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‘Too many companies and investors have lost money for having blindly and solely relied on the mistakenly considered infallible Credit Rating Agencies. But evidence has shown that they can be extremely wrong’, said MEP Wolf Klinz, who did already in June 2011 proposals for regulation of rating agencies.

THE WEEK THAT WAS… (Jan. 21, 2013)

By: EBR | Monday, January 21, 2013

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "New credit rating rules not perfect …"

In ‘Brussels’ referendums are anyhow seen as a real phantom. The Danish ‘No’ in1992, the French and Dutch ‘No’ in 2005 and Ireland’s ‘No’ in 2008 on European treaties are well remembered. When, in 2011, the then Greek Prime Minister Papandreou dared to propose a referendum about the austerity plans for his country, he terrified the other EU leaders. He signed his own political death sentence…

THE WEEK THAT WAS... (Jan. 14, 2013)

By: EBR | Monday, January 14, 2013

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, January 14. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "Don't mention 'referendum'..."

The Eurozone went into recession in late 2012 and there is no expectation for a quick recovering in 2013. Remarkable then that European leaders didn’t pay much attention to Europe in their New Year messages.

THE WEEK THAT WAS… (Jan. 7, 2013)

By: EBR | Monday, January 7, 2013

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, January 7. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "European leaders didn’t pay much attention to Europe in their New Years messages…"

The EU President reacted somewhat emotionally that Russian companies are welcome in the EU market, but they have to fully respect the EU rules. A smiling Putin answered that ‘my good old friend Barroso knows he is wrong. Please look at our agreement, article 34. Please read it’. Apparently that was too much for Barroso who didn’t want to go in ‘details’…

THE WEEK THAT WAS... (Dec.24, 2012)

By: EBR | Monday, December 24, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, December 24. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "Once again the hilarious duo: Barroso and Putin".

EU leaders focussed mainly on things that had already been agreed by the EU Finance Ministers: putting Eurozone’s largest banks (not all banks, as the European Commission proposed) under central supervision and, yes, another deal on Greece’s debt and bail out.

THE WEEK THAT WAS... (Dec.17, 2012)

By: EBR | Monday, December 17, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, December 17. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "EU summit: it was just about the stick and the carrot!"

Guy Verhofstadt, undisputed leader of the ALDE Group - the 3rd biggest group in the EP, offered in Moscow a helping hand to the Conference of the Russian opposition, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs published a 66-page report that blamed the EU for xenophobia, racism and neo-Nazism.

THE WEEK THAT WAS… (Dec. 10, 2012)

By: EBR | Monday, December 10, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, December 10 2012. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "The double standards of the EU"

Once again a strong division between the 27 member states showed that the word Union is a euphemism. Fourteen member states voted in favour of Palestine, one voted against (Czech Republic!) and twelve abstained: Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and nine former communist countries.

THE WEEK THAT WAS… (Dec. 3, 2012)

By: EBR | Monday, December 3, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, December 3. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "The divided European Union"

The special Brussels Summit about the EU budget 2014-2020 was over. Result? No result! Surprise? No surprise! Although some media were talking about a ‘collapse’ and a ‘bitter discord over the new EU budget’, more experienced EU watchers shrugged their shoulders. L’histoire se répète.

THE WEEK THAT WAS… (Nov. 26, 2012)

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, November 26, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, November 26. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "Brussels Summit Rituals As Usual"

The Friends of Cohesion are trying to preserve as much as they can of a European Commission proposal of €376 billion for cohesion funds in a draft 7 year budget of total € 1.033 trillion!

THE WEEK THAT WAS…

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, November 19, 2012

EBR Chief-editor’s Monday Morning Column, November 19. This week N. Peter Kramer writes about "Two groups of EU states fight over the Cohesion Fund"

Nobel committee member Lundestad has already said that ‘some people will find awarding the EU controversial’, not at least in Norway where ‘support for the EU is at an all-time low’.

NOBEL PRIZE FOR THE EU: A POLITICAL MESSAGE!

By: EBR | Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has selected the EU for a peace prize when it is going through a major and potentially destructive crisis.

EU Presidency under Russian influence…

By: EBR | Thursday, June 28, 2012

In Brussels great gnashing of teeth. Greek-Cyprus, holding the rotating EU Presidency in the second half of this year, is coming more and more under the influence of Russia and is looking officially now for EU rescue funds to shore up the country’s banking sector.

After the March 4 elections, Putin is certainly weaker than the Putin from before. But he is still not weak! Don’t forget that the enormous Russian middle-class is not poor. They didn’t forget that it was the young President Putin who cleared up the mess made by his predecessors Gorbatsjov and Jeltsin, and brought them finally prosperity.

EU and Putin, Putin and EU

By: EBR | Wednesday, March 7, 2012

No, I am not a supporter of Putin. Let me start with that. But what surprises these days is the return of the Cold War approach of Russia by journalists, think-tank people and… politicians.

‘Brussels’ (read the European Commission and the European Parliament) has no better recipe for the crisis than more bureaucracy, more centralisation, more technocracy with intolerable downgrading or even elimination of national democratic process as effect.

Saving the euro by more ‘Brussels’ and less democracy

By: N. Peter Kramer | Thursday, December 1, 2011

It looks like the more ideas are invented to rescue the euro, the deeper the crisis becomes. In Greece and Italy prime-ministers are replaced by technocrats. Six government leaders in the eurozone have lost their job, not only in Italy and Greece but also in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia.

Robin Hood tax, a U-turn and a pirouette by the Commission

By: N. Peter Kramer | Friday, September 30, 2011

The State of the Union everybody knows is the annual speech of the President of the Unites States. He (so far we haven't had a she) explains the situation, shows his views and unfolds his plans. The world holds his breath, watches him and listens to his message.

It looks as though some of the EU’s top politicians don’t have the slightest idea of what is going on in the streets of not only Athens and Madrid, but also in London and Amsterdam. At a time of unprecedented austerity, with Europe’s governments slashing spending, it might be smart for EU leaders to keep quiet.

The end of the European dream?

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, June 28, 2011

How to solve the Eurozone debt crisis? Nout Wellink, the Dutch central bank governor, wants a European finance ministry. That could be an important step in the right direction, he thinks.

How many True Finns will the European Commission create?

By: N. Peter Kramer | Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Polish European Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski has proposed to increase the 2012 EU budget with 4.9% (two percentages points above inflation!) up to Euro 132.7 billion.

Trendsetter Iceland. Too late for Greece and Ireland. An idea for Portugal?

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, April 11, 2011

A majority of Iceland voters have flatly refused for the second time to use public money to pay for the mistakes of the financial sector and their government.

It is not the economy, elections are the problem!

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, April 4, 2011

The EU Summit of March was a gathering of EU leaders with tight hands. The only one who didn’t expect that, was Enda Kenny - the fresh Irish prime minister. He asked his colleagues for easier bail-out terms. His argument? He was just elected on a promise to get a better deal for his country.

As a former budget minister, Van Rompuy was however aware of the European rules for deficits and national debt. On top of this there was the fact that he had no script to work from, due to the fact that he had no predecessors, and he was required to explore all corridors himself.

Herman Van Rompuy, one year EU President

By: N. Peter Kramer | Thursday, December 2, 2010

In the beginning of this year US President Obama rejected an EU-US summit, for reasons that ‘the Europeans had to make up their minds who represents the EU’ according to White House officials. This problem seems solved: November 20, Obama was in Europe and met Van Rompuy in an EU-US summit.

Since President Ma won elections in 2008, he has pushed hard for closer economic relations with Mainland China. The governments in Beijing and Taipei have grown measurably closer, introducing direct flights, markedly increasing tourism, signing a trade accord and increasing Chinese investment in Taiwan.

Cross-strait policy is acceptable to the majority of Taiwanese voters

By: N. Peter Kramer | Wednesday, December 1, 2010

“The results of the special municipality elections in Taiwan, November 27, show that the government’s cross-strait policy is acceptable to the majority of Taiwan’s people”, according to President Ma Ying-jeou.

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EU Actually

A UK-US deal sounds good but what does it mean

By: N. Peter Kramer

After Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House in February, the UK delegation referred to what was being negotiated as an "economic deal"

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