German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said today that the German deficit would be over the 3 percent limit for the fourth consecutive year this year, and would remain there at least till 2007.
The latest data, from a meeting with state finance ministers, projected this year’s deficit to reach 3.7 percent. In addition, the country is [...]

This morning Spain followed the example set by its one-time colonies in the Low Countries, legalising gay marriage.
Predictably, the post-Francoist Popular Party and the Roman Catholic hierarchy are not amused. One hopes they will take some comfort in the thought that the new law will not actually require anybody to marry a person of the [...]

I can’t stop laughing at this goofy story. Maybe it’s just me. God, I hope it really was a misunderstanding.
Via Susan.

A few weeks back, I blogged a little about the upcoming elections in Albania. Here’s a bit more.
The elections are expected to be close, because the ruling Socialist Party is split. The larger faction supports the current Prime Minister, Fatos Nano. But a breakaway group, under an ex-weightlifter named Ilir Meta, has [...]

I was reading one of the Sueddeutsche books at lunch, and one of the characters, a Dutchman as it happens, casually drops into the conversation, “Poland has not yet perished.” It’s the opening line of the Polish national anthem, and one of those catchphrases of the culture, a hoary cliche, but one that despite everything [...]

As indicated earlier in the week, the EU Commission has given Italy two years to correct its deficit.
“The European Union on Wednesday gave Italy until the end of 2007 to cut its budget deficit in line with euro-zone rules. The EU head office said Italy has been violating the budget rules underpinning the common currency [...]

Deep seated as my criticisms are of the dithering and lack of imagination and vision over at the ECB, the situation would not be improved by giving national governments more say. I have only one response then to M de Vil-lepin: hands off.
“Mr de Villepin suggests the 12 finance ministers of the eurozone should open [...]

Spain’s governing Socialist party celebrated yesterday the conquest of the northwest region of Galicia (the Gallegos are the third of Spain’s ‘historic nationalities’, together with the Basques and the Catalans). The result follows a cliff-hanger election that ousted the centre-right Popular party and its octogenarian president, Manuel Fraga, from power. This result will undoubtedy [...]

China’s campaign to buy up ‘known brands’ continues. This time it is the US centenarian bicycle manufacturer Huffy. This bid has an interesting twist: Huffy is in bankruptcy, apparently for problems with a defined benefit pension scheme. IMHO this could be the tip of a looming iceberg. Best known canditates for forthcoming problems here would [...]

The consumer confidence index calculated by the the Nuremburg based GfK market research group fell this month to 3.5 from a revised 4.3 in May. This suggests that while Germans may vote in large numbers for a change of government, they are extremely guarded about the possibility that this will produce any [...]