Blogs : 17th October

Annals of embarrassed academics. P O Neill, A Fistful od Euros (en)
An object of contempt. Richard, EUReferendum (en)
A nice pot of tea. Richard, EUReferendum (en)
Récession: pas de plan de relance européen. Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
Lisbonne: l'Irlande fait lanterner l'Union. Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
Les Vingt-sept appellent à une refondation du capitalisme. Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
Distribution of publications, studies, reports and API. en.europa-eu-audience (en)
Poland airing its dirty laundry in public. Jon Worth, Euroblog (en)
Help without borders between Romania and Hungary. Julien Frisch, Watching Europe (en)
Bulgarian troubles. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)
The Holodomor and German-American relations comments. Vitaliy, The 8th Circle (en)

Lloyds Bank raises mortgage costs. Ironies Too (en) 17th october
" ... These facts are reported in the Daily Mail, linked here, which incredibly also reports many in the UK still believe their houses are rising in value, read here. "

Anglo Disease, The End of The 'Bubbles' Greenspan Illusion. Jerome a Paris, European Tribune (en)
" ... The Greenspan Bubble was a time of great economic "growth", on the back of huge "profits" for the financial sector (which reachd 40% of total corporate profits). The profits proved to be imaginary. Can we also acknowledge that the growth was also imaginary, and thus that "reforms" (deregulation, labor market flexibility, tax cuts) DO NOT WORK, except to channel massive sums towards a happy few!? ..."

Libya Buys Italy As Colonialism Moves Into Reverse Gear. Edward Hugh, A Fistful of Euros (en)
" ... The investment may be worth much as 1.3 billion euros, according to a note by Centrosim analyst Marco Sallustio published this morning. It could allow Libya to obtain a seat on the bank’s board. Central Bank of Libya, Libyan Investment Authority and Libyan Foreign Bank bought shares to boost their holding to 4.2 percent, the investors said in a statement late yesterday. They intend to buy as much as 500 million euros of securities that UniCredit plans to sell over coming months ..."

Hungary Is Headed For A Substantial Recession As Foreign Exchange Lending Seizes Up. Edward Hugh, A Fistful of Euros (en)
" ... Hungary’s agony has continued during the week with both currency and stock markets falling sharply while bankers continue to report acute credit shortages ...
... Standard & Poor’s has announced that it placed its ‘BBB+/A-2′ sovereign credit rating on Hungary on CreditWatch with negative implications ... Hungary has a ‘BBB+’ rating at Fitch and ‘A2′ at Moody’s.
... Key Points in the Crisis ... Hungary has a large debt ... Hungary had an excessively loose fiscal policy between 2001 and 2006 and this boosted the budget deficit to above 9 percent of GDP ... Hungary has been running a current account deficit ... Hungary now needs to refinance its existing household and corporate debt by issuing both forint-denominated and foreign currency bonds ... internal demand in Hungary (construction activity, retail sales etc) has been more or less in contraction mode since the start of 2007 ... The Socialist government rules in a minority at the present time ..."

Major Washington Agency Runs Iceland Look-Alike Casting. Edward Hugh, A Fisful of Euros (en)
" ... “Many central and eastern European countries simply don’t have either the financial strength or the technical expertise to bail out banks,” said Lars Christensen, a senior emerging-markets analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “It’s like an Iceland look-a-like contest and there are a number of candidates looking very fragile at the moment.” ..."

The EU Signals Global Leadership. Eberhard Rhein, Blogactiv.eu (en)
"Crises always have their positive by-effects. Who would have thought only a few months ago that the EU is able to play an effective role in the international arena outside its traditional competence for international trade! ...
... In acting so, the EU has demonstrated its capability of temporarily replacing fledgling US leadership ... We should draw at least four conclusions from these fortunate circumstances ... The EU needs a strong Presidency that is able to act decisively ... The EU must urgently learn to formulate its views on all major international issues ... Beyond its formal institutional structures the EU needs close informal links between what should become a sort of “inner circle” of a few key member countries and the Commission ... It would be naïve to believe that the EU can replace the USA ..."

Vers une représentation de la zone euro au G8? Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
" ... C’est une petite révolution, un pas de plus dans la mise en place d’un gouvernement économique européen. Pour la première fois, il est prévu, dans les conclusions du Conseil européen, que le sommet du G8 ... sera préparé par les Vingt-sept et pas seulement par les quatre pays européens du G8 et la Commission. Jusque-là, Paris et Londres, jaloux de leurs prérogatives, s’opposaient à une telle préparation en commun. Nicolas Sarkozy, à la demande de l’Espagne, a estimé qu’il fallait mettre fin à cette survivance du passé et mutualiser les sièges européens au sein du G8. Bientôt une représentation unique de la zone euro au G8? ..."

Sarkozy, président permanent du conseil européen? (suite). Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
" ... Plusieurs délégations ont fait part, au cours du sommet européen de mercredi et de jeudi, de leur lassitude face à la présidence semestrielle tournante de l’Union ... Mis à part les Britanniques qui ont toujours du mal à reconnaître que quelque chose de positif puisse venir du continent en général, de la France en particulier, tout le monde reconnaît être séduit par l’activisme et le sens du compromis de Nicolas Sarkozy. « On est à la fois positivement surpris et impressionné par sa présidence », m’a confié un ministre d’un petit pays ..."