have plenty to fret about. The Czech Government, which holds the EU presidency, has collapsed. The European Commission is battling against the protectionist instincts of some states.
Les crises appellent une figure forte pour l'Europe
06 March 2009
La Croix
La période actuelle où est mise à l’épreuve la construction européenne exige, pour Charles Grant, non pas davantage de transferts de compétences, mais une personnalité de premier plan face au reste du monde.
How to avoid a eurozone debt crisis
24 February 2009
The Wall Street Journal
Twelve months ago it seemed inconceivable that any European Union member could face a sovereign debt crisis. It would have been the stuff of fantasy to argue that Ireland or Austria could be among those at risk.
Crisis shows imbalances are not sustainable indefinitely
27 November 2008
Financial Times
Sir, Paul Betts (“All for one, but none for all to revive Europe’s fortunes”, November 24) argues that Germany should wait for other countries to boost their economies (and hence demand for German exports) rather than taking steps to boost German domestic demand.
Brussels's Bad Medicine
02 October 2008
The Wall Street Journal
Europe's prosperity depends on its developing and sustaining high-tech businesses. Twenty years ago, Europe was the center of the pharmaceutical industry, which invested roughly 30% more in R&D here than in the U.S.
Should we care that world trade talks have collapsed?
31 July 2008
The Daily Telegraph
After nine days of fierce haggling, trade ministers from the 153 countries that are in the World Trade Organisation gave up this week. It is not clear whether the Doha round of multilateral trade talks - seven years in the making - is now dead. Should we care?