The Finnish government intend to push for an eco-efficient European economy when Finland assumes the EU Presidency in the second half of 2006.The inspiration will be the national Finnish programme for sustainable consumption and production. Back in 2002 the EU committed itself, during the Johannesburg Earth summit, to establish a ten-year framework programme for [...]

Total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU-15 decreased by only 1.7% 1990 - 2003, with CO2 alone growing by 3.4%, according to the latest statistics from the European Environment Agency.

Poland is now the seventh country to suspend its referendum plans. Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and the Czech Republic have already done so. Portugal has ammended its constitution to make it possible to hold a referendum on EU related matters, but evidently there are no plans to hold any in the foreseeable future. [...]

Or a real possibility: the euro at 1:1 with the dollar? The FT today cites one trader who thinks it a definite possibility. Of course, they also often quote others who hold a contrary opinion. So why do I pick up on this one? Because even though I don’t have access to the technical and [...]

Well Sweden has just put the cat among the pigeons. Taking advantage of its ability to apply an independent monetary policy, the Riksbank has decided to cut its base lending rate from 2.0% to 1.5%. The reason why is not hard to discern, apart from the reduced growth forecast for this year, the inflation [...]

At 75 million, France is projected to have the largest population in the EU (of current members) by 2050, according to French government figures. France’s baby-friendly policies, plus reasonably large immigration seems behind the projected increase (the country’s population is now just over 60 million). By contrast Germany’s population is set to fall to 72m, [...]

At age 76, in the Philippines.

This news to the effect that German consumers actually reduced their outstanding debt is deeply significant in my view. What it reflects is what needs to be analysed:
“German private households ignored the attractions of historically-low interest rates and for the first time paid back more money than they borrowed last year.
The net credit repayment reported [...]

Luxembourg will continue the ratification process and hold a referendum on July 10. The result will be interesting to see.
Parliamentary leaders in the tiny Grand Duchy agreed at a meeting on Monday to proceed with the vote even though opinion polls have shown a sharp rise in the “No” camp since French and Dutch voters [...]

Brad Delong has an interesting link on how stock markets react to changes in demand demographics.