Romansch, a direct descendant of Latin and one of Switzerland’s four official languages, is hitting the news. The reason – Google is now offering search capability in Romansch, a language spoken by just 35,000 people in the mountains of southeastern Switzerland.
Category Archives: A Few Euros More
Sunday’s Referendum In Italy
This article provides a reasonable background brief on the vote.
The number of infertile couples seeking help abroad has tripled since lawmakers in Roman Catholic Italy crossed party lines last year to approve one of Europe’s most restrictive laws on assisted reproduction. They wanted to crack down on what many saw as a medical Wild West where a 62-year-old woman had become a mother and a maverick doctor has bragged about cloning babies.
But far from ending the controversy the legislation has sparked the most heated moral debate since divorce and abortion were legalised in the 1970s and has prompted Pope Benedict, elected in April, to make his first foray into Italian politics. This weekend the standoff will come to a head with a four-part referendum that, if passed, would significantly change the law. The poll has shattered traditional political alliances and elicited emotional appeals from church pulpits.
More News From Italy
Things really are starting to hot up: The European Commission said Wednesday it is investigating the reasons why Italy’s central bank intervened in foreign takeover bids for Italian banks.
The European Union’s head office said it had received a letter from the Bank of Italy explaining its actions in the recent takeover bids by the Netherlands’ ABN Amro NV for Banca Antonveneta SpA and Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya SA Argentaria for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA.
The Bank of Italy monitors the country’s banking sector and has the power to veto all mergers and acquisitions. However, EU open market rules mean banks from other member nations should be allowed to operate in the Italian market under the same conditions as Italian rivals.
The Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio has rejected criticism that he favors domestic players over foreign banks, insisting last week that regulatory decisions are “neutral with regard to the nationality of the players involved.”
Now It’s Footwear
The EU’s trade dispute with China risks spreading from textiles to footwear after the EU released data Wednesday which purported to show that Chinese shoe imports had surged since the end of quotas at the start of the year.
“Responding to concerns of European shoemakers, the European Commission said imports of leather shoes and textile slippers had soared nearly eight-fold in the first four months of 2005, pushing down prices on European markets by 28 percent. Shoemakers from Italy have sent more than 200 letters of complaint to the Commission in the past two weeks, according to Leonardo Soana, director general of Italy’s National Footwear Association.
They charge that China, and to a lesser extent Vietnam, are dumping leather shoes on the European market and putting shoemakers out of work.
Soana told Dow Jones Newswires that Italy’s shoe industry will present a formal complaint on June 15, alongside claims by Spain and Portugal. French, Greek and Polish industry groups will back calls the for tariffs on Chinese shoes, he said.
Looking at the list, it is pretty clear which parts of the EU are being most hit by these ‘bottom end’ imports from China, and why: they are generally the economies which are most challenged by the need to move up the value chain. That being said, and correcting slightly an earlier renminbi post, it is obviously the case that the rise of the euro against the dollar, has also been a rise against the renminbi, 40% or so in 3 years, so it is clear why there is a ‘pain barrier’ now in Europe.
However on the free trade angle, Stumbling and Mumbling has a nice quote from Scottish Economist and Philosopher David Hume which is very much to the point:
“There are few Englishmen who would not think their country absolutely ruined, were French wines sold in England so cheap and in such abundance as to supplant, in some measure, all ale, and home-brewed liquors: But would we lay aside prejudice, it would not be difficult to prove, that nothing could be more innocent, perhaps advantageous. Each new acre of vineyard planted in France, in order to supply England with wine, would make it requisite for the French to take the produce of an English acre, sown in wheat or barley, in order to subsist themselves; and it is evident, that we should thereby get command of the better commodity.“
This Is An Interesting One
The European Commission is asking the Maltese government to explain its policy of banning journalists from immigrants? detention centres in response to a petition signed by 100 journalists and editors last February.
European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini told the European Parliament that the Commission was demanding information from the Maltese government about the total media ban imposed by Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg.Replying to parliamentary questions made by Labour MEP Joseph Muscat and H?l?ne Flautre (Greens), Frattini said he was aware of the journalists? petition and of Borg?s media ban and that he was seeking information from the government. The Commission is also aware of the conditions in immigrants? detention centres which have been the subject of much criticism from international human rights agencies and organisations.
EU Budget Reform Having Problems
Despite all the hard work that is being put in by EU President Jean-Claude Junker, progress on the forthcoming EU budget seems like it might be agonizingly slow. In the first place Blair is in fighting mood:
“The UK rebate will remain. We will not negotiate it away. Period,”
In london the treasury seems equally determined:
“We would use the veto to preserve the rebate whenever necessary,” a Treasury spokesman told AFP. “Our rebate remains fully justified and it is not up for negotiation.”
Meanwhile, over at the European parliament:
MEPs have taken a stand on the future of EU spending as national capitals war over Brussels spending ahead of a June 16 summit of European leaders. The European Parliament has set out budget plans from 2007 to 2013 that are lower than original projections from the EU executive but higher than cost-cutting governments. The parliament backed a blueprint blueprint drawn up by German MEP Reimer B?ge by 426 votes to 140 against, with 122 abstentions. Brussels chief Jos? Manuel Barroso has welcomed the move which is ?150 billion more generous than maximum spends sought by some penny pinching national treasuries. ?The European Parliament has shown leadership and good sense by putting the policy needs of the EU first,? he said.
Bolivia In Crisis
The situation in Bolivia seems to get more complicated by the day.
“Thousands streamed into the Bolivian capital, La Paz, on Tuesday as Indian protests against the ruling elite gained force even after President Carlos Mesa offered his resignation.
The critical highway to the highlands, where the international airport is situated, remained cut off by roadblocks, and the city of one million people was hit by food shortages and a transport strike.
Demanding that the government expropriate foreign energy installations and call new elections, miners in hard hats and indigenous women in derby hats and colorful, multi-layer skirts marched into La Paz in a show of force punctuated by blasts of dynamite that demonstrated the depth of the crisis buffeting the government. ”
Publius Pundit is covering the blogging side. Eduardo Alvarez is giving a good running commentary, Miguel Centellas worries about his mum and other issues from the comparative safety of the United States, and Nick Buxton has photos and good narrative description of the anecdotal details. And a good reflective analysis of what is going on comes from Miguel Buitrago at Mabb.
Update. This seems to be a fairly good summary of where things stand late afternoon CET.
Germany: An Optimistic Note From The IMF
Michael Deppler, Director, European Department of the International Monetary Fund, said in a conference call on the economic outlook for the eurozone, that all was not as bleak as it seemed for the German economy:
“Then, you know, coming back to Germany, no question but that the past decade has been a very difficult one for Germany, but it’s one where it has registered strong improvements in competitiveness, and that you can see it clearly in the behavior of its exports. And just as, you know, strong improvements in competitiveness in France during–from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties led to quite strong performance from the mid-nineties to now in France, well, basically we would expect the same thing to happen in Germany over the next five to ten years.
So in our view, the longer-term developments are, you know, not buoyant, but they’re certainly not things to be as negative about as seems to be the prevailing mood in Europe today.“
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions For The Euro
Martin Wolf is at it again.
“Which part of the word “no” do Gerhard Schr?der, Germany’s chancellor, and Jacques Chirac, the French president, fail to understand? France and the Netherlands have rejected the constitutional treaty: it is dead. But the rejection of the treaty by two of the original six members raises profound questions about the future of Europe and, above all, about the monetary union. A rising tide of integrationist ambition swept the single currency on to the European shore in the 1990s. Now, it is in danger of becoming a beached whale.
Economists argue about the necessary and sufficient conditions for a successful single currency. But the majority would agree that it helps if the area in question is subject to common shocks, markets for goods, services, capital and labour are flexible, the overall economy is dynamic and, not least, there is a shared identity embedded in common political institutions. Not one of these conditions is either necessary or sufficient. But the absence of all four creates a huge challenge. Yet this is precisely where the eurozone now finds itself: economies have diverged; growth is disappointing; markets are proving dysfunctional; and the movement towards further political integration is now in peril.”
The Economist, which curiously enough seems to have suddenly abandoned its PPV Global Agenda policy (something wasn’t working) says similar things here.
And a simple graphical illustration of why one size doesn’t fit can also be found here.
Italy: Third Minister Joins Referendum Call
Of course they are all in the Lega del Norte. This time it is the turn of Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli.
Earlier Justice Minister Roberto Castelli entered the fray:
“Does the sterling pound not have economic foundations? Does Denmark live in poverty because it is outside the euro? Are the Swedes poor?” With these three questions Justice Minister Roberto Castelli replied to journalists, on the sidelines of a convention in Milan, which expressed the perplexities regarding the economic foundation of the proposal launched by the League to go back to the lira. “It is about making a choice: looking powerlessly at the continuous closure of our businesses that are not absolutely competitive at the moment or taking the risk of change. The League, since its foundation, has always said things that government does not like, only to find out years later that they were right.” When asked about the scenarios that will arise from the traditional, imminent League meeting in Pontida, Castelli ensured that it will be “a great event that will mark the return of Umberto Bossi. In that occasion the proposals on the lira-euro issue will be specified better.”
If you want to know more about what these people actually think about other things, read this, and this, and this: I imagine you will be amazed that people with such views could be in the government of an EU member state, well, there’s a reason for this, it’s called Silvio Berlusconi.