Category Archives: Europe

John Helmer: Ukraine Readies Itself for War When No One Wants to Pay for It

The IMF is finding it hard to put enough lipstick on the pig of financing Ukraine.

Eurogroup Demands Varoufakis’ Ouster; Trajectory Toward Default Continues

In case you had any doubts that Greece is supposed to act like a good debt vassal, the Eurogroup’s hissy fit over Yanis Varoufakis at last Friday’s meeting, which stoked a raft of unflattering articles, has now led it to demand to that Greek government remove him.

Greece Talks With Eurogroup Hit “Complete Breakdown”

The Greek negotiations with the Eurogroup are exemplifying the saying, “Things look the darkest before they go completely black.”

The Gazprom Case: Good Timing or Bad Timing?

Just a week after having sent a Statement of Objections (SO) in the frame of the antitrust case against Google, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager sent yesterday an SO in the frame of the case against Gazprom. The decision to send a charge sheet against the Russian gas company came after almost three years of investigations, which have also seen EU antitrust officials raiding Gazprom offices in central and eastern European countries.

Wolf Richter: The Greek People Just Destroyed Syriza’s Strategy

Greek stocks ventured deeper into purgatory. The ASE index dove below 700 intraday on Wednesday for the first time since the crisis days of June 2012. Then word spread that the ECB had raised the cap on the Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek banks by €1.5 billion to €75.5 billion. It’s the oxygen line for Greek banks. Without it, they’re toast.

John Helmer: The Potentate Of Prague — How the War Party in Washington is Losing Eastern Europe, Hillary Clinton Too

Why the richest man in Prague, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, is planning to sue the US government for libel.

Greece Endgame Nears

Despite the market jitters of last Friday, which were triggered in part by the recognition that the odds of Greece reaching a deal with its creditors are far lower than had been widely assumed, Greek-related coverage has ratcheted down, even as Greece seems certain not to get any funds released in the April 24 Eurogroup meeting and is very likely to miss the end of April deadline for getting its reforms approved by the Troika and Eurogroup.

Nobel Prize Winner Robert Merton Slams Fed for “Negative Wealth Effect” Policies

Nobel Prize winner Robert Merton and Arlin Muralidhar have charged ZIRP and QE happy central banks with economic malpractice.

Greece: Default or Grexit?

A Greek default does not mean an inevitable Grexit. But even in the event of a default in the Eurozone, the costs to Greece of staying in the Eurozone are set to rise.

Debunking the Causes of the Eurozone Crisis

The orthodox German view of the Eurozone crisis gets shellacked at an important INET panel.

Ilargi: Russia’s Central Bank Governor Is Way Smarter Than Ours

Just like the Bank of England hired Mark Carney from Canada, maybe our central bank, the Fed, should hire Elvira Nabiullina from Russia?

Jeffrey Sommers: Comparing Apples to Oranges: The Baltic States and Greece

Greece’s crisis is a public debt crisis enabled by membership in the Eurozone. The Baltic crisis was a private sector property bubble crisis.

Don Quijones: “Bad Bank” Mania Spreads in Europe

Yves here. I’m not as negative about “bad banks” as Don Quijones is. He does mention the positive result in Sweden, and I hope Swedish Lex will pipe up in comments to add more insight. But the Spanish case is a horrorshow and others in Europe are troubling.