The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, the clear front-runner in the upcoming presidential elections, has been presenting his electoral agenda in the press and in public speeches in recent weeks. He offered a vision of the state analogous to the model seen in his second term in office as president: a strong government, state domination [...]
The EU summit on the 30th January 2012 endorsed the treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance in the economic and monetary union and produced one rather unexpected twist: the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Nečas, refused to sign up to the treaty. This has left the country – at least for the time [...]
Posted in Europe, Featured, Politics in the World 
Tags: European Union, The Czech Republic 
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The outcome of the Brussels summit on December 8th and 9th is a disaster for the UK and also threatens the integrity of the single market. For more than 50 years, a fundamental principle of Britain’s foreign policy has been to be present when EU bodies take decisions, so that it can influence the outcome. [...]
Posted in Europe, Featured, Politics in the World Tags: Britain, European Union, the euro zone debt crisis No Comments »
The latest negotiations between Greece and its lenders have ended, at least momentarily. Athens has agreed to endure ever-more painful pension, spending, and wage cuts, with monthly minimum salaries dropping 20 percent. The powerful leaders of ‘the troika’ — the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, and the European Central Bank — have charted the [...]
In early Monday morning, February 13th, 2012, the Greek parliament passed a new 3.3 billion euro austerity package into law. 199 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament voted in favour of the package and 74 against. 43 deputies from the main political parties, the socialists PASOK party and the conservative New Democracy party voted against the [...]
Posted in Economy and Finance, Europe, Politics in the World Tags: European Union, finance, Greece, the euro zone debt crisis No Comments »
On Friday, December 9th, 2011, at the EU summit in Brussels, the British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to sign up to a new treaty, aimed at solving the Euro zone crisis. He did it on the ground that the EU partners failed to offer safeguards for the UK-based financial services. He had a reason [...]
On Thursday, February 9th, 2012, the Greek political leaders supporting the Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s government of national unity agreed a new 3.3 billion euro programme of spending cuts. On Friday, February 10th, the Greek unions launched a 48-hour strike. Protesters clashed with the police on the streets of central Athens. Scores of youth in [...]
