The simple truth unpalatable to Eurozone authorities is that small peripheral EU economies and even big economies like Spain and Italy, are victims, not designers of the liberalised financial architecture that was built way back in 1992, repeating earlier twentieth century failed experiments that
The justification for the ‘rescue’ plan for Cyprus appears reasonable: taxpayers should not have to pay for the costly mistakes of bankers and ‘tax havens’ should be eliminated. But the ‘bail-in’ plan does not achieve these objectives.
French and German overriding of the European Commission over the Stability Pact can be seen, ten years later, to have been disastrous. A vision more powerful, more engaging, more profound than “common interest” is now required if Europe is to survive, and divided Cyprus is a test case.
Cyprus' unique political culture, as well as its relationship with Russia, played an important yet underappreciated role in the island's recent economic crisis.
The 2004 Annan Plan to re-unite the island failed spectacularly; but within the current economic crisis there is room for reconciliation in Cyprus.
Harsh measures imposed on Cypriot political and financial authorities to address bank failures reveal, once again, that the entire architecture of the EU is in tatters. The geopolitics surrounding the Greek Cypriot crisis is pulling the EU further apart and into the unknown.
EU accession in 2004 did little if anything to make runaway bankers accountable; on the contrary, the so-called institutional ‘independence’ of the Central Bank making the Governor accountable to the ECB rather than having any democratic accountability to the people who would be immediately affect
Euro sunset on Cyprus: while Vladimir Putin dives for the Gazprom treasure, diligent locals are facing a tax grab of their small savings (visual montage).
Parts 2 (50 mins) and 3 (50 mins) of the generalists' introduction to modern Greek history take us from 1920 to the present day. Part 1, 1820-1920, is here, and the two articles that have served as anchors for the conversation are here (Doxiadis on the historical roots of current economic structur
It is time to stop the chorus of blackmail assailing Syriza, the radical Greek left party poised to win the Sunday election, from all sort of pundits, international officials and, above all, Merkel - along the lines that if their anti-bailout platform wins the June 17 contest then Greece would be
The chances of an internal resolution of the enduring Cyprus conflict are receding. This reinforces the temptation of many to embrace a “European solution” as the way forward. But the European Union's understanding of democracy is less principled than Greek Cypriots would like it to be, says Huber
