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Posted: 13-06-2013 09:16 Post subject:

Italian showdown with Germany over euro looms closer
Italy’s simmering revolt against Germany, austerity and its own ultra-European elites is coming to a head again, in a reminder that the deep clash of interests between the euro’s north and south remains as bitter as ever.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
4:40PM BST 12 Jun 2013

Something snapped in the Italian psyche last week after the European Central Bank offered nothing to combat the credit crunch asphyxiating small business, and more broadly washed its hands of Euroland’s incipient deflation crisis and catastrophic wastage of its youth.

The next day ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi called for a showdown, or “Braccio di Ferro”, with northern powers before it loses it chemical, car and steel industries altogether.
Mr Berlusconi told Il Foglio that Italy’s government - which his Liberty Party keeps in office - is complicitly serving forces that are destroying Italy. It must instead confront the north, “and particularly Angela Merkel’s Germany”, with a stark choice: either they call a halt to fiscal and monetary contraction, and opt instead for full-blown reflation; or they must expect the victims to snatch back their own destinies.

The battle must be waged quietly, but implacably. Italy cannot let its productive base atrophy further, or allow itself to be sidelined by the “hegemonic methods” of those with the upper hand. “That is what I mean by a showdown. We must find our own national or regional solutions, breaking up euro mechanisms."

The business lobby Confindustria is no longer so far from this belligerent position. “We have shown our willingness to sacrifice, but we must say no to austerity that reduces our companies to their knees and lets others snap up our prize assets at bargain prices,” said Giorgio Squinzi, the group’s president.
Mr Squinzi said “ill-informed” EU lectures on Italy’s lack of enterprise are a misdiagnosis of what is at root a failing of EU strategy. “We must take Brussels to task and completely change economic policy or we will never get out of this,” he said.

The EU’s prescriptions have been self-defeating even on their own terms, leaving aside the "hysteresis" damage of a youth jobless rate near 41pc. He said fiscal overkill that was intended to bring debt under control has instead caused the debt-to-GDP ratio to soar under Mario Monti from 117pc to 127pc, and 132pc this year.

What complicates Italy’s debate is that its own economists are authors of the shock therapy doctrine. Free marketeers reared at Mr Monti’s Bocconi University in Milan have outdone Brussels in their zeal. They fully back the “internal devaluation” aimed at closing the 30pc labour gap with Germany.

These are the “Bocconi Boys” in Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea, Mark Blyth’s narrative of how Europe has come to repeat the errors of the 1930s. Alberto Alesina and Silvia Ardagna were the prophets of “expansionary fiscal contraction”, the idea that output loss from budget cuts can be trumped by greater gains in confidence. Their pep talk to EU finance ministers in April 2010 was seized on as the justification for all that followed.

In fairness to Bocconi, it has economists of all stripes. Professor Alesina has since changed his tune, calling for fiscal stimulus. He no doubt regrets allowing EU enforcers to misuse his work. The austerity doctrine is in any case crumbling worldwide. The IMF’s says the “fiscal multiplier” is much higher than thought in a depression where finance is broken. The Reinhart-Rogoff thesis that public debt turns toxic at 90pc of GDP has fallen apart.

My view is that Europe’s cardinal error has been tight money, the ECB’s failure to offset fiscal cuts with all means at its disposal. But whether you blame fiscal or monetary contraction, the damage is much the same.

For Italy the failure is now plain and the Bocconi Boys are a fading force. It was ideological excess to squeeze the budget by 3pc of GDP last year, in a recession, in one of the few OECD countries near primary balance. Critics warned that this would prove calamitous, and so it did.

Internal demand collapsed 5.3pc in a single year, and is still collapsing. Fixed investment in machinery plunged by 9.9pc. Business loans dropped 6pc and house sales are in freefall. Nominal GDP fell 1.2pc, which means a shrinking base must carry a rising debt load. This is the absurdity of internal devaluation in high debt states: it pushes ratios yet higher as the “denominator effect” kicks in. Like Spain, Italy is damned if it does, and damned it if doesn’t.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/10116331/Italian-showdown-with-Germany-over-euro-looms-closer.html

Posted: 22-06-2013 08:16 Post subject:

Another shameful day for Europe as EMU creditor states betray South
So much for the denials. The Cyprus "template" for banking crises is to be eurozone policy for other countries after all.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
6:45PM BST 21 Jun 2013

Anybody with serious banking exposure to any EMU state on the front line of Europe's macro-economic crisis now knows what to expect.

The deal reached by EMU finance ministers on the use of the bail-out fund (ESM) to recapitalise distressed banks makes clear who will in fact suffer the real losses: first shareholders, then bondholders and then deposit holders above €100,000. They stand to lose almost everything, as we saw with Laiki in Cyprus.

Officials from the European Central Bank and the European Commission warned during the Cyprus crisis that it would be dangerous to set such a precedent, fearing contagion. The Portuguese were openly alarmed.

So has that risk of contagion since dissipated? One should have thought quite the opposite, given the yield spike in Portugal, Spain, Italy et al since the Bernanke Fed dropped its taper bomb this week.

Furthermore, as Yanis Varoufakis points here (http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2013/06/21/the-death-of-direct-bank-re-capitalisation-europes-newest-day-of-shame/), the deal resiles from the solemn agreement by EU leaders in June 2012 to break vicious circle between crippled banking systems and crippled sovereign states, each dragging the other down.

The states that are already in trouble will have to carry most of the burden of recapitalising banks, pushing them over the edge into actual insolvency. They will have to come up with the money needed to raise capital ratios to 4.5pc of assets.

Then come the private haircuts, which of course risk devastation for the host country, and the collapse of investor confidence. Only then does Europe step in to share part - not all - of any further recap needs.

The original promise of an ESM blanket to cover "legacy assets" has come to almost nothing. The vassal states may possibly get some relief later on the past losses from the EMU credit bubble, but only as a reward for good behaviour and on a case by case basis.

"Legacy losses will be used as a disciplinary device: Greece, Spain and Ireland will now have to tussle, beg and plead for debt relief regarding the funds already borrowed from the EFSF-ESM for their banks," said Dr Varoufakis.

"As the grand total for all bank recapitalisations, past and future, is to be limited to the puny sum of €60bn, Europe’s peripheral nations can only at best receive a tiny amount of debt relief; enough to ensure that Ireland, Greece and Spain are competing against one another as to which proud nation will be a better ‘model prisoner’ than the rest."

Indeed, it is an abject spectacle. Dr Varoufakis rightly calls it a "a truly shameful day for Europe".

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/10135734/Another-shameful-day-for-Europe-as-EMU-creditor-states-betray-South.html

Posted: 01-07-2013 09:42 Post subject:

France's triumphant 'Joan of Arc' vows to bring back franc and destroy euro
Marine Le Pen is spoiling for a fight. The leader of France's Front National vows to smash the existing order of Europe and force the break-up of monetary union, if she wins the next election.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
4:39PM BST 30 Jun 2013

It is no longer an implausible prospect. "We cannot be seduced," she said, brimming with confidence after her party secured 46pc of the vote in a by-election earthquake a week ago. Her candidate trounced the ruling Socialists in their own bastion of Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

"The euro ceases to exist the moment that France leaves, and that is our incredible strength. What are they going to do, send in tanks?" she told the Daily Telegraph at the Front National's headquarters, an unmarked building tucked away in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Her office is small and workaday, almost austere.

"Europe is just a great bluff. One side there is the immense power of sovereign peoples, and on the other side are a few technocrats," she said.

For the first time, the Front National is running level with the two governing parties of post-War France, Socialists and Gaullistes. All are near 21pc in national polls, though the Front alone has the wind in its sails.

Yet it is the detail in the Villeneuve vote that has shocked the political class. The Front scored highest in the most Socialist cantons, a sign that it may be breaking out of its Right-wing enclaves to become the mass movement of the white working class.

Commentators have begun to talk of "Left-LePenism" as she outflanks the Socialists with attacks on banks and cross-border capitalism. Anna Rosso-Roig, a candidate for the Communist Party in the 2012 elections, has just defected to the Le Pen camp.

The Socialists had thought the rising star of Marine Le Pen would work to their advantage, splitting the Right. Now they discern a deadly threat. Industry minister Arnaud Montebourg lashed out last week, blaming Brussels for playing into the hands of the Front National by running roughshod over democracies and pushing austerity a l'outrance.

Mrs Le Pen said her first order of business on setting foot in the Elysee Palace will be to announce a referendum on EU membership, "rendez vous" one year later. "I will negotiate over the points on which there can be no compromise. If the result is inadequate, I will call for withdrawal," she said.

The four sticking points are the currency, border control, the primacy of French law, and what she calls "economic patriotism", the power for France to pursue "intelligent protectionism" and safeguard its social model. "I cannot imagine running economic policy without full control over our own money," she said.

Asked if she intends to pull France of the euro immediately, she said: "Yes, because the euro blocks all economic decisions. France is not a country that can accept tutelage from Brussels," she said.

Officials will be told to draw up plans for the restoration of the franc. Eurozone leaders will face a stark choice: either work with France for a "sortie concertee" or coordinated EMU break-up: or await their fate.

Mrs Le Pen fears that other EMU states will resist and let "financial Armaggedon" run its course, but it is a risk that has be taken.

Her plan is based on a study by economists from l'École des Hautes Études in Paris led by Professor Jacques Sapir. It concludes that France, Italy, and Spain would all benefit greatly from EMU-exit, restoring lost labour competitiveness at a stroke without years of depression.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10151286/Frances-triumphant-Joan-of-Arc-vows-to-bring-back-franc-and-destroy-euro.html

Posted: 07-07-2013 08:47 Post subject:

Ministers to seize back 100 powers from Brussels
Around 100 powers are to be permanently seized from Europe in a dramatic move this week.
By Patrick Hennessy
9:33PM BST 06 Jul 2013

In the first part of efforts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union, ministers will announce plans to claw back the powers.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, will give MPs details of proposals to opt out of 133 EU measures covering justice, home affairs and the police — including the controversial European Arrest Warrant — by next spring.

Some of the measures that are seen to be in the national interest will then be opted back into, in a complex process, but “more than two thirds” will disappear permanently from British law, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

The move follows last week’s unanimous Commons vote in favour of moves to hold an “in-out” referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU by 2017.
David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum after a major diplomatic drive to redefine the terms of Britain’s relationship with the 27 other countries in the union.

Senior government sources said the announcement on the mass justice and home affairs opt-out, which is expected on Tuesday, should be seen in this context, while Tory Eurosceptics, who originally wanted all 133 measures to be dumped permanently, said that the move was an “acid test” of the Prime Minister’s renegotiation strategy.

It could also open up a new rift with the Liberal Democrats, who oppose Mr Cameron’s referendum plan.
Tuesday’s announcement will be made after months of intense internal wrangling between Tories and Lib Dems over which justice and home affairs powers should be kept and which should be permanently dropped.

Conservative ministers want to exploit Labour’s confusion over whether it will make its own referendum pledge, as well as the party’s wider difficulties surrounding the row over attempts by the Unite union, its biggest paymaster, to influence the selection of parliamentary candidates.

Other flagship coalition measures likely to appeal to Conservative supporters will be spelt out in detail this week — including the new curriculum for five- to 14-year-olds that will see Winston Churchill restored to history lessons and plans for the privatisation of Royal Mail.

Mrs May is expected to tell MPs that the process of opting out of the EU’s justice and home affairs measures by the end of May 2014 — as Britain is entitled to do under the terms of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty — will be followed by a process of opting back into some laws that it is in the national interest to retain.

The most controversial is the European Arrest Warrant, which senior Conservative sources say gives rise to “concerns” — including the fact that Britain currently hands over many more suspects to other countries than it receives to face justice here.

Other concerns include the length of time suspects can be held without trial in some other EU countries and the apparently trivial offences for which British police are asked to arrest people so that they can be sent abroad.

Ministers have been pressing for the warrant to be “reformed”, amid signs that it could be one of the measures that is eventually retained. The Lib Dems are key supporters of the warrant.

Other measures among the scores from which Britain is expected to opt out include DNA profiling and fingerprint checking, some co-operation on cross-border crimes and plans for an EU-wide driving ban.

One plan Britain is particularly keen not to be part of is that of a European-wide public prosecutor with sweeping powers of investigation and arrest across member states.

Although some laws will remain after the “opt back in” process, Conservative sources welcomed the symbolism of the announcement of a major opt-out of EU powers just days after plans for an in/out referendum got a 304-vote unanimous backing in the Commons.

Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP, said: “This is a crucial opportunity to put British law enforcement ahead of Brussels’ thirst for political control and an acid test for the wider Conservative strategy of renegotiating terms with the EU.”

Meanwhile, a leading Lib Dem minister has said another coalition government is “increasingly likely” as no party will win an overall majority at the 2015 election.

Steve Webb, the pensions minister, said British politics had now entered “an era of parties working together” where leaders will have to do deals to secure a Commons majority and that the “remorseless fragmentation” of the traditional two-party system means coalitions are almost inevitable.
Senior figures in both the Conservative and Labour parties have suggested trying to govern as a minority government if their party finishes first in 2015 but falls short of an overall majority.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Webb says another coalition involving the Lib Dems would be more stable than any such arrangement.
“My personal view is that stability is really important – having a government programme for five years rather than endless speculation about a confidence vote, another election,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10164783/Ministers-to-seize-back-100-powers-from-Brussels.html

Posted: 17-07-2013 09:22 Post subject:

OECD fears jobless threat to social fabric as Europe left behind
The unemployment gap between the US and eurozone states will reach the highest levels in modern history next year, according to a report by the OECD.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
8:26PM BST 16 Jul 2013

While the US jobless rate will continue falling to 6.7pc by the end of 2014 as recovery takes hold, the rate for the EMU currency bloc will rise to a fresh record of 12.3pc with large pockets of extreme distress.

A trans-Atlantic gap of 5.6 percentage points is unprecedented in modern times and appears to reflect the starkly different policies pursued by the two major blocs since the Lehman crisis.

The OECD listed many measures that can help mitigate the effects of unemployment and ease the way for displaced workers to find new jobs but left no doubt that the real villain is the contractionary policy mix in Europe.

“The main policy priority must be to take action to underpin aggregate demand and boost consumer and investor confidence. Monetary policies have to remain accommodative. The speed of fiscal consolidation should be calibrated to avoid excessive tightening,” it said.

Michael Darda, from MKM Partners, said the great difference between the US and Europe is that bold action by the US Federal Reserve has offset austerity, while the European Central Bank has chosen not to do so. “Monetary policy remains highly relevant,” he said.

The jobless rate is predicted to reach new highs of 28pc in Spain and 28.4pc in Greece, even as it falls [to?] 4.8pc in Germany, frustrating hopes that EMU states would converge over time.

Angel Gurría, the OECD secretary-general, said the recession in 2008-2009 has done lasting damage to the developed world. “The social scars of the crisis are far from being healed,” he said.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10183794/OECD-fears-jobless-threat-to-social-fabric-as-Europe-left-behind.html

Posted: 27-07-2013 10:14 Post subject:

The greedy EU beast is still growing- I fear this growth could continue until an even bigger beast destroys it...

EU planning to 'own and operate’ spy drones and an air force
By Bruno Waterfield Last updated: July 26th, 2013

The European Union is planning to “own and operate” spy drones, surveillance satellites and aircraft as part of a new intelligence and security agency under the control of Baroness Ashton.

The controversial proposals are a major move towards creating an independent EU military body with its own equipment and operations, and will be strongly opposed by Britain.

Officials told the Daily Telegraph that the European Commission and Lady Ashton’s European External Action Service want to create military command and communication systems to be used by the EU for internal security and defence purposes. Under the proposals, purchasing plans will be drawn up by autumn.

The use of the new spy drones and satellites for “internal and external security policies”, which will include police intelligence, the internet, protection of external borders and maritime surveillance, will raise concerns that the EU is creating its own version of the US National Security Agency.

Senior European officials regard the plan as an urgent response to the recent scandal over American and British communications surveillance by creating EU’s own security and spying agency.
“The Edward Snowden scandal shows us that Europe needs its own autonomous security capabilities, this proposal is one step further towards European defence integration,” said a senior EU official.

etc...

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/bruno-in-brussels-eu-unplugged/brusselsbruno/367/eu-planning-to-own-and-operate-spy-drones-and-an-air-force/

Posted: 27-07-2013 10:25 Post subject:

UK jobs being advertised across the EU at taxpayers' expense, it emerges
More than 800,000 UK jobs are being offered to workers across the European Union, it has been disclosed.
By Peter Dominiczak, Political Correspondent
10:00PM BST 26 Jul 2013

Under an EU scheme partly funded by British taxpayers, all positions advertised in UK jobcentres also have to be offered to workers in European member states.
UK firms are given as much as £1,000 as a bonus for taking on the foreign workers.

The disclosure undermined comments made by Matthew Hancock, the business and skills minister, who called on UK bosses to stop taking the “easy option” of filling jobs with foreigners when they could train local workers instead.
Just hours after Mr Hancock’s intervention it emerged that that a website called EURES, which was set up by the European Commission, is advertising 808,659 UK jobs to people on the continent.
The EU scheme offers foreigners hundreds of pounds of funding to pay for interviews in the UK, relocation costs and even English lessons. Shocked

Of the 1,450,490 jobs being advertised on the website, 808,659 were posts in the UK – more that the total number of positions in all the other member states put together.
Germany is only advertising 267,517 jobs – a third of the UK’s total. Poland is advertising just 120 jobs on the site.

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said the situation was “utterly reprehensible” and said that Mr Hancock should “hang his head in shame” for blaming British bosses for hiring foreigners.
He said that the UK Government is effectively funding a system that gives foreign workers an advantage over Britons looking for work in their own country.

The site also gives foreign applicants advice about how to claim benefits in the UK.
Mr Farage said: “The fact that unemployed Brits are being pitted against 500 million people across the EU to get jobs in their own country is utterly reprehensible.

“With two and a half million people unemployed in the UK… every job vacancy counts. Yet here we have the EU, which we already grossly over-fund, advertising our jobs to people outside the UK and even giving them the upper hand by offering financial support to get interviews here and move here. We are essentially paying the EU to give away British jobs.”
He added: “[Matthew Hancock] and this Government are blaming British businesses for their own commitment to the EU.”

A Tory source called Mr Hancock’s comments “economically illiterate” and said he was wrong to attack UK bosses for “acting rationally”.
Mr Hancock had said that companies have a “social duty” to employ young British workers rather than better-qualified immigrants.
He said that employers should be prepared to invest in training British staff rather than simply looking for "pure profit".

Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Clacton, said: “In my constituency there are lots of young people competing for a limited number of vacancies.
“And yet here we have a website partly funded with British taxpayers’ money flagging up those job opportunities to people who have absolutely no connection with this country.
“What ministers need to do is stop talking and act.”

The EURES site has 850 specialist employment advisers across Europe – 16 of which are based in jobcentres in the UK.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said that under the European Treaty, all EU countries are “obliged to share their job vacancies”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10205511/UK-jobs-being-advertised-across-the-EU-at-taxpayers-expense-it-emerges.html

As usual, 'sharing' means UK gets a bigger share of the costs, and a smaller share of the benefits! Evil or Very Mad

Posted: 27-07-2013 12:39 Post subject:

What about all of those Brits & Irish working on the Continent?

I'm in favour of shooting down those drones though.

Posted: 28-07-2013 01:30 Post subject:

Posted: 29-07-2013 11:24 Post subject:

Europe’s 'recovery’ is a conjuring trick
The eurozone has had a good year – on paper. But it is crippled by too much debt to survive intact, says Jeff Randall
By Jeff Randall
8:15PM BST 28 Jul 2013

This week, British people engage with their European neighbours in greater numbers than at any other time of the year. With the school holidays underway, they charge off to France, Spain, Greece and Portugal in search of better weather, cheaper drink and the je ne sais quoi of continental living. For most, soaking up the sun and gulping down Sancerre, much will seem the same as last summer. Behind the scenes, however, financial markets in the Club Med countries are very different compared with 12 months ago, when the eurozone’s straitjacket appeared to be splitting.

Share prices in particular have enjoyed a remarkable resurgence. Stock market indices in Portugal, France and Spain are up by about 30 per cent. That’s pretty impressive for economies running on empty but is completely outshone by Greece, where the main index is now 64 per cent higher than in June 2012. If that sounds too good to be true, remember that at its current level of 294, the Athex 20 is still 85 per cent lower than its high point of 2008. None the less, there’s a temptation to look at the direction of travel and conclude that, even for the eurozone’s weaklings, the point of maximum danger is history. This is what EU leaders and the European Central Bank would like us to believe, because it fits their broader narrative: the single currency works, is sustainable and benefits all in the long run.

At the core of this “recovery” is a bluff that has yet to be called. In August last year, the European Central Bank’s president, Mario Draghi, promised to do “whatever it takes” to defend the euro through the unlimited purchase of bonds issued by troubled EU states. It was high-quality legerdemain. Presented with the perceived safety net of a one-way bet, private investors returned to buying sovereign debt and company shares in the EU’s angst-ridden periphery.

Not since the Wizard of Oz has an illusionist created so much fuss with so little substance. Without spending a single cent, Draghi conjured up a fall in borrowing costs and a rise in stock markets. Twisted Evil

What’s more, consumer confidence improved in the EU’s more solvent regions, albeit from a woefully low base. The killer question now is: how long can the magician keep the trick going? Or, as Toto did in the movie with Judy Garland, will the curtain be pulled back to reveal nothing more than bluster behind a screen of smoke and noise?

The answer will not be known until after September 22, when the Germans go to the polls. Angela Merkel has played a blinder in simultaneously helping to shore up the eurozone’s balance sheet while persuading domestic supporters that Germany’s chequebook is now closed to those seeking credit extensions on easier terms. If, as seems likely, the German chancellor is re-elected, she will return to a series of horror shows that have been masked but not mastered. There are too many fundamental flaws inside the eurozone for crisis deferral to be a permanent policy.

Debt, far too much of it, is still the cancer in the system. In Portugal, it is heading for 130 per cent of national output. Voters there are dizzy with austerity fatigue. The government in Lisbon staggers along with barely a mandate, trying desperately to keep the country’s 78 billion euro bail-out programme on track. Next door in Spain, the national mood, already grim, darkened further last week after the train disaster in Galicia. Unemployment fell from 27 per cent to 26 per cent, but only thanks to temporary tourism jobs. Come September, many of them will vanish.

In Greece, where universal taxes remain an abstract concept, George Papaconstantinou, the country’s former finance minister (2009-11), is to be put on trial for abuse of office. He was part of a team that negotiated a 110 billion euro bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund in 2010. That vast sum already looks far too little. Greece’s financial position is terminal. It cannot hope to save, invest and grow its way out of trouble while repaying all its creditors in full. The numbers don’t add up. Greece needs a wholesale restructuring of national debt, including a haircut for its sovereign lenders — that means Germany, which is stuffed with Greek IOUs. Hitherto, German taxpayers have reluctantly granted loans and guarantees, but they have been told to expect all their money back. That is not going to happen.

Mrs Merkel has two options: allow Greece to collapse or admit that, if the eurozone is not to disintegrate, Germany’s next growth sector will be charitable donations. But where does Berlin draw the line? When you set up a soup kitchen, there is no way of knowing how long the queues will be. Cool

Italy’s debt, like Portugal’s, is about 130 per cent of GDP; its credit rating was downgraded this month and the economy continues to shrink, prompting fears that several Italian banks are heading for zombie status.

Finally, there is France, capital of euro-delusion. President Hollande recently declared, “recovery is there”. With unemployment at 11 per cent and a looming pensions deficit of 20 billion euros, it needs to be. The gods, however, have not been kind. Last week, freak hailstorms smashed through Burgundy, destroying some of its best-known vineyards and at least four million bottles of decent wine. How long before the eurozone’s financial markets suffer something similar, as disbelief returns from its 12-month suspension?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/10207789/Europes-recovery-is-a-conjuring-trick.html

Posted: 05-08-2013 13:58 Post subject:

Full text at link.

Posted: 15-08-2013 11:28 Post subject:

You've been found out Mr Rehn. The European Commissioner has been joking all along
By Jeremy Warner Economics
Last updated: August 15th, 2013

It's taken me a while, but I've finally worked Olli Rehn out. For years I've made the mistake of taking Europe's economics Commissioner seriously, but it now transpires that a bit like Jeremy Clarkson, his whole world view is a massive exercise in teasing, comic irony. It's deliberately aimed at winding us all up.

Take the latest example. For some years now, Mr Rehn has been repeatedly declaring the eurozone crisis over, only to be proved consistently wrong. So wrong, in fact, that he has become a standing joke. Indeed, you have been able to set your watch by him. Every time Mr Rehn opens his mouth to claim final vindication of the policies the European Commission is imposing on Europe's dispossessed, you kind of know that the storm is about to break out anew.

And now he's done it again. "The data…supports, in my view, the fundamentals of our crisis response: a policy mix where building a stability culture and pursuing structural reforms supportive of growth and jobs go hand in hand", he said in response to news that the eurozone has finally emerged from recession.

He's joking, right? Indeed he must be, and by going just a little bit too far in his claims, he's given the game away. It was good while it lasted, but now we know that even Mr Rehn cannot believe in what he says, for otherwise he surely would have tempered his remarks with a few caveats.

But no, a "policy mix" which has reduced large parts of the eurozone to abject ruin has apparently been "building a stability culture", and though you couldn't possibly surmise it from the data, it's all "supportive of growth and jobs". Breathtaking. Twisted Evil

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100025384/youve-been-found-out-mr-rehn-the-european-commissioner-has-been-joking-all-along/

Posted: 21-08-2013 09:09 Post subject:

Murderer lodges first 'whole life' appeal in wake of European human rights ruling
A triple murderer has lodged the first challenge of a “life means life” jail sentence following a controversial ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, in a move which could force ministers to water down the way Britain’s most heinous criminals are punished.
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
9:15PM BST 20 Aug 2013

Arthur Hutchinson is serving a “whole life” tariff for stabbing a wealthy couple to death after breaking into their home on the night of their daughter’s wedding, then killing one of their sons and repeatedly raping another wedding guest.

Strasbourg judges ruled last month that a tariff which forces murderers to die in jail was “inhuman and degrading” following an appeal by three killers including Jeremy Bamber, who shot dead five members of his family in 1985.
Now Hutchinson has become the first killer to capitalise on the ruling and attempt to have his own sentence declared a breach of his human rights.

Legal experts feared the initial challenge by Bamber and two other killers would lead to a deluge of similar claims, at great expense to the taxpayer, by all 49 killers and rapists serving whole life tariffs, as well as other murderers handed long sentences.
Hutchinson’s legal bid has emerged within just six weeks of the Strasbourg ruling.

The British government has already been asked to provide an official response to Hutchinson’s claim, which could lead to a full hearing next year. If, as expected, judges rule in his favour Hutchinson could ultimately win the right to be freed.

Dominic Raab MP, who is campaigning for human rights reform, said: “You couldn’t get a better example of a case where ‘life should mean life’.
“UK democratic accountability over our criminal justice system is yet again being threatened by the insatiable appetite of the Strasbourg court.
“Parliament must rebuff any further mission creep from these unaccountable European judges.”

...

The killer was wanted for rape at the time of the attacks on the Laitners and had already served five years’ imprisonment for the attempted murder of his brother-in-law.
The judge at Hutchinson’s trial at Sheffield Crown Court ruled that he should serve 18 years but then home secretary Leon Brittan later ruled he should face the whole life tariff.

Hutchinson, now 73, who is originally from Hartlepool, has already brought a challenge against the tariff in the British courts.
Just five years ago the Court of Appeal ruled there was “no reason at all” to depart from the whole life tariff.
Mr Justice Tugendhat said: “These were exceptionally serious murders, and it is right that the applicant should remain in prison for the rest of his life by way of punishment.”

Despite a thorough examination of Hutchinson’s sentence by British judges the Strasbourg court’s decision will allow Hutchinson and others to bring new challenges under human rights laws.
The European court’s ruling proposed that those serving life with no possibility of parole should instead have their cases reviewed after 25 years, following which they could be freed if they persuaded a panel they were no longer a danger to the public.

The appeal was brought by Bamber and two other killers - Douglas Vintner, who stabbed his wife to death less than three years after being released from prison for a previous muuder; and Peter Moore, a serial killer.

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said at the time it made him more determined to “curtail” the Strasbourg court’s role in this country’s legal affairs.
Responding to the latest development Mr Grayling said: "I have repeatedly made clear how profoundly I disagree with the recent ruling by the European court.
"Our judges should be able to tell those who commit the most heinous crimes imaginable that they may never be released.
"To be told this breaches human rights is absurd – and an insult to those who wrote the original human rights convention. What about the rights of the victims and their families?

"I continue to strongly believe that whole life tariffs are appropriate for the worst murder cases. This is why I want wholesale reforms to our human rights laws."

It is feared the Strasbourg ruling will have an even wider impact than first feared because it could create sentencing discrepancies for other murderers who, although not on whole life tariffs, are serving terms of more than 25 years.
It could mean killers such as Ian Huntley, the Soham murderer, and Roy Whiting, who murdered eight year-old Sarah Payne in 2000, could bring challenges in the future.

Hutchinson’s fresh appeal is likely to be accepted by the European judges in light of their decision on the Bamber case, said Kirsty Brimelow QC, chairwoman of the Bar Human Rights Committee.
“I’m not surprised there is another appeal on the back of the earlier case,” she said.
“We would expect the judges to be consistent with the principles enunciated in the Bamber appeal, namely that every prisoner is entitled to have their sentence reviewed.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10255239/Murderer-lodges-first-whole-life-appeal-in-wake-of-European-human-rights-ruling.html