Discontent and popular Anti-austerity growing…
Brussels (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday announced his intention to make public the cost of the European institutions, as a row exploded over his country’s budget plans.
Italy to Expose EU Palaces
Latest update : 2014-10-24
Angered by EU criticism of Italy’s proposed budget for 2015, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has warned that his government is “going to have some fun” publishing details of the cost of European institutions.
Renzi’s comments, made on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, mark the latest twist in a mounting row over Rome’s proposed budget for 2015, which has come under fire from the EU Commission.
Earlier in the day, the Commission’s outgoing chief Jose Manuel Barroso had vehemently criticized the Italian government’s decision to publish a letter from the EU requesting clarifications on the budget.
The letter, signed by the EU’s Economic Affairs Commissioner Jyrki Katainen, was marked “strictly confidential”.
Slamming Rome’s “unilateral” decision, Barroso said the Commission preferred that budget talks with member states take place behind closed doors.
Read Full Report: france24.com
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Posted 20 Oct 2014
A referendum has been proposed by Italian politician Beppe Grillo to remove Italy from the Euro and return it to the Italian Lira.
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Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Luxembourg are the only EU countries with citizens approval
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EU Blame & Shame
Take the shame
27 October 2014 By Neil Unmack http://www.breakingviews.com/italy%E2%80%99s-bank-debacle-could-be-useful-for-renzi/21170678.article
Italian banks’ poor showing in Europe’s stress test has sparked protest from the Bank of Italy. But for reforming Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, shocks to the system aren’t unhelpful. He can use the mess to reform ailing lenders so they can support the shaky economy.
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IMF cut global economic growth forecasts for the third time this year
Latest update : 2014-10-07 http://www.france24.com/en/20141007-imf-warns-possible-european-deflation-gloomy-report/
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic growth forecasts for the third time this year on Tuesday, warning of weaker growth in core euro zone countries, Japan and big emerging markets like Brazil.
In its flagship World Economic Outlook report, the Washington-based lender cut its global growth expectations to 3.3 percent for this year and 3.8 percent for next year. In July it had expected growth of 3.4 percent in 2014 and 4 percent in 2015.
The IMF has now cut its current-year growth forecasts nine out of 12 times in the last three years as it consistently overestimated how quickly richer countries would be able to pull free from high debt and unemployment in the wake of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis.
It also lowered its expectations for longer-term potential growth, something its chief economist Olivier Blanchard called “the force from the future.”
“You have these forces from the past, the forces from the anticipated future … and I think that explains the sequence of revisions that we’ve had,” Blanchard said in an interview.
The IMF again urged countries to carry out an array of structural reforms, such as improving labor market policies, fighting tax evasion and raising infrastructure spending, to avoid the risk of economic stagnation.
With interest rates already near rock-bottom in many advanced economies, it is harder to boost demand, Blanchard said, echoing the concerns of “secular stagnation” raised by former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.
“On whether we’ll be able to … increase demand enough to get to potential output, I think we don’t know yet,” Blanchard said at a news conference. “It may be difficult.”
The Fund’s gloomy projections set the stage for a gathering of the world’s top economic policymakers in Washington this week.
While richer countries like Britain and the United States are seeing stronger expansions, the IMF downgraded forecasts for the three biggest economies in the euro zone currency bloc – Germany, France and Italy – and said it was essential advanced economies maintain monetary stimulus.
It also lowered growth projections for Japan and Brazil, among others. The IMF said potential growth in emerging markets is now 1.5 percentage points lower than what it foresaw in 2011.
“There is a risk that the recovery in the euro area could stall, that demand could weaken further, and that low inflation could turn into deflation,” Blanchard said in a foreword to the report. “Should such a scenario play out, it would be the major issue confronting the world economy.”
The IMF now sees a 30 percent chance of the euro zone slipping into deflation over the next year, and nearly a 40 percent probability the currency bloc could enter recession.
Monetary divergence
Financial markets have been roiled by the diverging growth prospects in the United States, which is on track to tighten monetary policy next year, versus the ailing euro zone and a Japan that has dipped back into contraction.
The value of the U.S. dollar had surged by the end of last week for 12 successive weeks, the longest rally in 40 years.
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew appeared unfazed by the greenback’s appreciation, saying Washington supported other countries’ efforts to grow their economies.
Still, the euro zone will likely face pressure to do more to boost growth at the meetings this week, though Germany will caution against letting up on fiscal austerity.
The IMF warned that frothy financial markets could plunge suddenly once the US Federal Reserve starts raising interest rates, with Blanchard saying it was unclear whether regulators were “up to the task” of mitigating the potential fallout.
The Fund also warned that geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and in the Middle East, were increasingly posing risks to the global economy and could shock oil prices and cause wider trade and financial disruptions.
With loose monetary policy reaching its limits and cash-strapped governments struggling to boost public investment, the IMF urged all countries to pursue deeper reforms.
“The challenge … is to go beyond the general mantra of ‘undertaking structural reforms’ to identify both the reforms that are most needed and the reforms that are politically feasible,” Blanchard said.
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As with Greece, withdrawing from the Euro would provide immediate relief from Italy’s economic woes, as well as freeing them from the iron thumb of the IMF, the European Central Bank and the Wall Street bankers who control these institutions.
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Indeed it would be a prerequisite before remedy and prosperity blooms.
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