March 2013 – Open Europe Blog

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Has Germany really gone off the idea of an EU treaty change?

March 28, 2013

Usually technical meetings behind closed doors in Brussels are pretty dull. However, judging by some of the reports floating around, yesterday’s meeting of the EU Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) may have bucked the trend somewhat. Th…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

bank bonus, banking regulation, banking supervision, banking union, Cameron's EU speech, CRD4, ECB, eu treaty, financial supervision, treaty change

Spain’s credibility suffers another blow as Eurostat spots some creative accounting

Two weeks ago, we noted on our blog that the Spanish Tax Agency had delayed around €5bn of tax refunds (due in December 2012) deferring payments to January 2013 instead. This contributed to Spain missing its EU-mandated 2012 deficit target (6.74% of …

Posted by Open Europe blog team

eurostat, eurozone crisis, Rajoy, Spain, Spanish bailout, Spanish deficit

The Great European Bank Run that never was?

Journalists were descending on banks across Cyprus this morning to monitor whether Cypriot depositors would rush to withdraw their cash as the country’s banks opened after being closed for 10 days. So far, however, there have been virtually no drama…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

bank capital, bank of cyprus, bank run, capital controls, contagion, Cyprus, deposit levy, depositors, deposits

Italy: Bersani failing to form government wouldn’t automatically mean new elections

March 27, 2013

There were rumours of a further postponement until Good Friday, but Italy’s centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani has confirmed he will meet President Giorgio Napolitano tomorrow and report on the outcome of coalition talks with other political parties…

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berlusconi, Bersani, eurozone crisis, Italian elections, Italian President mandate, italy, mario monti

When months turn into years…

About those “temporary” Cypriot capital controls:From Iceland’s letter of intent to the IMF dated November 2008, highlighting the intention to remove capital controls “as soon as possible” (click to enlarge):A statement by the Central Bank of Ice…

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capital controls, Cyprus, eurozone crisis, Iceland

Cyprus closes the shutters as it announces capital controls

Some more details coming out about the much talked about capital controls in Cyprus (details via @MatinaStevis and RANsquawk): Will include limit on cashing cheques (but will be able to deposit cheques).Time fixed deposits will not be able to be red…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

bail-out, bank of cyprus, capital controls, crisis, Cyprus, depositors, deposits, eurozone, Iceland, imf

The Cypriot bailout: A catalogue of farce

Having followed the twists and turns of the Cypriot bailout for the last couple of weeks we’ve been struck by how – even by the standards of eurozone crisis management – it has been spectacularly mishandled often with farcical results (FAZ’s Klau…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

bail-ins, bail-out, cypriot parliament, Cyprus, euro, Joren Dijsselbloem, Nicos Anastasiades, russia, troika

No backing down: Germany comes out swinging over claims it is the neighbourhood bully

March 26, 2013

Given all the Germany-bashing over the last week, in the wake of the Cyprus bailout deal (some of it completely ridiculous), it’s easy to forget that the Germans themselves are remarkably united over the agreement. In fact, the feeling is that Germany,…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

bailout fatigue, Cyprus, eurozone bailouts, eurozone north vs south, german media, German public opinion, Merkel, schauble

A grand coalition with Silvio is hard to swallow for Bersani, but…

The leader of Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party, Pier Luigi Bersani, is in an unenviable position right now. He has been asked by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to go and meet pretty much everyone (trade unions, employers’ associations, politi…

Posted by Open Europe blog team

berlusconi, Bersani, euro, eurozone crisis, Five Star Movement, Grillo, Italian elections, italy

You want contagion…I’ll show you contagion…

March 25, 2013

Everyone, including us, has commented at some point this week about how calmly markets have reacted to the situation in Cyprus. Cue Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem. From his interview with Reuters:”What we’ve done last night is what I call …

Posted by Open Europe blog team

contagion, crisis, Cyprus, euro, eurogroup, eurozone, eurozone exit, financial markets

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