Blogs 2 : 30th September

Whoops ..... Alpha.Sources-CV (en)
Doomed? Richard, EUReferendum (en)
Credit markets, Libor and Bank failures! Irony Too (en)
European Parliament elections 2009: Overview article. Julien Frisch, Watching Europe (en)
Worldfocus - Martin Savidge on public television. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle
Some Lessons From Bailout Week. Jerome, European Tribune (en)

Too soon to be smug. Certain Ideas of Europe (en)
"... How this crisis impacts the rise of the rest (particularly developing economies in Asia and the Middle East) vis-a-vis America and Europe too will indeed be one of the fascinating trends to watch in future. For the moment, though, there are an awful lot of moving pieces in this storyline ..."

Crise financière: vers un gouvernement économique européen? Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
".... Le sauvetage de Dexia par la France, la Belgique et le Luxembourg, annoncé tôt ce matin, après que le titre ait plongé en bourse, a fourni une nouvelle illustration de cette étroite coordination et de cette adaptabilité dont on disait les Européens dépourvus....
.... Ne faudrait-il pas se donner les moyens d'agir au niveau européen? Si les pays européens veulent se donner les moyens de résister aux tempêtes venues d'ailleurs, un nouveau saut fédéral est nécessaire. Plus que jamais, la crise actuelle montre que les petits Etats européens pris isolément sont incapables de faire face et que l'Europe n'a pas encore les moyens de les remplacer. Un entre-deux mortel ..."

Faillite française. Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
" ... Celle-ci, (le Dette) qui avait diminué de 66,4% du PIB en 2005 (record absolu) à 63,9 en 2007, va rebondir à 66% du PIB en 2009, selon le projet de budget présenté par le gouvernement la semaine dernière. Dire que la France est "en faillite" comme l'a dit le Premier Ministre, François Fillon, l'automne dernier, est à peine exagéré : il ne lui reste quasiment plus aucune marge de manœuvre pour financer ses dépenses d’investissement et préparer le futur. Si rien n'est rapidement fait, la dette va rapidement devenir incontrôlable, comme l'ont déjà expérimenté des pays comme l'Italie ou la Belgique ..."

Elections in Bavaria: Huh. Douglas Muir, a Fistful of Euros (en)
" ... Surprise: the Christian Social Union, which has ruled Bavaria without a break since forever, lost big. For the first time since 1962, they won’t have enough seats in Parliament to rule alone; they’ll have to take on a partner, most likely the FDP ... "

Europe’s contrasting reactions to sub-prime crisis. Michael Berendt, Blogactiv.eu (en)
" ... While the United States and Britain reel from one catastrophe to another in the storm of the sub-prime crisis, the eurozone has seemed remarkably detached ... For the Americans and the Brits the news is totally dominated by stories of collapsing banks, bail-outs, vast lines of credit insurance which turn out to be no insurance at all ...
... there does seem to be a difference. The US and UK economies are so much more dependent on their financial services sector than most of the countries of the eurozone ..."

In defence of Anglo-Saxon capitalism. Charles Grant director of Centre for European Reform (en)

" ... Of course, the credit crisis has exposed huge weaknesses in the American and British financial systems ... Financial crises are inherent in the nature of capitalism, rather than one particular brand of it. However the current crisis turns out, many continental European governments will have to tackle serious structural flaws in their economies ...
... Moreover, the City of London remains a big British strength – despite everything that has happened ... Nobody should write off the American economy. Compared to its European peers, its history of recovering rapidly from recession is impressive. Its track record on innovation and start-ups is the envy of the world. Where are the European Googles, Microsofts, Ciscos and Intels? The US has most of the world’s best universities ...
... Some European leaders may view the Lisbon agenda of economic reform as ‘Anglo-Saxon’, but they should not abandon it. Parts of the agenda are rather Anglo-Saxon, such as the emphasis on creating employment, liberalising utilities and enhancing competition. But much of the agenda has a broader scope: boosting innovation, improving R&D, reforming pensions and helping start-ups. All the European economies need the Lisbon agenda, whether they are Anglo-Saxon, Rhineland, Nordic, East European or Mediterranean ...