Month: November 2014

When Chancellor Merkel visits New Zealand or speaks at the G20, she will of course try to portray a very different image of her country. Unfortunately, the self-righteous self-image of Germany bears little resemblance with the cold, hard facts of its economy.

Whether Juncker’s political career will come to an abrupt end now depends entirely on whether he can sufficiently distance himself from the Lux Leaks revelations. Or indeed, whether those who elected him to his new office will award him a grace period regardless.

The ECB’s big experiment with negative interest rates is finally reaching ordinary people and two things are ironic about it: First, that it was a bank with a hint of gambling in its name which finally drove this message home. And second, that of all weeks in the calendar it had to happen during world savings week: the last week in October when European banks traditionally pretend they like to manage assets and encourage savings. If only.