|
|
November 3, 2008
China is not an exception to the world order as no other counrtry is. This is one of the hard –hitting lessons of the recent financial crisis. There is a big market for the Western –bashers who thinks that the Western world is declining and rising stars on the horizon like China would define the… » read more
|
ARCHIVE, Cina, financial crisis, interdependence, world market |
October 31, 2008
Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, told an Atlantic Council audience earlier today that the global financial crisis has “re-emphasized the centrality of the U.S. dollar as a currency” and demonstrated once again that “when things go really badly lots of people want go to the U.S. even if U.S. is… » read more
The world is entering into a major recession. Global economic growth will go down to less than 2 percent in 2009, with USA and Europe the most affected regions, and most of the Asian and African countries the least hurt. This recession, which follows the global unleashing of the US banking disaster, will be not… » read more
October 24, 2008
In times of crisis, people always need scapegoats in order to avoid having to look at one’s own responsibilities and this financial crisis is no different. But blaming bankers is a bit too easy when one looks at this crisis from a systemic and sustainability point of view. We have all enjoyed living beyond our… » read more
President George W. Bush is hosting an international summit for the G20 on 15 November with the goal to avoid financial crises in the future by working together with the EU on more stable national financial systems. Industrialized nations as well as emerging countries have been invited to attend . The Group of 20 include… » read more
|
Economy & Euro, financial crisis, Financial Services, future EU, Social Europe |
October 23, 2008
On the 15th of October the PES organized a Prime Ministers’ meeting, prior to the EU Summit. Yourspace met Sergei Stanishev, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Wouter Bos, Minister of Finances and deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Alfred Gusenbauer, Austrian Chancellor, and recorded their comments on the current financial crisis – what is behind… » read more
October 22, 2008
Spending on “green infrastructure” will be the key to avoiding a severe recession according to a new study published by Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division. The report will scare the climate sceptics who are still hoping that the financial crisis will kill the world’s climate efforts and the EU’s climate/energy package. Necessity and opportunity should… » read more
|
Climate change, energy security, financial crisis, Sustainability |
October 19, 2008
Allow me to use and paraphrase the famous Gorbatchev quote in order to show that our political “leaders” keep missing the historical chances to deal with our worldwide sustainability collapse. If the Western world would have learned the lessons from the first energy crisis in the 70s, we would not be facing these hard times… » read more
October 17, 2008
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and many other EU leaders at the EU Council building in Brussels, are currently discussing how the EU nations can keep their ambitions about reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and how to deal with the impact of the financial crisis. In a meeting with RT HON… » read more
|
Business & Climate Change, Climate change, environment, EU Treaty & Institutions, financial crisis, future EU, Sustainable Dev., Trade & Industry |
October 16, 2008
Crises always have their positive by-effects. Who would have thought only a few months ago that the EU is able to play an effective role in the international arena outside its traditional competence for international trade! And here we see the EU rising to the challenge of three major crises the world is confronted with.… » read more
October 14, 2008
Humanity is living through its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression 1929-33. A decade of complacency, self-deceit and appalling flaws of government regulation and oversight, above all in the USA but also in Europe, have been at the root of the financial disaster that has been unfolding for the past 18 months. It has… » read more
This is a bit like experiencing the second Fall of the Berlin Wall now nearly 20 years ago. I thought this kind of historic miracle only happened once in a lifetime. Who would have believed that Wall Street could get into ecstasy after several governments announced that they are going to nationalise some of their… » read more
|
Climate change, energy security, financial crisis, Peak oil, Sustainability |
October 10, 2008
The energy-and-climate-crisis deniers are having a hell of a party these days. The financial crash has raised their hopes that global warming, peak oil and all the other “humbug” will finally be kicked off the political agenda. One climate policy “monitor” even served us the ludicrous title: “EU: saving the economy or saving green dreams?”… » read more
|
Climate change, energy security, financial crisis, Sustainability |
October 9, 2008
There is only one issue of concern these days in Brussels and other capitals: the widening of the financial crisis into a recession! The speed at which the crisis, which has started some 15 months ago in US mortgage financing, has accelerated in the last three weeks is awe-inspiring. Governments have failed to realise the… » read more
October 8, 2008
Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade Organization, has been invited as a keynote speaker in the EBS workshop entitled “Protectionism: an increasing concern?”. In his keynote address to the WTO Public Forum on 24 September 2008, he explicitly warned against possible surges in protectionism that the global financial crisis could bring about. Referring… » read more
|
financial crisis, future EU, Protectionism, Trade & Industry |
September 26, 2008
A friend of mine reacted to my previous post (Let’s get the climate panic started!) with the following “inconvenient” questions: “- will the current financial crisis spill over and affect the strong EU policy focus on climate change & energy? Could it shift priorities for the December or the Spring Summit? And for the EP… » read more
September 24, 2008
The country, which has taught the world that fighting global warming would be too expensive, managed in less than one week to mobilise more than 1 trillion dollar and to focus the presidential election campaign and the world on its financial crisis. How was that possible? One word: panic! Are there any lessons for those… » read more
|
Climate change, financial crisis, Global Warming, Sustainability |
July 1, 2008
Looking back at the first half of the year, I can only conclude that my doom-and gloom predictions for 2008 were unfortunately spot on. With stock markets continuing their dive down and oil prices exploding upward, this year could indeed turn out to become the “annus horribilis” I feared. To be honest, things look even… » read more
|
Energy and Climate Change, energy security, European Union, financial crisis |
March 20, 2008
Is the current chaos in the financial sector the beginning of a global systemic collapse? Two of my favourite American authors certainly seem to think so. Thomas Homer-Dixon, the author of the excellent “Upside of Down“, goes as far as to claim “Global capitalism teeters on the brink” in an opinion piece for the online… » read more
