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Apples, pears and oRehnges
“People have been comparing apples with pears and coming up with oranges,” EU Economic and Monetary Affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said patronisingly in the press conference after the Eurogroup meeting...
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Taking a macro snapshot
“Seems to be this assumption that if you accurately report that the data is getting better (in Greece) you’re Olli Rehn”, said to me the other day someone whose opinion I regard highly and got me...
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You can’t know where you are going, until you know where you’ve been
The Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) was initiated in 1979. It was an exchange rate system based on fixed parities with fluctuation bands. Each member had to maintain its exchange rate within narrow...
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Drinking from the bitter cup
Out of all the visits to my homeland during the crisis, the trip at the end of summer of 2011 was the one that gave me the sense that Greece’s social fabric was close to tearing point. In June of that...
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We need to talk about unemployment
At the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Council of Ministers in Paris on Wednesday, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras challenged the institution’s forecast that Greece...
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Honey I shrunk the Greeks
It was Tuesday the 28th of June 2011. The Greek Parliament was starting a two days session for the debate and vote of the Medium Term Fiscal Strategy – Mesoprothesmo in Greek – and the demonstrators...
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As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come
Extracts from The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler by Laurence Rees. Given recent political developments in Greece, food for thought: Even though Nazi membership stood at around 100,000 in 1928, there...
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ANFAir play
When you read that foot-dragging might leave Greece short of 2 billion euros, you probably instantly think that those pesky Greeks are up to no good, again. Well, not this time. The shortfall lies with...
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Primary surplus, the mother of all battles
Some quick notes on the primary surplus ‘miracle’ that got many wondering yesterday: - First of all, the finance ministry is yet to release the detailed budget execution for the Jan-Jul period - It...
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See you at The Agora
It was October 2011 and Greece had just gone through the most explosive summer in its recent history. Early in the summer, protests that had started reluctantly and peacefully at Syntagma Square...
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