Category Archives: Europe

Preparing for a Wave of Non-Performing Loans: Are Banks at Risk?

On a aggregate basis, EU banks appear to have enough capital to weather even a bad Covid storm. A country-by-country look tells another story.

Yanis Varoufakis: Draghi’s Outrageous Deployment of McKinsey, Europe’s Predicament, DiEM25’s Proposals

Yanis Varoufakis decries how McKinsey is undermining democracy in a putative first world country, a big step up from South Africa and Saudi Arabia.

Failed COVID Strategy Leaves Sweden Deeply Divided

Sweden became a symbol for anti-lockdown and no-mask movements across the world. But it’s no longer a source of consensus at home.

Woodlands and Wetlands Could be Worth More When Left to Nature Than When Farmed

Study suggests that the assumption that greater economic benefits follow from developing resources, rather than conservation, is false.

SoftBank-Funded Fintech Upstart Greensill Crashes, Carnage Ensues

Supply chain finance disuptor Greensill is undone by its own financial wizardry, putting at risk thousands of jobs in the UK, Australia and the EU. The timing could not be worse for already buckling supply chains.

Waste Watch: Europeans Get Right to Repair for Some Consumer Electrical Goods, While John Deere Reneges on Promise to U.S. Farmers to Make Diagnostic Software Freely Available

On March 1, the EU implemented a right to repair for some consumer electrical goods; which U.S. state will wake up and do the same?

Yes, Export Bans on Vaccines Are a Problem, But Why Is the Supply of Vaccines so Limited in the First Place?

Italy has blocked vaccine exports to Australia, which now must reconsider its opposition to proposed global solutions to unblock supply.

Covid Baby Bust Has Governments Rattled

A falloff in baby production has capitalists very worried.

Italy’s Newly Unelected Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, Has Urgent Unfinished Business With the World’s Oldest Bank

In his former role as governor of the Bank of Italy, Draghi was partly responsible for Monte dei Paschi’s di Siena’s decline. Now he must reverse it.

Yanis Varoufakis: Trumpism after Trump – NEWSWEEK Magazine, Interviewed by Basit Mahmood

Varoufakis believes Biden Administration fecklessness and love of austerity will strengthen the Trump faction.

How the Catalonia Question Caused Blushes for Brussels in Moscow

In a heated face-off Russia reminded the EU that when it comes to imprisoning politicians, it too has form. In Catalonia tensions are coming back to the boil as new elections loom.

Why Is Everyone Talking About Squatters’ Rights in Covid-Ravaged Spain?

Squatters versus landlords: the battle lines are drawn as this once-in-a-lifetime crisis threatens to create a whole new generation of olvidados.

Coronavirus and Banking: Evaluating Policy Options for Avoiding a Financial Crisis

A scorecard for various approaches to combatting the looming European banking crisis.

Central Bank Machinations with No Exit: ECB Leaks New Thingy, It’s Doing Yield Spread Control

Not your grandmother’s “yield curve control.” Only one thing that could force this ECB absurdity to end: a big bout of inflation.

Perhaps It’s Time to Start Worrying About Italy Again

The causes for concern surrounding Italy are growing, even as the ECB keeps a tight lid on its bond yields, pushing its debt servicing costs lower as its debt explodes higher.