Underlying tensions between European countries are gradually emerging as austerity measures imposed by richer economies exacerbate already painful recessions among indebted nations. But while the ECB has managed to stave off an outright economic war between its members for the time being at least, economic peace remains elusive – as long as the governments continue to dither and bicker over long-term solutions.
Germany and the Jewish Claims Conference have signed a new accord that will increase the monthly pension benefits for Jewish Holocaust survivors as well as make payments to victims who still have not been compensated nearly 70 years after the collapse of the Nazi regime.
The amended accord was signed by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Julius Berman, chairman of the Jewish Claims Conference, to mark the treaty’s 60th anniversary.
François Hollande’s rise to power in France was supposed to herald the re-emergence of Left-wing politics in Europe. But with the French Socialist Party now falling in line with the neoliberal austerity agenda, other ‘Genuine Left’ parties across Europe have begun to gain greater prominence, particularly in Greece where austerity policies remain deeply unpopular.
The European Union wasted more than 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion) on errors in payments and ineffective economic programs last year, said its auditors on Tuesday, with about 3.9 percent of 2011’s budget payments directed at projects that didn’t comply with EU or national funding rules.
According to the European Court of Auditors (ECA), EU policymakers had failed to set up fully functioning systems and methods to detect and correct spending errors, while member states were also not distributing its allocated budget efficiently enough.
European banks may need to sell as much as $4.5 trillion in assets through 2013, if political leaders fail to quell the current fiscal crisis, said the International Monetary Fund in its latest Global Financial Stability Report on Wednesday.
The 27-member-strong European Union are presently discussing the possibility of developing a secondary budget – separate from the regular E.U. budget – for the 17 members that share the common euro currency, said a report by the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) on Sunday.
A recent French study demonstrating links between Monsanto’s NK603 genetically modified (GM) corn and cancer in rats has been found to be of “insufficient scientific quality” by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), reported Reuters on Thursday, though advocacy groups are now accusing the EFSA of putting the interests of biotech firms ahead of public safety concerns.
European Union nations may have to spend up to 25 billion euros upgrading their nuclear reactors to meet new safety standards imposed after the Fukushima disaster, said a report by Bloomberg on Wednesday, with 134 reactors presently in operation across the region.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has pledged to increase the transparency of the bank, suggesting yesterday that he was open to the idea of publishing minutes from its monetary policy meetings sooner rather than later.
According to a report that appeared on the Wall Street Journal yesterday, “publishing a record of ECB governing council meetings would make clear the degree of dissent among the 23-member board”.
The European Union is unlikely to go ahead with a proposal that would have forced publicly-listed companies to ensure a minimum 40 percent presence of women in their corporate boardrooms, said a report by the Financial Times on Sunday.
The proposed legislation, which would have been imposed across the entire EU, faced opposition by at least nine member states, who argued that the issue should be preferably dealt on a national, rather than regional, level.
