Overview for eu

Why Cameron's EU Veto Made Sense

Last week in Brussels, the United Kingdom for the first time in a long time refused to be dictated to by continental elites. David Cameron, under enormous pressure from the Commission, other “core” Union members, and the (then) sotto voce pro-Europe disposition of his LibDem coalition …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Friday December 16, 2011

The UK's Future in Europe Looks Very Swiss

Despite what the sensational media coverage might suggest, EU-UK relations did not experience a watershed moment last week. The EU has indeed become a two-tier organization but the divide has not occurred between the UK and Europe but between the Northern “fiscal hawks” and the slump European …

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Written by Robin Tim Weis on Wednesday December 14, 2011

A Permanent EU "Crisis"?

On December 7th, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented a  0, 5384220.story"> letter to the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy with their proposals for how to solve the current EU crisis. Except their letter was not really a proposal, in that it …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Thursday December 8, 2011

The EU's New Budget Motto: "Mother May I?"

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has just floated a proposal to subject all EU members - not just eurozone members - to more rigorous budget scrutiny by Union organs. The proposal is so contrary to the Union treaties and its scope so overreaching to the current eurozone debt crisis …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Wednesday December 7, 2011

One Continent, Under France and Germany

Looks like the EU has found an alternative to German domination of everybody else. It's French-German domination of everybody else . The grand "deal" announced earlier this week has something for both France and Germany. For the Germans, France will temporarily stop talking about eurobonds and …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Wednesday December 7, 2011

The Man Who Invented the Euro

The Telegraph today posts an interview of Jacques Delors by Charles Moore. I ask the man who prides himself on being an architect of European Union whether he got it all wrong. Unhesitatingly, he denies it. It is a fault in the execution, not of the architects, which he claimed to have …

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Written by David Frum on Saturday December 3, 2011

The EU's Plan: Raise Taxes With Bailouts

The past two weeks have seen a dizzying array of proposals from virtually every organ of the EU claiming that they can make the eurozone more efficient, durable, and solvent. If you noticed that no one is saying that they will make the eurozone more democratic, you’re not the only one . The …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Thursday December 1, 2011

Let Europeans Vote for EU Officials

In my column for The Week I explain why the European Union needs more democratic accountability: The European Union is not a democracy because until now it has been regarded as an association of democracies. The institutions at the center of Europe existed to serve democratic governments, …

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Written by David Frum on Wednesday November 30, 2011

Poland to Germany: We Need You to Act!

In an important speech in Berlin, Poland's Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski expressed a thought maybe has never been heard before on German soil from a Polish leader: What, as Poland’s foreign minister, do I regard as the biggest threat to the security and prosperity of Poland today, on 28 th …

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Written by David Frum on Monday November 28, 2011

A `New Europe' Plan to Save the Euro

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski will deliver an outline of a plan to save the euro currency in a speech today in Berlin. Poland, remember, has not yet joined the Euro, and has escaped the crisis that has engulfed other Central European countries whose memberships have already taken …

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Written by David Frum on Monday November 28, 2011

Why the Euro Can't Afford to Lose Italy

No relationship in Europe is more complex or dangerous than the relationship between the EU and the Eurozone. The EU contains 27 countries. Only 17 of them use the Euro. The economic impact of the Euro on non-Euro countries is obvious. Now consider the political effect. Current voting …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Sunday November 20, 2011

Shrinking the Zone to Save the Euro

The Merkel-Sarkozy strategy for changing which countries are able to use the euro is taking shape. Their next efforts will likely include an attempt to change the treaties that govern how to exit the euro and how the countries more deeply integrate . Additional treaty powers to decide who can …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Wednesday November 16, 2011

Merkel's Plan to End the Euro

Whatever political settlement the Lisbon Treaty created to allow for the permanence of the euro is about to change. Chancellor Merkel will propose a significant change in the existing treaties, which will finally allow Greece and perhaps others to leave the euro but not the EU, and likely bestow …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Monday November 14, 2011

The New Threat from Europe

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Written by David Frum on Monday November 14, 2011

The Euro? Um, Next Question Please

Last night, the CNBC anchors addressed the most urgent economic question of the moment - the fate of the euro - to four of the Republican presidential candidates: Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman. I want to begin with what we saw today, another rough day for our money, for …

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Written by David Frum on Thursday November 10, 2011

Europe's Greatest Deficit is its Democracy

Though his actions quickly descended into farce, soon-to-be-former Greek Prime Minister Papandreou had the right instinct calling for a referendum on the austerity package that European negotiators are imposing on his country. There has been a long-stranding “democratic deficit” within the …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Monday November 7, 2011

The G-20 Summit's Abject Failure

The G-20 summit failed utterly to secure any resolution of the eurozone’s economic crisis. Yet two decisions were taken that may at some future point contribute to a solution: First, the G-20 agreed to continue to consider increased involvement of the International Monetary Fund to stem the …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Saturday November 5, 2011

Europe's Debt Solution is Forced Unification

In my column for the National Post I discuss how the solution to the European debt crisis is going to force a closer union between member states: If the euro is not to bust up, it must be saved. Friday morning, The Globe & Mail reproduced on its front page one plan to save the euro. …

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Written by David Frum on Saturday October 29, 2011

Alan Greenspan: Wrong on the Euro

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has been reenforcing the conventional wisdom that the current eurozone debt crisis can be traced to a strong> north-south cultural divide

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Wednesday October 26, 2011

Save the Euro? Could be Illegal

At some point in this crisis, the eurozone is going to have to decide whether it wants to have a solvent euro for the moment in part of the Union, or a lawful and democratic Union in all of it. The EU is groping for ways to bail out a list of states that includes Greece, Italy, Portugal, …

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Written by Jeff Cimbalo on Tuesday October 25, 2011