Europe

Thursday

Daniel Korski

In defence of technocrats

Is Mario Monti’s administration in Italy democratic? Is Greece’s new government? To some, especially in the blogosphere, it is the exact opposite: a technocratic and undemocratic government foisted upon Italy and Greece by (circle as appropriate) Angela Merkel/Nicolas Sarkozy, the Bilderberg Group/EUSSR, etc. But nobody forced Silvio Berlusconi to resign. Nobody sacked him. Under pressure by the markets, he chose to resign. He could have stayed and nobody denied that he had a constitutional right to do so. It would have cost Italy dear, but he could have stayed. In addition, Monti was appointed to the Senate by the Italian president who himself is elected by Parliament in a joint

Jonathan Jones

European champions at last

The UK can now claim to be No.1 in Europe… for inflation. Further to Tuesday’s figures, the EU has now updated its own spreadsheet. And this is what it shows: We’ve been hovering around the top for a year or so, but now we’ve finally touched the summit. Let’s see if we start to plummet down again, as the Bank of England predicts.

Daniel Korski

Renegotiation reality

Governing is about choices. That goes for Europe too. The government says it can get everything it wants – that’s politics – but the reality is different. It actually faces a number of trade-offs, the biggest being a choice between staying in an EU that reforms but not as quickly or as dramatically as parts of the Tory party wants; or to pull out entirely from the EU.  In his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, the Prime Minister argued that he could both change Britain’s relationship with the EU but remain inside the 27-member bloc. But I can find no serious EU expert or mandarin who believes this is

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Cameron shows his eurosceptic side

David Cameron’s speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet last night was a significant moment — the clearest articulation yet of his European Policy. In the crucial paragraph, he declared: ‘we sceptics have a vital point. We should look sceptically at grand plans and utopian visions. We’ve a right to ask what the European Union should and shouldn’t do and change it accordingly. As I said, change brings opportunities. An opportunity to begin to refashion the EU so it better serves this nation’s interests and the interests of its other 26 nations too. An opportunity, in Britain’s case, for powers to ebb back instead of flow away and for the European

Monday

Daniel Korski

Can Italy rebound?

I’m in Italy watching the bonfire of Silvio Berlusconi’s vanities first hand. From the ashes, most Italians hope a stronger nation will emerge. And for this reason, faith in former EU Commissioner Mario Monti, who gave his first statement to the nation last night, seems high. Italy is not a nation on its knees, and despite the travails and troubles of the last decade, there is a sense of hope here. People want Italy to succeed and seem willing, for now, to pull together. They also have a foundation upon which to build: brands, low private debt, and a solid banking system. Crucially, President Giorgo Napolitano has also indicated that

Peter Hoskin

Alexander drags Labour closer towards the Tories on Europe

You know, having read through Douglas Alexander’s Guardian article a couple of times now, and listened to his appearance on the Today programme earlier, I’m still not sure how Labour’s new stance towards Europe is particularly different from the official Tory one. The shadow foreign secretary tries to suggest that Dave and George’s position is reckless — ‘they seem worryingly complacent about the prospect of a two-speed Europe’ — but he goes on to echo much of it himself. And so, he suggests, ‘We should engage now with the fact that Germany is seeking treaty change and seize this opportunity to safeguard the rights of non-euro members.’ And we read elsewhere

Sunday

James Forsyth

Barroso’s warning

José Manuel Barroso’s article in The Observer today is a plea for relevance. When you cut through the usual EU jargon, what you find is the Commission President—predictably—declaring his opposition to German talk of an inter-governmental treaty among the 17 Eurozone members. He’s also warning the smaller Eurozone states that without the Commission’s protection their interests will be trampled on by the Germans and the French. This is what he means when he writes that  “all member states need to support and trust the common supranational European institutions that were created after the second world war. It is precisely these supranational institutions that are the best guarantee for the respect

Daniel Korski

The spectre of populism

Across Europe, the bien pensant are worried. They fear that the Eurocrisis could lead to the rise of populism — whatever that means — and even extremism. The spectre of the 1930s stalks a lot of discussions, as the FT’s Gideon Rachman found out at a lunch with a hedge fund manager who thought the break-up of the Euro would lead to “the next Great Depression and a resurgence of Nazism”. But is there real cause for fear or is this a matter of people projecting a particular history onto the future? Economic dislocation has in the past led to populism but not uniformly, or at least not in numbers

Saturday

Fraser Nelson

Berlusconi: latest victim of Europe’s reverse Arab Spring

Berlusconi has finally resigned – and so continues what seems to be the Arab Spring in reverse (a Gnirps Bara). In the Arab world, people rose up against undemocratic juntas and democracy ruled. In Europe, undemocratic juntas are springing up in Frankfurt opera houses and toppling democracy. All Sarkozy had to do was help the rebels who wanted to remove the targeted leader. The cover story of this week’s magazine has a piece by yours truly about the Frankfurt Group of eight people who are calling the shots. Only two members are directly elected: Sarko and Merkel (well, three if you count the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, which we shouldn’t

Daniel Korski

Who speaks for the euro?

That’s a more relevant question that you might think. Despite European leaders talking for ages about the nonsensical notion of the EU ‘speaking with one voice’ after the Lisbon Treaty, the situation is much more confused today ever. No fewer than six people purport to speak officially for the Euro, while people actually tend to listen to two different leaders altogether. There is ECB chief Mario Draghi, but also Jose Manuel Barrosso, the Commission President; his colleague Oli Rehn, the Commissioner for Monetary Affairs; Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the Eurogroup; Klaus Regling, head of the EFSF; and finally Herman Van Rompuy. Add to this the two leaders people and

Friday

James Forsyth

How European sovereign debt became the new sub-prime

The New York Times has a great piece today on how banks became so exposed to the sovereign debt of European countries with a history of defaulting. Here’s the nub of the argument: “How European sovereign debt became the new subprime is a story with many culprits, including governments that borrowed beyond their means, regulators who permitted banks to treat the bonds as risk-free and investors who for too long did not make much of a distinction between the bonds of troubled economies like Greece and Italy and those issued by the rock-solid Germany. Banks had further incentive to overlook the perils of individual euro zone countries because of the

Daniel Korski

Britain: a European pariah?

The British government has worked hard to counteract any perception that it is being marginalised in Europe. Before the election, the Tory party went around to different capitals to assuage any fears that may have existed. The message: despite the Conservative departure from the EPP, and their anti-Lisbon Treaty remonstrations, they would not be a problem. They would be businesslike. Once in power, David Cameron unleashed his charm, showcased his polyglot Deputy Prime Minister and sent William Hague out to make everyone feel that they had a partner not a pariah in London. Further, the energetic and amiable David Lidington replaced the combative Mark Francois as Europe Minister. Links with

Thursday

Daniel Korski

The new German Question

The Eurocrisis has put Germany in a twofold position that it abhors. First, it has forced Germany into a much closer relationship with France than is comfortable. For German policymakers, the great thing about the post-enlargement EU, of 27 countries, was that they and France could not rule supreme — they needed to bring other states on board. Germany prefers it this way, as it dilutes France’s dirigiste instincts. But recent events have reshaped Europe’s decision-making system, recreating the pre-1973 model in which Paris and Berlin reigned. The second thing Berlin abhors is to dictate things to others. The catastrophes of the 20th Century forced Germany to remake itself. It

Hamish Macdonell

Euro crisis knocks Salmond off course

A few years ago, SNP strategists coined the slogan ‘independence in Europe’. They don’t champion it too much now, for obvious reasons. To put it bluntly: they are in a pickle over Europe. Scotland’s progress towards independence, which had seemed to be serene and almost unstoppable just a few months ago, has hit so much euro-induced turbulence over the last few days that it could be knocked off course for good. The First Minister had to fend off question and after question at Holyrood this afternoon as opposition leaders – including a notable first performance by the Tories’ new Scottish leader Ruth Davidson – tried to get Salmond to answer

Daniel Korski

Going soft

One of the greatest threats to British security is not whether the government opts for Tornadoes over Harriers, but whether we have credible, militarily-capable allies. So the fact that so many European countries have lost the will to fight — cutting defence budgets while the popular backing for ‘hard,’ as opposed to ‘soft,’ power declines — is a problem. To address this, Europeans need first and foremost to redevelop a narrative of power. In a new pamphlet, former MoD official Nick Witney tries to lay out the required narrative. He argues that Europe’s future security and prosperity now depends on success in a global competition. Europe’s belief that “soft power”

Wednesday

Clarissa Tan

Angela we have heard on high

As Italy and Greece implode, and the pressure increases for Germany to do something, anything, Angela Merkel has made a call for ‘structural changes’ in the EU. In other words, in what’s bound to get eurosceptics’ hackles up, she’s pressing for Treaty change and an even more tightly-knit union. At a conference known as Falling Walls, which commemorates the end of the Berlin Wall, she said: ‘This is the time for a breakthrough to a new Europe. This is a time for a change toward more sustainability. That is the problem we have to contend with in Europe. And that means it is about more than declarations of intent but

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Osborne gets frank with Europe

George Osborne’s attack on the European Commission and his fellow finance ministers, for wasting time talking about a financial transactions tax when it is not going to happen, is quite a significant moment. It marks an attempt by Britain to knock this idea, which would hit this country far harder than anywhere else in Europe, off the agenda.   The Treasury, the Foreign Office and Number 10 have become increasingly exasperated about how this issue keeps coming up again and again. This feeling has been intensified by the fact that this issue is being discussed even as the crisis in the Eurozone is worsening by the hour.   Osborne’s remarks

Clarissa Tan

Who will bail out the EU bailout fund?

While all eyes are fixed on Italy’s ever-increasing borrowing rates, a far larger problem may well be emerging. The EU bailout fund, set up to help countries who can’t borrow, may itself have trouble borrowing very soon. A sale this morning of 10-year bonds by the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) had a very muted response, barely bringing in the €3 billion it was meant to. This despite the fact that the offer was priced at a much more enticing yield, some 90 basis points (or 0.9 percentage points in non-market lingo) above a previous sale. Mind you, that’s better than last week’s sale, which had to be postponed due

Jonathan Jones

Crunch time in Italy and Greece

Reports of Silvio Berlusconi’s imminent resignation yesterday may have been exaggerated, but it remains to be seen how greatly. He faces a big test today, in the form of a crucial vote on the Italian budget. Berlusconi has proved adept at surviving such confidence votes throughout his time as Prime Minister, but today’s opposition may be too much even for him. In the words of Italian academic Roberto D’Alimonte to the Telegraph: “Nobody knows what the result will be, I think even Berlusconi doesn’t know.” In the last few minutes, Umberto Bossi – the leader of Berlsuconi’s coalition partners Lega Nord – has said that he called on the Prime Minister

Monday

James Forsyth

Cameron defends the IMF

David Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons on the Cannes summit was dominated by the question of increasing Britain’s dues to the IMF. Cameron stressed that his message to the Eurozone countries was “sort yourselves out and then we will help”. He also tried to offer reassurance that the IMF would not contribute to any eurozone-specific bailout fund. But after Ed Miliband’s response, the Prime Minister tried to counter-attack. He began by saying of the Labour leader’s speech, “I don’t know who writes this rubbish” which drew one of Ed Balls’ infamous calm down gestures. Cameron then offered an aggressive defence of the IMF, calling it an “organisation that