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Can Europe use trade to enforce Green Deal globally?

EU trade policy: Global enforcer for the European Green Deal By Johan Bjerkem, courtesy of EPC   Stuck in a trade war between the US and China and in light of a dwindling World Trade Organization (WTO), the EU’s trade policy is in need of a new, positive and constructive agenda. The EU cannot afford […]

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Christine Lagarde at the ECB: chronicle of a failure foretold

  By Etienne Chaumeton, courtesy of IREF   In economics, the future is necessarily uncertain, because it is subject to the decisions of a multitude of individual actions. The recent arrival of Christine Lagarde to the presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) on November 1, 2019, however, seems to mark the first stage of […]

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What can Europe do in North Africa?

  “Tunisia: Should the EU do more?” Courtesy of CEPS   At a time of fresh Arab uprisings (in Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon), the country that first sparked a wave of protests in 2011 went to the polls to elect a new president and a new parliament. In free and fair elections that were perceived as […]

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Market Environmentalism Is No Oxymoron

  By Kai Weiss, courtesy  of the Austrian Economics Center   This article is an adapted version of remarks given at the Climate and Freedom Summit 2019 in Madrid, Spain, organized by Fundalib, Reason Foundation, and the Clean Capitalist Leadership Council on December 12.   No other political topic has played as great of a role in 2019 as […]

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The most unhelpful Brexit idea so far: UK-EU tariffs

  Just Say No To Uk-EU Tariffs By Simon Lester, courtesy of the Cato Institute   It’s hard to figure out sometimes whether Twitter reflects reality, but I’ve seen some discussion there suggesting that as part of the Brexit negotiations, the UK and the EU may be negotiating about the extent to which they will impose tariffs […]

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Bitte nicht! Germany still opposes banking union

  “Germany Remains Firmly Opposed to Banking Union” By Gordon Kerr, Cavin O’Driscoll and Enrico Colombatto, courtesy of IREF   In November, Germany’s Finance Minister Olaf Scholz wrote an article in the Financial Times claiming that he had devised a common European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS)[1] that could be acceptable to both sides of the hitherto […]

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Does “Singapore on steroids” appeal to northern voters?

“‘Getting Brexit Done’ and financial services” By Prof. Sarah Hall, courtesy of UK In a Changing Europe   2020 will bring questions of trade and trade policy to the foreground of the Brexit process.   Following his election victory, Boris Johnson has made clear that he intends to take the UK out of the EU […]

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Europe is still hostage to Russian energy power politics

“The looming third European gas crisis” By Dr. Alan Riley, courtesy of European Policy Centre   At 10 am Moscow time (8 am Brussels time) on 1 January 2020, the Russian-Ukrainian gas transit contract is set to expire. The transit route through Ukraine is one of the principal gas routes into the EU. In 2018, […]

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The WTO is dead – should we revive it?

  “The WTO is dead: long live the WTO?” By Maria Demertzis, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute   The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is pivotal in enabling and protecting trade between countries. The recent US failure to appoint a judge at the WTO’s appellate court has meant that it will no longer be able to […]

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The European Green Deal Is Every Bit as Bad as Expected

By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center   The European Commission has unveiled its “European Green Deal,” after taking hints on denomination from its American counterpart, the “Green New Deal.” While the legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress remains fiction under a Republican executive and Senate, the Brussels initiative will become law unless […]