Tag: European Union

Whether an internationalist or isolationist approach, there are some alliances that will be strategically vital with five countries being at the top of that list…

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is quietly doing her share to help Italy and greater Europe with little applause…

The western political discussion on Ukraine remains largely focused on military support. But, as the war continues, foreign ministers and finance ministers across Europe are appropriately starting to discuss the financial cost of the war today and in the future when the international community must help rebuild the country…

Europe is facing an energy crisis that threatens its ability to phase out coal by 2030…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed plans to lift the remaining covid-19 restrictions by a month last week with the infectious delta variant rapidly spreading throughout the country. Now, the full reopening of pubs and restaurants among other places will have to wait AGAIN. The British (and the rest of the world) are stuck speculating on whether and when London and the country will return to some sense of normalcy. Today, absent packed streets and offices both with locals and non-locals, the UK’s exit from the EU somehow feels like a permanent exit from the world’s ecosystem (at least for now)…

If governments cannot avoid stoking further worry and sidestep validating conspiracy theories while also showing empathy and concern for its citizens, then vaccine rollout, which clearly is an issue of both an individual’s perspective on the vaccine’s necessity and its safety, will remain in doubt and the economic fall-out will accordingly be palpable in some parts of Europe…

France’s discussion on the transformation of state loans to grants signifies a greater problem for European economies. Many governments underwrote their economies with increased liquidity either through loans or deferment of debt. But the wall of insolvency cannot be avoided…

The U.S. will have to engage European countries on where their relations are on January 20, 2021 (inauguration day) versus where U.S. relations were with each country back in 2016. And, as expected, relations with some countries are warmer than with others after the past four years. With that in mind, Biden will have to assess U.S. relations with the three biggest European economies (UK, France, and Germany) and push those relationships forward as a signal to other European countries on what a Biden administration represents to (and expects from) the larger European region…

As the second wave of cases hits Europe, including Italy, there is not much convincing required on the seriousness of the virus. The same cannot be said about the growing challenges in the Italian economy. Debt is flowing into an economy that already has its share of bad loans in the financial ecosystem but there is little concern. It is the covid-19 pandemic thus why worry about a European financial crisis, right?