Tag Archives: Summit

EU Summit: Europe Moves Towards a Banking Union

This week leaders from across Europe have been meeting to discuss the continued crisis across the eurozone. The talks have centred around increasing integration of the eurozone banking sector. The talks have been hailed as a success by French President Francois Hollande, and other European leaders, after agreement was reached as to increasing integration of the banking system. The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) will be put it place by January 1st 2013, and will make it possible for the new European Stability Mechanism to be used recapitalise European banks, without increasing sovereign debt. The SSM is thought to be the first step towards a full banking union across the eurozone.

This is particularly important for Spain, who’s banks are still a major cause for concern, and many hope they will be able to hold out until the SSM is in place.

Germany has voiced concerns over the speed of banking integration, warning that the road map for the setting up of the SSM may not be long enough, due to the complex legal issues that have to be worked through.

The UK is also uneasy about the prospect of a full banking union within the eurozone. Although Britain are not part of the euro, the City of London by far has the largest banking sector in Europe, and it is feared that in any future decisions about financial regulation the UK will be outvoted.

However, the Summit was overshadowed by the continuing chaos in Greece, with fresh anti-austerity protests, in which a man died. Greece could run out of money by the end of November. The EU are awaiting a key report from the “troika” of international lenders – the ECB, European Commission and International Monetary Fund. The findings of the report will be key in deciding whether or not to give Greece any more money.

European Summit December 8th

December 8th will see the European Union Summit meet again in Brussels. Top of the agenda will be the Euro Crisis. This will be a crucial meeting, and the heads of state have to come up with a plan to quickly forge a way through the economic woes of Europe.

In their last summit they came up with the plan for a €1 trillion bailout fund, since then they have been unable to secure investment to the fund. Furthermore, the crisis has deepened with the other measures making little impact, apart from buying a little time. Therefore, this month’s summit is all the more important. Top of the agenda will be the formation of some sort of fiscal union, but the Germans are still refusing to allow the creation of Eurobonds or the ECB to become lender of last resort. However, they are insisting on “total oversight” of any new fiscal union. For example, already the Irish Prime Minister this week discovered the German Bundstag have obtained copies of the Irish budget and are closely studying it, even before the Irish legislators have seen it. What the German’s are asking for in return for the fiscal union, is unprecedented power over the Eurozone… do you think Greeks and Italians etc will happily sit back and allow Berlin to control their public finances?

Obama is pressing Cameron to bash German and French heads together to come up with the goods, and the Bank of England’s governor has said failure to do so would result in a worse financial crash than the 1930’s. As the Telegraph says, “The 1930’s saw mass unemployment and financial calamity, with stock markets losing 90 per cent of their value. More ominously still, 1930-39 was the decade when mainstream politicians lost control of events, when the Nazi’s rose to power and the far Right took charge in Europe. By the end of the decade the world was at war, and the Holocaust – the greatest crime in human history – was about to begin in earnest.” In the natural, the financial chaos of the 1930s helped Hitler win power in Germany, as he promised them prosperity and strength. The failure of the Euro will have far wider implications on the world than we could ever think or imagine.

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