Blogs : 10th November

Montenegrin Leaders visited Brussels. Discussion on Progress toward EU and NATO. Bocca.Brussels, BlogActiv.eu (en)
" ... Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on Wednesday held talks in Brussels with the European foreign policy and security commissioner, Javier Solana. At the same time, the Montenegrin Parliamentary delegation visited European Parliament ..."

Obama’s ‘A’ list of foreign leaders. Stanley Crossick, BlogActiv.eu (en)
" ... 3. President Sarkozy of France 4. Chancellor Merkel of Germany 9. Prime Minister Brown of the United Kingdom ..."

The Commission’s economic forecasts are still too complacent. Simon Tilford, Centre for European Reform (en)
" ... The IMF’s forecasts look more realistic than those of the Commission. It is forecasting a decline in EU output of 0.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent for the eurozone. This means recessions in Germany (0.8 per cent), Spain (0.7 per cent) and France and Italy (0.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.) The IMF was heavily criticised earlier in the year for allegedly being too pessimistic about Europe’s economy’s outlook, but it has been vindicated as the European economy slowed dramatically even before the intensification of the financial crisis in September ..."

Rotten Potato. Doug Merrill, A Fisful of Euros (en)

Our new monetarist overlords. P O Neill, A Fisful of Euros (en)
" ... The IMF announcement makes repeated references to a “flexible exchange rate regime” and in particular "Base money will be the near-term anchor for monetary policy until an inflation targeting regime can be implemented". In other words, targets will be set for the growth of a narrow definition of the money supply and that will be the only explicit basis for interest rate adjustments. Among other things, the Fund doesn’t want the central bank to be blowing reserves on a futile defence of a particular level of the exchange rate ..."

Club Med finds a home. Certain Ideas of Europe (en)
" ... THERE was progress this week on plans for a new group to address issues of common interest to European and other Mediterranean-area countries. Agreement on everything from a new name (Union for the Mediterranean) to a new home (Barcelona) and maneuvering around Middle East tensions (the Arab League will have observer status, but not a vote, to accommodate Israel) suggests that so far, the 43-member regional union has legs, even if it is moving slowly. There has been talk for years of greater European cooperation with its Mediterranean neighbours ..."

English as a tool for Sarkozy-baiting. Certain Ideas of Europe (en)
" ... It was a very odd moment. Mr Barroso speaks many languages: including his native Portuguese, excellent French and English, and a magnificently mangled form of Spanish. But the French presidency of the EU has gone out of its way to stress the French language, in a rather vain attempt to stem the tide of English as the near-automatic working language of the EU institutions. Mr Barroso normally speaks French in such circumstances. But this time, he began by announcing that he would speak English "for the sake of linguistic diversity, and for the protection of minority languages". Why not speak Portuguese, if you want to defend minority languages, snapped Mr Sarkozy, before muttering audibly that French was a minority language nowadays ..."

Crise financière: mésentente franco-allemande? Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
" ... La méfiance allemande est difficilement compréhensible face à la gravité de la situation économique que Berlin semble sous-estimer depuis le départ. Tout se passe comme si la chancelière allemande, Angela Merkel, désormais en campagne électorale, était totalement paralysée et engoncée dans de vieux schémas. Pour Berlin, Paris veut manifestement profiter des circonstances pour imposer un « gouvernement économique » qu’elle continue à percevoir comme une menace pour l’indépendance de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE). Pourtant, celle-ci a accepté de coopérer pleinement avec les autorités politiques, montrant ainsi qu’indépendance ne veut pas dire absence de dialogue. De même, elle craint de devoir payer pour les autres, en particulier pour la France. Alors qu’elle a non sans mal rétabli l’équilibre de ses finances publiques, l’Hexagone, fidèle à sa réputation de cigale, a laissé filer ses déficits et sa dette — qui va atteindre des sommets inédits (70 % du PIB en 2010). Or, là aussi, il s’agit d’un mauvais procès, coordination des politiques économiques ne voulant pas dire budget commun ..."

G20: "et moi, et moi, et moi". Jean Quatremer, Les Coulisses de Bruxelles (fr)
" ... L’Union court, en effet, le risque du ridicule : alors qu’elle proclame son « unité » sur la crise financière, une délégation trop fournie donnerait la désastreuse impression que chacun se méfie en réalité de l’autre, alors que l’Union en a déjà six sièges assurés : outre les quatre pays européens du G8, la présidence en exercice de l’Union et la Commission seront en effet présent …
... Néanmoins, le Président de la République a admis qu’il serait curieux d’exclure du G20 « la huitième économie du monde », en l’occurrence l’Espagne : « la France ayant droit à deux sièges en tant que présidente en exercice du conseil et membre du G8, l’Espagne occupera l’un des deux sièges ». Reste alors le problème des Pays-Bas : « à ma connaissance, c’est la seizième économie du monde et ils ont donc vocation à être présents » à un G20 des vingt premières puissances mondiales, a ajouté Sarkozy sans préciser quelle solution il avait en tête ... "

Unbelievable! Richard, EUReferendum (en)
More chaos and confusion. Richard, EUReferendum (en)

A vicarious thrill. Richard, EUReferendum (en)
" ... On the other hand, who has noticed that, yesterday, our own government met – in Brussels – to decide on its "common position" on reforming the global financial system? All 27 member state leaders were there – which includes our beloved premier – and, according to temporary boss-man Nicolas Sarkozy, "There is a pretty detailed common position from Europe … We will be defending a common position, a vision … for restructuring our financial system." ..."

Bush And Obama. Eursoc Two, EurSoc (en)
" ... President George W Bush delivers delivers a noble speech congratulating Barack Obama on yesterday's presidential election victory. It is difficult to imagine a similar handover happening with such dignity anywhere else in the world; Bush may have little in common politically with Obama but both men are aware of the trust placed in them by the American people and the obligations this trust imposes. No-one is greater than the will of the people ..."