With 2022 almost in the rear-view mirror, it is time for 2023 predictions. One thing is becoming clear: Brexit does not work. Therefore, this could be the year of a thawing of the UK-EU relations.
Continue readingTag Archives: European Union
Financial markets turn from servant to master for the UK
Ever since the Brexit vote, financial markets have had an uneasy relationship with the UK. The pound fell sharply after the vote to leave the European Union in June 2016, which surprised many in the City, and since then, UK financial markets have been volatile, trying to price in the consequences of this decision.
Continue readingWhy high natural gas prices could benefit democracy
As Russia’s war on Ukraine has disrupted global energy supplies, the focus on renewable and sustainable energy is becoming sharper than ever.
Continue readingBank of England ignores the elephant in the room: Brexit
The Bank of England has ignored inflation for so long that is now clearly behind the curve, and getting more and more desperate to catch up.
But the central bank is in danger of scuppering its own purpose by ignoring another big change to the economy: Brexit.
Continue readingCome on, Europe: wir schaffen das
There are moments in politics and policy that change the course of history; when they can be summarised in three words, they are the best.
Mario Draghi’s statement back in 2012 that the European Central Bank will do “whatever it takes” to save the euro was such a moment: from then on, the speculators’ attack on weaker eurozone members’ sovereign debt stopped.
Another such moment came three years later, when in 2015 German chancellor Angela Merkel allowed one million refugees to enter Germany. “Wir schaffen das” (we can manage this), she said.
Continue readingFuel shortages mark the beginning of Brexit woes
The queues for petrol in the UK are perhaps the most important post-Brexit moment for Boris Johnson and for those who followed his advice and voted to leave the European Union.
Continue readingItaly tourism season is crucial for post-Covid recovery
The fact that Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic seems a distant memory. Will Italy now be the first in the European Union to stage a spectacular recovery?
Counting the costs of Brexit starts with London
For whoever wants to see the real-life results of giving in to populism, the UK’s case is a fascinating one. Counting the costs of Brexit is only beginning, but already the picture is a gloomy one.
Continue readingWhy Brexit is not ‘done’
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will surely say that he got “Brexit done”, as he promised. However, in a sense, Brexit is only just beginning.
Was Dominic Cummings pushed to save the pound?
The abrupt fall from grace of Dominic Cummings, the much-admired and much-loathed adviser to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has sparked all sorts of theories as to what was behind it, and with good reason.
Cummings’ actions have been divisive and often controversial, starting with his choice of “misfits and weirdos” to replace civil servants whom he sacked unceremoniously, to the famous drive he took across the country while both he and his wife were ill with Covid-19 and a national lockdown was in place.