With or without you: Will Catalonia be Europe's next crisis?

Catalonia’s elections have caused more problems than they have solved. It is time for both Spain and Catalonia to start a national dialogue to reform Spain’s model of regional government. Otherwise, Catalonia will become Europe’s next crisis.

Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s conservative prime minister, comes from Galicia, on the north-western coast. By reputation, Galicians are so vague and elusive that – according to a Spanish joke – if you meet one on a staircase you cannot tell whether he is going up or down. Rajoy’s handling of the Catalonian problem has epitomised this uncertainty. His belief that the problem would simply disappear if he ignored it for long enough has led to a pseudo referendum that broke more things than it fixed. It is now time for him to face an uncomfortable truth; he should start a dialogue on Spain’s model of regional government.

Θα θερίσει η ευρωζώνη ό,τι έσπειρε;

Η επιβράδυνση στις αναδυόμενες αγορές, αφήνει την ευρωζώνη ακόμη πιο εξαρτημένη από τις εξαγωγές στα ΗΠΑ και στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο για να αντισταθμίσει την αδύναμη εγχώρια οικονομία της.

Η ευρωζώνη στηρίζεται σε ένα ασθενές ευρώ και στην ισχυρή ανάπτυξη παγκοσμίως για να τονώσει τις εξαγωγές και τον πληθωρισμό και να εξισορροπήσει την εξασθένηση της εγχώριας ζήτησης. Πόσο πιθανό είναι αυτό; Η Κίνα μπορεί ακόμη να αποφύγει μια ύφεση, αλλά δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι προετοιμάζεται για μια περίοδο πολύ χαμηλότερης ανάπτυξης. Την ίδια στιγμή, σχεδόν κάθε αναδυόμενη αγορά εξασθενεί, εν μέρει λόγω της εξάρτησής τους από την Κίνα και εν μέρει λόγω της υποτονικής αύξησης της παραγωγικότητας. Η απόφαση της αμερικανικής κεντρικής τράπεζας να μην αυξήσει τα επιτόκια, είναι ευπρόσδεκτη: μια αύξηση θα είχε προκαλέσει περαιτέρω κεφαλαιακές εκροές από τις αναδυόμενες αγορές.

How Russia’s Oil Companies Are Defying Sanctions and Low Oil Prices

Winning and losing is largely a matter of perspective, and that’s no different in today’s low oil price environment. Still, certain data and metrics can provide a more incorruptible viewpoint on the carnage, or lack thereof. In that regard—and to the surprise of many—count Russia’s oil majors among the current winners.

Ranked according to cash flow, profit margins, and share prices, Russian giants Rosneft and Lukoil as well as smaller producers like Gazprom Neft and Bashneft are outperforming Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Exxon Mobil.

How India and the United States Are Building a 21st-Century Partnership

Five years ago, President Barack Obama declared the U.S.-India relationship one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century. Acknowledging this unique bond and its transformative potential, our two countries inaugurated a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) this week. The S&CD is a new mechanism to broaden and deepen U.S.-India cooperation on a range of critical bilateral, regional, and global issues and focus increased attention on the significant role of economics and commerce in our bilateral ties.

Eastern mess: The EU's partners need attention

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine signed EU association agreements in 2014, but reforms are now stalling. The EU needs to push the three governments to do more.

Europe’s southern neighbourhood is in such a state of chaos, with civil war in Syria and anarchy in Libya driving migrants and refugees onto European shores, that few EU leaders are paying attention to the Eastern neighbourhood. But Europe cannot ignore the challenges and opportunities there. There are limits to what it can do with Armenia, Belarus and Azerbaijan: it should encourage improved relations with the first two; and do its best to respond to repression and corruption in the third. But its priority should be to re-energise reform processes in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, in alliance with populations desperate for better governance and an end to crony capitalism.

Το πρόβλημα της Ευρώπης με την Ουγγαρία

Ακριβώς όπως ένα σάπιο μήλο μπορεί να χαλάσει ένα ολόκληρο κοφίνι από αυτά, ένας βίαιος αυταρχικός ηγέτης μπορεί να χαλάσει μια πολιτική ένωση. Καθώς ο πρωθυπουργός της Ουγγαρίας Βίκτορ Όρμπαν σταθεροποίησε την εξουσία του και οικοδόμησε ένα όλο και πιο αυταρχικό καθεστώς, αψηφά την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση -και εν πολλοίς ξεγλιστρά αλώβητος. Κατά την διάρκεια των τελευταίων ετών, ο Όρμπαν υπήρξε μια μέτρια ντροπή για την Ένωση, αλλά με την κτηνώδη και κοντόφθαλμη αντίδρασή του στην συνεχιζόμενη κρίση των προσφύγων, έχει γίνει ένα όνειδος.

Ένας μετανάστης κρατά το παιδί του στη σερβική πλευρά του φράχτη στην Asotthalom, στην Ουγγαρία, τον Σεπτέμβριο του 2015. LASZLO BALOGH / COURTESY REUTERS

Μεταμφιέζοντας τον εαυτό του ως υπερασπιστή του λεγόμενου χριστιανικού πολιτισμού της Ευρώπης απέναντι σε μια ισλαμική εισβολή, το καθεστώς Όρμπαν έχει αφήσει χιλιάδες πρόσφυγες να μαραζώνουν σε λιβάδια [1] και στους δρόμους [2], οδήγησε με τη βία άλλους σε άθλια στρατόπεδα κράτησης [3] και χτύπησε με κανόνια νερού και δακρυγόνα [4] πρόσφυγες που συγκεντρώθηκαν μπροστά στην κοφτερή σαν ξυράφι περίφραξη που η Ουγγαρία σήκωσε στα σύνορά της με την Σερβία.

Cyber breaches undermine delicate US-China relations

Cyber-warfare has emerged as the spearhead of the new strategic capabilities strongly supported under the leadership of President Xi Jinping. However, extensive cyber-attacks launched from China targeting U.S. core economic, military, and strategic interests pose a major threat to this delicate phase in U.S.-China relations. 

In the last few weeks, the controversial issue of cyber-attacks allegedly sponsored by Beijing has created a great deal of concern for the Obama Administration.

Why is a Cold war era art suddenly back in vogue

In the past few years, Russia – under President Vladimir Putin – has frequently been compared to the old Soviet Union. Like his Soviet predecessors, Putin has sought to (and largely succeeded in) building Russia as a recognized force to be reckoned with on the global stage.

The parallels between the old USSR and today’s Russia are many, and not without reason.  As a scholar of history and a former KGB operative, Putin has a shrewd grasp of Russia’s geographic, economic and political challenges, and how best to maintain his own policymaking power.

Saving Schengen: How to protect passport-free travel in Europe

Schengen countries must decide when Bulgaria and Romania should join, whether Greece should leave and how to work more closely with Turkey on border control. 

Greece was already at the eye of the storm in 2012: not only was it at the centre of the euro crisis, but it was also showing systemic deficiencies in its border control and asylum systems. Today Greece is still the weakest link in both the euro and Schengen chains. In the report Brady, now an aide to European Council president Donald Tusk, argued that governments and the European Commission should sort out Greece’s dysfunctional immigration and asylum system, accelerate existing border-control initiatives, and strengthen co-operation with countries in North Africa, Russia, and, most importantly, Turkey. These policy recommendations remain particularly valid today, in the light of Europe’s current refugee crisis.  

Battered Greece and Its Refugee Lesson

Here’s a rough guide to the modern world: More efficiency, less humanity. Technology is principally at the service of productivity. Acts of irrational grace are not its thing. They have no algorithm.

Greece has made me think about everything statistics don’t tell you. No European country has been as battered in recent years. No European country has responded with as much consistent humanity to the refugee crisis.