Germany secured fresh capital for the next two years on Wednesday without having to pay any interest for it. That the heavyweights in the EU can continue to borrow on such conditions shows how sick Europe is, writes the daily Diário de Notícias: "The situation is also scandalous because Germany's terrorist economic policy is the main reason for the panic on the markets. The effective interest rate achieved is not thanks to Germany's economy but the result of an unbending policy that Berlin is foisting on the Eurozone with its austerity dictates. A situation in which crime pays off for Germany, at least as long as the Eurozone doesn't implode. Our prime minister spoke out against euro bonds, thereby taking sides with Germany - and against the opinions of other crisis-stricken countries. This submissiveness is immoral and goes against our national interests. He was elected to serve our interests, not to behave as if Portugal was the westernmost province of Prussia." (25/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política financiera, » Economía política, » Vecindad de la UE, » Alemania, » Portugal
Todos los textos disponible de » Viriato Soromenho-Marques
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Managers of Belgian state companies should not earn more than 200,000 euros per year, according to the plan which Paul Magnette, Minister for State Enterprises, will present today. But measured against the 2.6 million euro salary of Didier Bellens, head of the telecommunications firm Belgacom, that is going too far, writes the left-liberal daily De Morgen: "No one doubts that the salaries of top managers - in the economy, the financial sector, sports and showbiz - have risen to insane levels in recent years. Bankers earn astronomical sums, above all in relation to what they do for the economy. And they aren't the only ones. ... The state has the chance to act as a trailblazer in this mad race and bring about an adjustment. Because it makes sense that the immeasurable gab between the salary of Didier Bellens and that of most of his employees must be reduced. But Prime Minister Di Rupo and his team must find a balance between 'competitive' and laughable salaries for top managers." (25/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Empresa, » Asuntos de trabajo, » Holanda
Todos los textos disponible de » Wouter Verschelden

The Ifo business climate index for Germany, Europe's largest economy, plunged by a surprising three percentage points for the first time in months on Thursday. Europe and the world are facing hard times, the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita fears: "The crisis is taking down even the strongest. And for two months now the economic data from the US shows that its labour market and industry are weakening, despite all the unconventional measures that its central bank has adopted to boost growth. The Fed pumped billions of dollars into the market, but it wasn't enough. Now the European politicians are having similar ideas and talking more and more about a 'pact for growth'. But no one knows what this magic formula really means. Everyone assumes that the ECB will just switch on the money printer. … However this hasn't helped the economies in the past. And keeping Greece in the Eurozone against the people's will was costly and naïve. But the biggest problem is that no one knows a good solution for dealing with the crisis." (25/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Economía, » Alemania, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Jacek Ramotowski
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

Greece has seen capital flight soar since the May 6 election. Within a few days around 700 million euros were reportedly withdrawn from banks. News portal Protagon fears that the money will never return: "The largest sums are sent to Switzerland or exotic places where offshore companies are based. Naturally, investing in real estate in the UK is still a secure refuge, as are deposits in the pound sterling, which rose considerably last week. ... If the money withdrawn from Greek accounts hasn't been sent abroad it's stuck under mattresses or behind walls. Every day we wake up to an unprecedented economic situation that is more reminiscent of war than peace." (24/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Política interior, » Política financiera, » Grecia
Todos los textos disponible de » Kostas Giannakidis
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

The Finnish government is considering introducing a mining tax the revenues from which would be used for repairing environmental damage caused by mining, among other things. The business paper Kauppalehti fears the tax would overburden the mining sector: "Every industry must be taxed on the same basis. The development of mining must not be slowed or stopped by the threat of a mining tax. Profitable mines generate abundant direct and indirect tax revenues. Taxation must preserve competitiveness and be carried out in harmony with EU guidelines. ... The mining industry has set itself the goal of expanding the processing sector and exporting reprocessed as well as finished products. As an exporter of raw materials Finland cannot afford to fall behind in any area. The effects of a mining tax and the EU Sulphur Directive could bring a quick end to mining and the export of processed products." (24/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Empresa, » Impuestos, » Economía, » Finlandia

Online network Facebook's hitherto disappointing IPO has repercussions not just for the company itself but also for the US investment bank Morgan Stanley and the Nasdaq stock exchange since they were clearly also responsible for the fiasco, writes the liberal-conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "Apparently Morgan Stanley's stock analysts lowered the turnover prognoses for Facebook after the company announced revenues from mobile advertising that were behind expectations shortly before its stock exchange debut. The second loser is Nasdaq. Traders, brokers and investors are raging about the stock exchange's dismal performance on Friday: the shares started trading half an hour later than scheduled; apparently the computer system was unable to set an initial price for some time because high frequency traders had filled up the milliseconds this requires with their own trading orders." (23/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Comercio, » Mercado de finanzas, » Economía, » EE.UU., » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Christiane Hanna Henkel

The first ever private spaceship set off for the International Space Station ISS from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday. But the success of this trip is down to US space authority Nasa, the conservative daily Lidové noviny points out: "After half a century in which space travel has been the exclusive preserve of governments in the West and East, private capital is now entering the sector. The reputable New York Times talks of a 'triumph of capitalism'. … But one can only really talk of a giant step when private companies are able to run entire space travel programmes as successfully as governments, and if possible more cheaply. At this point we shouldn't get too carried away with the 'triumph of capitalism'. The development and launch of the Falcon rocket and the Dragon module were only possible because they were financed by state-owned Nasa. The question now is whether the triumph of private capital in space can be achieved without government aid." (23/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Religión, » Empresa, » EE.UU.
Todos los textos disponible de » Zbyněk Petráček

IMF boss Christine Lagarde on Tuesday called on the British government to stimulate growth as a means of bringing the economy out of its current recession. A good suggestion which politicians must heed, the left-liberal daily The Independent urges: "It is here, too, that the IMF had the most useful things to say about Britain yesterday. Ms Lagarde not only backed further monetary easing. She also called on the government to do more to prioritise economically productive areas (such as capital investment) over unproductive ones (such as public sector wages), and to ramp up efforts to boost business lending. All are sensible suggestions. It should not need the IMF to make them. After the bursting of the biggest credit bubble in history, there is no way to avoid a painful correction. It is time for politicians to stop making false promises ... and to start telling the truth about what is possible and what is not." (23/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Economía, » Gran Bretaña

Portugal is expecting the fourth visit by inspectors sent by its creditors, the EU, the ECB and the IMF, this Tuesday. So far the troika has always given the country the thumbs-up for its implementation of the austerity and reform programme but spoil sport Greece may hurt Portugal's record, the daily Diário de Notícias writes: "The treasurers of our republic will scrutinise the economic data between January and March. They will see that the implementation of the prescribed programme is well under way and the deficits - above all the export deficit - have shrunk considerably. But unfortunately at the expense of rapidly increasing unemployment, a phenomenon the troika must respond to. … The one factor that unfortunately is not in the hands of the protagonists of this story is the outcome of the Greek elections, which will inevitably have a detrimental impact on the Portuguese adjustment programme in the next quarter." (22/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política financiera, » Economía política, » Economía, » Grecia, » Portugal, » Europa
Cobertura de debates » Salidas a la crisis de endeudamiento

The Spanish Finance Ministry has charged management consultants Roland Berger and Oliver Wyman with assessing the state of the country's banks in a kind of stress test. The tests are due for completion by mid June, the ministry announced on Monday. But this new analysis will hardly boost credibility, the left-liberal daily El País fears: "It's unlikely that Roland Berger and Oliver Wyman will achieve anything the European stress tests didn't accomplish. … Europe is pressuring the Spanish government to resolve the problem with the major bank Bankia and the economic team in the cabinet has lost its nerve. This stopgap policy doesn't work with the markets and the nationalisation of Bankia went wrong because it's not enough to know what to do, you need to know how to do it, too. The prime minister may deny that Europe is intervening but he will run out of options if the public debt keeps on rising and he continues to reject a pact with the opposition." (22/05/2012)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política financiera, » España, » Europa