The Wall Street Journal May 28, 2010 The spending cuts keep on coming. In fact they are becoming the height of European fashion. Spanish parliamentarians are just the latest to join in, this week approving a €15 billion ($18.4 billion) austerity package aimed at cutting the country’s deficit. It was a tight squeeze for the […]
The Wall Street Journal May 28, 2010 There is one word that must not be uttered in this town: Restructuring. When it comes to the €110 billion they’ve pledged to Greece, officials of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund insist that a debt default by the bedraggled country is beyond contemplation. more
The Economist May 27, 2010 ONCE again, Europe has a German problem. In its handling of the euro crisis, Germany’s government stands accused of weakness, indecision and populism. Pro-European Germans say that Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that theirs has become just another normal European country. They add ominously that this risks flirting with Euroscepticism, even […]
The Economist May 27, 2010 ONE of the least convincing things about the European Union’s energy and climate policy is the brazen catchiness of its slogan: 20-20-20. This refers to a 20% reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions and 20% share for renewable energy sources by 2020. The idea that rigorous analysis of the right policies happened […]
The Economist May 27, 2010 IN THE Gaza Strip, that small slice of land wedged between Egypt and Israel run by the Islamist movement Hamas, even summer schools can be battlefields. A band of 30 men, masked and armed, recently assaulted a UN camp for the young that had been set up on Gaza’s beaches. […]