Just a quick update on Croatia’s EU candidacy.
Eight countries have signed a letter to British PM Tony Blair supporting Croatia’s membership. The letter was presented to Blair — who currently holds the rotating EU Presidency, and will until January 1 — in the recent confence at Newport, in Wales.
The signing countries were Austria, Greece, [...]

Well with all due apologies to the beatles Rita isn’t exactly as lovely as she seemed. Now she’s past her prime the insurance companies amongst others are busily counting the cost.
And on top of the obvious comes news that Rita really is number one: according to the FT she “has caused more damage [...]

Thanks mainly to indirect encouragement from commenter Teme, I am continuing to plough the Finland furrow. Today I found this very interesting piece of research:
ARE SLUMPS REALLY DRY SEASONS?
This paper explores the connection between alcohol mortality, drinking behaviour and macroeconomic fluctuations in Finland by using both aggregate and micro-level data during the past few decades. [...]

The sharp eyed will have noticed that I have copiously refrained from commenting on the unexpectedly high reading obtained in yesterday’s German Ifo Institute Business Climate index. The index registered a slight unexpected increase, but as Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn notes: “An evaluation of responses submitted before and after the federal election showed a tendency [...]

Antonio Fazio, the Bank of Italy governor whose defiance in the face of criticism recently hit the international headlines and lead to some embarassing photos in Washington still refuses to go. Berlusconi seems almost resigned to the fact that he may stay:
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, on Tuesday told parliament he had already done [...]

What is happening right now in Ceuta and Melilla is shameful, it brings no credit to any of us. The anomolous position of these two Spanish North African enclaves should have been resolved long ago. As an urgent interim measure some sort of dual-sovereignty agreement between Spain and Morocco (such as that which was [...]

This is the opinion of Hamburg State Interior Minister Udo Nagel, as interview for an article which appears in the English version of Der Spiegel today. The context for the quote is the implementation of a decision taken at a conference of German state interior ministers last November which determined that Afghanistan was now [...]

The FT reports that as the Fazio affair drags on, and doubts about the future course of the Italian government deficit continue to linger, Berlusconi is suffering notably in the opinion polls:
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, was dealt a blow on Monday when an opinion poll showed a collapse in support for his Forza Italia [...]

Eurostat reports that 12 EU states exceeded the 3% stability and growth pact limit last year. But let’s start with the good news: 6 states - Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Ireland and Belgium - had a budget surplus in 2004. The three countries with the highest deficits were Greece (6.6%), Hungary (5.4%), Malta [...]

The EU Observer has a piece on a row which has blown up in Denmark over some ‘new arrivals’ from Poland. The issue is itself interesting since there has been a good deal of talk in recent weeks about flexibility in the Danish labour market and the idea of ‘flexicurity’:
Danish trade unions have accused the [...]