Economy and Finance

Putin Warns of Conflict over Gas Supplies
Gary Cartwright
Friday, November 6, 2009
A spokesman for the Russian Prime Minister spoke to his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt by telephone, after “uncovering concerns” that Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko was blocking payments for Russian gas supplies.
Bundestag Elections 2009: For a Strong and Social Europe
Hubertus Heil, SPD Secretary General
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Stockholm Syndrome: G20 Pittsburgh
Julian Mazowiecki
Tuesday, September 22, 2009

On the 17 September, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hosted an informal meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels. At the end of it, common ground on three key issues was agreed upon.

The first was the recovery of the economy, public finances and ‘exit strategies’, which deal with the phasing out of stimulus measures. In the document setting out the agreed language for the G-20 summit, the need for a sustainable recovery and prioritising jobs is mentioned.
Economic Policy: Reading The Tea Leaves
Julian Mazowiecki
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Sir Humphrey Appleby, the senior mandarin at the centre of the British sitcom “Yes Minister” once observed that “You can prove almost anything with statistics”. It certainly helps, however, to have a clear trend emerge from the statistics available to you.
Baroness Ashton in China for trade talks.
Gary Cartwright
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Baroness Ashton, the EU trade Commissioner, is currently in China for discussions on trade and investment issues. Speaking ahead of her visit, she said " The EU and China share common goals in trade and investment. We must continue to build confidence in order to realise our full potential and deal effectively with any issues that arise, especially in the face of the economic downturn".

VAT Harmonisation Will Bail-out Governments
Chris White
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The European Union is harmonising VAT across the 27 member states. A 20 percent norm will be introduced probably by June with registration also likely to be harmonised at the Belgian standard of €5000 earnings per annum.
New cross-border rules introduced on January 1will prove a cash cow for troubled national exchequers to be followed by harmonised rates and registration.
WAIPA World Investment Conference
Mass Mboup
Monday, October 26, 2009

 

Milan, Italy's vibrant economic capital city in the heart of Lombardy, played host to the 14th annual conference of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA) from 12-14 October, the first meeting of its kind to be held on Italian soil. But although this was their first event, the local authorities and their partners and sponsors had raised the bar very high - the conference was an unqualified success.

Boris in Brussels
Chris White
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

He came, he saw and, by all accounts, he conquered. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London breezed into Brussels to defend his City from EU financial regulation that would “drive Hedge Funds out of Europe”.

Message from Mali: Reflections on EU Development Policy
Stefan Cibian
Wednesday, July 15, 2009

When looking at the desert sky in Mali, packed with stars, I think of my holidays at home in the Romanian Carpathians. This thought of home, while far away in Africa intrigues me.
Sizing up Russian-NATO relations
Ruslan Pukhov
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Needless to say, Russia-NATO relations have reached a crisis. Of course, relations between post-Soviet Russia and NATO were never really normal, and so we should take the term crisis with a grain of salt.
New Group in Parliament Confident of Expansion
Marc Jahns
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The new anti-federalist group in the European Parliament says it will continue to attract new members even after it officially declares its membership tomorrow.
COPYRIGHT: A new era...
Monday, May 18, 2009
300 years after the concept was born, copyright has hit the headlines. Suddenly, everyone has discovered it. The simple mechanism that gave authors ownership of their works has exploded on the internet.

It all began at the dawn of the Enlightenment with the Statute of Queen Anne. Our forefathers granted “the Author of any Book or Books...the sole Right and Liberty of Printing such Book and Books.”

Over the next three centuries, it was an idea that was adopted throughout the world. But it remained largely hidden from public view, buried in artists’ contracts, distributor agreements and High Court
Millions for wasting: recession for the rest of us
Chris White
Monday, May 4, 2009
As the European economic crisis continues to spiral downwards with jobs lost in almost every sector the European Parliament has ordered the contractors running EuroparlTV to allocate “stupendous sums” buying in professional talent to try to get its viewing figures up from a reported “abysmal 900 viewers”.
The Eastern Partnership: Helping Out the Neighbours
Janek Lasocki
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

On 7 May the ill-fated Czech Premier Mirek Topolanek, will spend his penultimate day in the post hosting a summit in Prague to launch the Eastern Partnership.
Macedonia: Passing the Democracy Test
Petar Kamcev
Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The presidential and municipal elections in the Republic of Macedonia were held on 22
Syndicate content