Today, the IHT reprinted post referendum reflections about Europe by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt that were first published last Thursday in the German weekly Die Zeit.
I’m sure some will call it elitism in light of the recent constitutional referanda, but Schmidt still believes that real political leadership is now more important than ever in [...]

John Snow is in Europe, globetrotting on the G8 round. He had some advice for us here in Europe: “I think the important thing is that Europe continue to focus on the things that need to be done to encourage domestic growth”.
I’m glad he raised the point, since otherwise it might have escaped us. These [...]

So are the China trade surplus ones. Dave at MacroBlog has the details on China. I’m waiting for Brad Setser to post, but he must be either doing his sums, or having a late breakfast :). Before we get some blog analysis (even Brad Delong is quiet today) you can get the basics here. In [...]

Perhaps better said, the crisis deepens. Jaques Chirac started things off:
“The time has come for our British friends to understand that they must now make a gesture of solidarity”
and Tony Blair, of course, rose to the bait:
“Britain has been making a gesture, because over the past 10 years, even with the British rebate, we have [...]

I think one of the topics for next years election in Italy is just being decided. Romano Prodi (former President of the EU Commission) has just spoken out against Sinascalco. He is in favour of making cuts. Prodi is quoted as saying that:

“Credit downgrades will follow if there is not quick action in fixing the [...]

Well, things are shaping up nicely for a ‘healthy debate of the underlying issues’ on 16/17 June. Chirac and Schr?der have pronounced: the ratification process must continue, Jean-Claude Juncker is warning that failure to reach a budget deal at the summit would “turn the big European difficulties into a big European crisis“, and Peter [...]

Laura Rozen thinks that the broadcast of a graphic video from the massacre at Srebrenica may mark a tipping point in Serbian public opinion and pave the way for the arrest of Ratko Mladic and his extradition to The Hague.
She quotes an international justice listserv:
B92’s Danijel Bukomirovic, speaking in Dutch on NOS Journaal at 20:00 [...]

Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, may be coming out of the dog house - if only conceptually.
After even the left leaning German daily taz recently began publishing political obituaries for the man who more than anyone represents the political maturing (or not) of the generation of ‘68 (following the affair about problematic political [...]

Bloomberg’s Mathew Lynn has been pretty consistently skeptical about the workability of the common currency. Personally I find it difficult to disagree with the following:
“The euro, the common currency shared by 12 EU nations, will weaken considerably as Europe enters a long period of political instability. Recriminations from the collapse of the constitution will be [...]

In some ways I think this story may run and run over the months to come. Bloomberg have an update on their earlier article. According to the latest account:
1/. The German Finance Ministry have declined to comment on the Stern report that discussions took place last week between Finance Minister Hans Eichel, Bundesbank President Axel [...]