Europe

Below is the statement released by euro area governments in support of the policy approach spearheaded by Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy to deal with the European sovereign debt crisis.

Frederick Sheehan writes that the purpose of this dispatch is to dispel rumors that current front-page treaty talks have any economic meaning. The European and U.S. stock markets react with a 3% or 4% gain after vague announcements, but we…

In sum, it seems clear that the next few days will not produce a long-term solution to the European debt crisis. However, the various nations and financial institutions realize the gravity of the situation, and it seems likely that they…

Financial news links for 8 December 2011 including stories on Denmark and Danish bank capital, the European sovereign debt crisis and Spanish banks

The following letter from the German Chancellor and the French President was addressed to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy

The ECB delivered the much expected 25 bp rate cut, though the decision was not unanimous. There was some immediate disappointment by some players positioned for the outside chance of a 50 bp move. The ECB addressed the liquidity and…

Michael Hudson was on RT's Capital Account with Lauren Lyster, speaking about the loss of democracy that has accompanied the global financial crisis. The video is below, but recently Michael also wrote two articles for the Frankfurter…

Opinion polls and surveys are finding an increasing number of people expect one or more countries to leave the euro zone. Investors are anxious. What is to be done? What makes this so difficult is that there are so many moving parts and…

We could be wrong on this one and may have too much faith in the Eurocrats, but think of consequences if we are wrong? If the EU fails here, it will 1931 all over again and will put the “Great” in this rolling depression/recession.…

Germany and France are pushing for treaty changes. Under normal conditions treaty changes are a long drawn out process, subject to horse trading and vulnerable to domestic political considerations and the outcome is far from guaranteed.…