Tagged Hollande
Yes or No: The Last Sequel to the Greek Tragedy?
The paradox inherent in the planned Greek referendum is that a “no” vote directed at the EU might be a “yes” for a better Europe. The same Europeans, whom the EU is now trying to force-feed a false “salvation”, might end up saving the true European Idea, even if it’s at the price of renouncing the current institutional attempts to implement it.
US Spying, a very wrong calculation
The US intelligence establishment must have been very confident that their surveillance methods would never be discovered by the surveilled individuals in order to risk wiretapping European leaders. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand how on earth they decided to gamble those relationships with some of their closest European allies in exchange for information obtained from phone conversations of Hollande, Sarkozy, Chirac or, as revealed some time ago, Merkel. They calculated wrong.
“Make in India” Modi tells Europe
On his first official trip to Europe, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France and Germany from 10 to 14 April. His charm offensive had a central economic rationale, promoting India as an attractive investment and technology transfer destination through his “Make in India” campaign. Interesting to note that Mr. Modi’s European purchases, especially of the Rafele jet fighters, means that developing and poor India is supporting developed France with an injection of hard-earned cash
Giving another chance to diplomacy in Ukraine
The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed on Sunday, 8 February, to press ahead with the diplomatic initiative by Ms Merkel to ease the tension in Eastern Ukraine. Germany is convinced that even discussions of supplying weapons could escalate the fighting and encourage Ukraine in a war it could never win against a much stronger Russia. The German Chancellor defended her decision to maintain economic sanctions and avoid the use of force by referring to her own experience of waiting patiently for the Cold War to end. “I am surprised at how faint-hearted we are, and how quickly we lose courage,” she remarked.
Greek “charm offensive” ends in collision with Germany
After a week of non-stop meetings by the Greek Prime Minister and his Finance Minister, Messrs Tsipras and Varoufakis, an apparent rift exists between Greece and Germany. With the ECB’s action to cut off the Greek banks from the ESM and instead use the ELA mechanism for liquidity, and Jeroen Dijselbloem’s outright rejection of a ‘bridge loan’, the situation is now at a standstill. While Greece sees the first demonstrations in support of its government, the current bailout programme ends on 28 February and Grexit re-enters the public discourse.
France and Italy avert budget clash with Commission, Britain forced to foot extra EU budget bill
France and Italy have managed to sidestep an unavoidable collision with the European Commission over their 2015 budgets by pledging additional fiscal measures to cut their deficits. Meanwhile, Britain is forced to pay the additional £1.7bn it has been calculated to owe for the EU budget.
