Tag Archives: the euro

The Italian Government Has A New Crisis

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Germany isn’t the only EU country where serious ongoing economic problems are leading to political gridlock. Italy’s situation is no better, and arguably worse. This ‘worse’ aspect was pushed into the headlines yesterday by the resignation of Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco. This is sending shock waves throughout the entire Italian political system. It still isn’t clear at the time of writing whether the Berlusconi government can survive, especially given the gravity of the underlying problem which is the need to make severe budget cuts when Italy is in a prolonged recession and elections loom sometime next spring.

Essentially Siniscalco quit because of continuing government infighting over the 2006 budget and over the administration�s failure to force the resignation of Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio following the scandal produced by accusations that he showed bias against Dutch bank ABN AMRO during a takeover battle for the Italian Banca Antonveneta SpA.
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Combustible Politics

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I have felt for some time that Rober Maroni would not have been so outspoken without at least the tacit permission of Silvio Berlusconi, and now we have the evidence to back my hunch:

“Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called the euro a “disaster,” blaming the currency for Italy’s economic slump and seeking to use anti-euro sentiment in his election campaign against opposition leader Romano Prodi.

“Prodi’s euro has been a ripoff,”

With Italy in its second recession in as many years, the euro is proving to be a “disaster,” Berlusconi, 68, said. Berlusconi has blamed the euro for raising prices and choking exports.

Something Worries Me About Peter Bofinger

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Really I realise I have been remiss in another important sense. I have long assumed that in fact the decision to reduce deficits was taken due to the coming fiscal pressure from ageing. This certainly was the background to the discussion. However now I look at the details of the SPG this area is not mentioned (as far as I can see) and the other – the free rider and associated – is the principal consideration.

So those who criticize the bureaucratic and infexible nature of the ECB are in the right to this extent. Of course the underlying demographics *should* be part of the pact, but that is another story.

I find myself in a tricky situation, since I am deeply sceptical that the euro can work, and now after the French vote even more so, but since it has been set in motion, the best thing is obviously to try and make it work (even while doubting). So I am thinking about all this. Obviously I should try and write a longer post making this clearer.

The SGP was adopted at the Amsterdam Council 1997. A history of the implementation of the pact, and a summary of the debate over the new pact can be found here. The Stability and Growth Pact was designed as a framework to prevent inflationary processes at the national level. For this purpose it obliges national governments to follow the simple rule of a balanced budget or a slight surplus.

Now if we go back to the origins of the pact, to the communication of the European Commission on 3 September 2004, you will find the following:

“As regards the debt criterion, the revised Stability and Growth Pact could clarify the basis for assessing the “satisfactory pace” of debt reduction provided for in Article 104(2)(b) of the Treaty. In defining this “satisfactory pace”, account should be taken of the need to bring debt levels back down to prudent levels before demographic ageing has an impact on economic and social developments in Member States. Member States’ initial debt levels and their potential growth levels should also be considered. Annual assessments could be made relative to this reference pace of reduction, taking into account country-specific growth conditions.”

Now curiously I have found nothing in Bofingers argument which seems even to vaguely recognise this background.

A good starting point for this topic would be the conference “Economic and Budgetary Implications of Global Ageing held by the Commission in March 2003.

The European Council in Stockholm of March 2001
agreed that ?the Council should regularly review the
long-term sustainability of public finances, including the
expected strains caused by the demographic changes
ahead. This should be done both under the guidelines
(BEPGs) and in the context of the stability and
convergence programmes.?

This document on the history of EU thinking on ageing and sustainability is incredible.
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Just A Fairy Story?

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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 currency market info, it fits in with my general reading of the respective underlying ‘macro’, and the way things could well evolve. Certainly the euro has been resisting strongly the push under the $1.20, and continually recovers ground lost. What you can say is that there is a lot of ‘volatility’ out there.

Paul Chertkow, head of global currency research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said a fresh impetus was needed to re-test the downside of the euros recent range, at $1.2020.

However, Mr Chertkow believes there are around $1bn worth of options in place below the $1.20 level, which could cause the euro to slide precipitously if triggered. We would have real panic, he says.

In this eventuality Mr Chertkow sees scope for the euro to fall as far as $1.10, or potentially, even parity against the dollar, led by euro-selling by US companies. American corporates have insufficient hedging ratios to protect a move on the downside through $1.20, he said. This would cause American corporates to capitulate.

You’d Better Move On

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The papers this morning seem to be all full of ‘gloomy’ articles whose principal theme is that Europe has finally been plunged into a grave crisis by this weeks summit.

“People will tell you next that Europe is not in a crisis,” Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who holds the EU presidency, said after a two-day summit ended in acrimony. “It is in a deep crisis.”

As someone who is ‘crisis prone’ I would have imagined I would share that feeling. Somehow I don’t.

Some reasons why.
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French Franc Naustalgia

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Well I’ve been reading about the Germans, the Italians, now apparently it is the turn of the French to feel naustalgic:

“Three out of five French people miss their old currency, replaced by the euro in 2002, a survey for Valeurs Actuelles magazine showed on Wednesday. In February 2002 that figure was just 39 percent.

While the rising tide of nostalgia seemed to chime with French voters’ rejection last month of theEuropean Union constitution, a breakdown showed longing for the franc was widespread even among those who support the EU project.”

I like that bit, “longing was widespread even among those who support the EU project”. This highlights the fact that it is perfectly consistent to feel pro EU and yet not want the common currency. Out of the wardrobe everyone.

Update: The Financial Times this morning also mentions the emergence of Philippe de Villiers, the leader of the nationalist Movement for France, as the champion of a referendum in France on continued use of the euro. According to the FT de Villiers, who is a leading anti-constitution campaigner, said a debate about Europe’s single currency was already under way in Germany, the Netherlands and Italy but had not properly started in France. ?Everybody notes today that the adoption of the euro was a technical success but its economic, political, and human toll is incontestable,?. Now much of the recent ‘ referendum euro’ talk comes from those who would predictably say what they are saying. They are normally not people with any special knowledge of the economics behind it, and I think no great significance should be attached, except the fact that these kind of comments are becoming commonplace, where they weren’t before. My guess is that debate about the euro will increase with time.

To Whom It May Concern

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The euro is now currently (11.38 CET) at $1.2045.

Update: Ah, now I’ve found the reason for todays move:

The euro fell to a nine-month low against the dollar after European Central Bank Chief Economist Otmar Issing spurred speculation the bank may reduce interest rates for the first time since 2003.

Asked in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine whether investors’ expectations of a rate cut in coming months are justified, Issing said: “In the past, financial markets almost always anticipated ECB policy decisions correctly.”

“He is preparing investors for a rate cut and the market is responding to that by selling euros and buying dollars,” said Neil Jones, a director of foreign-exchange sales at BNP Paribas SA in London.

I hasten to add that I consider Otmar Issing to be perfectly authorised to steer the euro down in this way. This is a much more considered move than Jean-Claude Junker’s recent outburst. Basically I agree with it, I am just waiting to see whether Greenspan will in fact be able to continue raising US rates. If he does it once, I can’t see him continuing for long.

China Trade With EU

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I’m not very happy with the ‘US Trade Figures‘ post I put up last Friday. I think it’s a glorious mess. The key to the problem is that I tried to deal with two – interrelated but disinct – topics at once: the euro and China trade. So today lets ignore the euro (which has once more resumed the downwards drift, even as I write) and take a bit of a closer look at where we are – in trade terms – with China. (Btw: the planet has finally returned to its orbit, and Brad Setser has an analysis of the US trade data here).

The big item in this weekend’s news is, of course, the agreement reached with Beijing on textiles. The EU textile industry will now have three years to adapt, but since textile manufacturers don’t appear to have taken too much advantage of the ten previous years, it is hard to know whether this will serve any useful purpose. Doubly so, since it is not yet clear how the calculations will be made, and I have the distinct impression that much of the recent surge in imports will now, in effect, be consolidated.

Be that as it may, what about the broader issue?
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US Trade Numbers Are In

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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 fact the rise in the April CA deficit to $57bn, from $53.6bn in March, is supposed to be good news, since the increase wasn’t as big as expected.

Essentially I am outside the Atlantic blog consensus here, since I think the US dollar will hold, and that it is the euro which is in trouble. I have a little post on this here. Logically if the other major alternative as a reserve currency is in trouble under Bretton Woods Mark I, everyone goes home to Daddy. I think that is how it will be.

Update: Well Brad still isn’t there but Stephen Roach is. I think his view is the dominant one on the US blogging scene, and shared by non-blogging economists like Paul Krugman. I’m sorry, I think it’s wrong, and by a long way.

Update 2 I’m getting a little tired of waiting (incidentally General Glut has just passed by in comments, and he *does* have a post on the topic). Now the politically sensitive US trade gap with China widened $14.0 percent in April to $14.7 billion. This means it was $12 billion in March, or that it rose $2.7 billion. Now China’s surplus widened to $8.99 billion from $4.59 billion. Doing the arithmetic the surplus rose $4.4 billion. $4.4 billion minus $2.7 billion gives $1.7 billion, a hell of a big chunk of which was probably with Europe. I wish someone who really knew about this would write something, but my educated guess is that Chinese import penetration in Europe is now big and getting bigger by the month. Hence the row about globalisation in the French referendum. Basically what I am saying is that having this kind of issue in the Free Trade US of A is one thing, having it in the more anti-globalisation European core is going to be quite another. China the global imbalance to end all (im)balances.

Now if you want to understand something about China:
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Prodi Strikes Back

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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 situation, and I do hope Finance Minister Siniscalco makes some decision……The government lost control of current expenditure. The situation is very serious.”

Prodi is about to become the whipping boy, having to go into an election with the ‘popular’ policy of making widespread spending cuts.

Incidentally,
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