Hopefully the name will make more sense. China’s much-discussed Belt and Road Initiative, seeking to create and strengthen land and maritime infrastructure across Eurasia, has attracted a lot of criticism for saddling low-income countries in its path with lots of debt […]
Tag: eu
EU needs banking overhaul
With the EU’s leadership in transition, there are a lot of ideas for the new powers that be to sort through (or ignore, as they case may be) when it comes to reforming the continent’s financial infrastructure. There are also mixed verdicts on central […]
U.S. sits out this free trade round, looks tired
Like an aging jock, the U.S. is sitting on the sidelines as other countries move the ball forward on a field it once dominated. A number of the world’s biggest economies are striking free trade deals, threatening to form regional trade blocs excluding […]
No-deal Brexit will hit global economy hard, UK hardest of all
With Brexit negotiations going down to the wire (again) it looks increasingly likely that the UK will “crash out” of the European Union without a deal if the EU refuses to grant another extension. This would be very damaging to the British economy and […]
Europe prepares to hit back on tariffs
The Trump administration’s decision to levy $7.5 billion in tariffs on European goods, officially sanctioned by the WTO following its judgment in favor of Boeing in a trade dispute over European subsidies to Airbus, will not go unanswered, according to German foreign affairs minister […]
Europe will become even more polarized in downturn
The European Union was supposed to speed up the process of convergence between the continent’s high- and low-income countries, but by many measures the continent has actually become more polarized along regional, economic lines – and this trend is only going to be exacerbated […]
Do as ve say, not as ve do: German climate hypocrisy
Germany talks a good game on climate change and environmental policies, but unfortunately it appears to be mostly quatsch, as the country’s actions are far more matching its words, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations, which delivers a polite but damning overview of […]
British business confidence going down the tubes
Political chaos is rarely good for business, and the febrile atmosphere prevailing in Parliament as the UK prepares to (maybe) exit the EU on October 31 is no exception. With massive uncertainty hanging over the country about Brexit, including what form it will […]
EU leaders giving up on possibility of Brexit deal
They always said it was the sensible one — no more! The UK’s whacky spin round the political bend continues, with all all manner of unprecedented nonsense threatening to undermine its unwritten constitution, and the continued volatility is causing its interlocutors in Brussels to […]
Don’t worry about Serbia’s trade deals — democracy and rule of law are more pressing concerns
By Mihailo Gajic, Head of Research, LIBEK & TES Contributor On October 25th, Serbia will sign a trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-backed trade federation — a mostly symbolic move which has however led to a widespread, and totally erroneous, belief that Serbia actually intends to […]