Category Archives: A Few Euros More

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More Evidence of UK Slowdown

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Unemployment continues a slow but steady rise in the UK. More eviedence of the slowing economy?

U.K. jobless claims rose for a third month in April and wage growth eased to the slowest in almost a year amid signs expansion in Europe’s second-largest economy is faltering.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 8,100 to 839,400, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. Wages excluding bonuses rose 4.1 percent in the first quarter, down from 4.3 percent in the month-earlier period.

Record levels of employment have helped underpin 51 straight quarters of expansion in the U.K., prompting the Bank of England to raise interest rates to the highest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations. The central bank last week trimmed its economic forecast and said a slowdown in consumer spending has “become more marked,” leading to speculation of a rate cut.

Kapitalismus

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In Germany the debate continues. What ever happened to the ‘reform agenda’ I wonder?

German chancellor Gerhard Schröder will next month call for a European initiative to promote public spending on research, set minimum social standards in companies and tighten controls on international financial flows, senior members of his Social Democratic party said on Tuesday.

The plan, discussed at a meeting with leftwing SPD members of parliament at the chancellery last Thursday, is the clearest indication yet that Mr Schr?der is reaching out to critics of capitalism within his party.

Meantime Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann told a shareholders meeting today that the bank will press ahead with acquisitions and job cuts as it seeks to strengthen its global competitiveness,

With protesters picketing the meeting, Ackermann said the bank was going to stick with plans to cut around 5 percent of its work force ? roughly 1,920 jobs in Germany and 3,280 abroad. Deutsche Bank said in April its net profit rose by 17 percent in the first quarter to 1.1 billion euros ($1.42 billion).

In a clear reference to criticism from SPD chairman Franz M?ntefering, he said: “Niemand – zumindest niemand, den ich kenne – will einen “Kapitalismus pur? und schon gar keinen “Raubtier-Kapitalismus?” – No-one – at least no-one I know wants a ‘pure’ capitalism, and certainly no “robbery-animal capitalism”. Well there you have it, we’re all good men and true. Round II to follow.

French Referendum: No Vote On The Rebound

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The ‘No’ campaign seems once more to have regained the lead in the run-up to France’s referendum on May 29, with French voters apparently ignoring all warnings about the damage that would be caused by rejection of Europe’s constitutional treaty.

One explanation for this may be the fact that leading politicians of the left – like Jacques Delors and Laurent Fabius – have given the impression that a ‘no’ outcome would lead to a probable ‘renegotiation’ of the treaty, with an outcome more favourable to French interests. The latest opinion polls show that an increasing proportion of respondents say France could renegotiate a better treaty after a No vote. According to the Ipsos poll cited below, nearly 62 per cent of respondents now hold this opinion.

Confounding pollsters, pundits and politicians alike, public opinion in France has swung back behind a no vote to the new European constitution, say three surveys published yesterday.

Less than two weeks before France’s May 29 referendum on the treaty, the polls by the TNS-Sofres, Ipsos and CSA agencies for Le Monde, Le Figaro and Le Parisien newspapers showed support for the no camp, trailing since the end of April, had bounced back to between 51% and 53%.
TheGuardian

Deficits On The Rise

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Things may be about to liven up a bit for Economics Commissioner Joaquim Almunia: it seems probable that the Italian deficit will be nearer 4% than 3% this year, and Portugal may even clock-in something of the order of an incredible 6 to 7%.

The worsening outlook in the two countries will rekindle the debate about whether they should have joined the single currency in 1999.

Germany had strong doubts during the 1990s about whether the economies of the ?Club Med? countries were ready. As part of the currency union, they are denied the traditional escape routes from economic trouble: devaluation or cuts in interest rates.

With their deficits already above the EU’s 3 per cent limit, neither government has scope to cut taxes or raise public spending.

Make no mistake: there’s a real and big problem looming here.

Working girls

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Apropopos this post Edward’s post on fistful a couple of days ago, an observation. I find it remarkable how when people discuss these issues, (the working age population declining) no one ever talks about female participation in the work force. In some euro countries it’s pretty low, and an increase could make a real difference.

It’s weird.

Happy thought

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Happy thoght about the British elections. No one else seems to thought of this angle:

Isn’t this like the first time in living memory that a party has made anti-immigration message the centerpiece of its campaign and not only didn’t succeed, but possibly maybe, lost votes because of it? I think in Europe it’s literally the first time in my lifetime.

God, let it be the start of trend.

Item

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CDU chief Angela Merkel’s strong opposition to Turkish EU accession faces criticism from her own side, reports the FT Deutschland. Volker R?he, the CDU chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee and one-time defence minister, has lambasted Merkel’s position as ‘populism’, especially in its menacing vision of a Europe ‘flooded’ by Turks. ‘When Europe comes to Anatolia,’ say R?he, ‘Anatolia won’t need to come to Gelsenkirchen.’ Unless, of course, it wants to watch Schalke ’04…