Archive

(*) A shorter version of this article was published on 17/11/2016 in Politico Europe. There is a strong consensus among Anglo-American economists that the Euro was, and remains, a bad idea. It has proven to be a failure, they say, and should be dismantled. Criticism is pervasive across the spectrum, from Martin Feldstein on the […]

(*) Published on 10/11/2016 in The Diplomat in Spain. Also available the Spanish version: Brexit: una sentencia que no cambia (en exceso) el horizonte On Thursday, the awaited -and severe- court sentence forcing the Government of Theresa May to listen to the British parliament facing the activation of article 50 of the TEU was made […]

(*) Published on 11/7/2016 in Politico. In the wake of the Leave campaign’s shocking win in the U.K.’s In/Out referendum, commentators have painstakingly defended Britain’s rampant Euroskepticism as part of a larger trend. They point to the wave of discontent sweeping through the Union, from Sweden and Denmark in the north, to France, the Netherlands […]

(*) Published on 23/6/2016 in EUforum (Clingendael). The EU integration process is at the core of the Spanish national project Absence from the European core when the European Communities were created and political/economic backwardness (which can be to some extent traced back to the 19th century) is the root cause of a deeply dominant idea […]

(*) Published on 27/6/2016 in The Diplomat in Spain. At the moment, David Cameron must be regretting the  promise of referendum he made  in January 2013 and that has only allowed him to enjoy 13 months of absolute majority.  This decision has not only made him fall, it also threatens to trigger an internal  battle […]

(*) Published on 23/3/2016 in El País (in Spanish). Original version in Spanish: Atentados en Bruselas: Desafío a la seguridad y la convivencia Belgium stopped bombing Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS) targets in Iraqi territory at the end of June 2015. The country had joined the international coalition against the Jihadist organisation in […]

(*) Originally published on 21/3/2016 in The Telegraph. “What Europe needs is not an end to the single currency, it is better economic leadership.” Former Bank of England governor Lord King argues in his new book, The End of Alchemy, that the time has come to give up on the euro. It was a bold […]

(*) Published on 16/3/2016 in Europp (LSE blog). Internal tensions pushed David Cameron to launch the risky wager of undertaking a referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017. Leaders only use this mechanism, which often has a polarising effect on the electorate, when they are sure of attaining a clear victory. Following this […]

(*) Published on 14/1/2016 in People’s Daily (in Chinese). Ten years ago China was increasingly seen as an important economic power. It had just overtaken France to become the fifth biggest economy, was reaching almost $1 trillion in foreign reserves and was slowly learning how to successfully operate within the WTO framework. A decade later, […]

(*) Published on 15/1/2016 in Beyondbrics, FT Blog. The recent inclusion of the renminbi (RMB) in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is a major victory for the People’s Bank of China, which for years has claimed that the Chinese currency deserves to be in the club of top reserve currencies. It is also a […]

(*) Published on 18/12/2015 in EPIN Newsletter Winter 2015. Spaniards are called on 20th December to decide whether the Government’s job over the last four years in overcoming the crisis was good enough to win again their support. Europe’s austerity framework was reflected in Spain in a series of unpopular measures in the shape of […]

(*) Published on 14/12/2015 in The World Post (The Huffington Post). Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s new president, was the candidate standing for Cambiemos, the broad center-left and center-right coalition that defeated Cristina Kirchner in the recent elections. What Macri defeated above all was an ugly, black and white approach to politics that rejected bipartisan solutions and […]