Niall Ferguson, Professor of History at Harvard University, has written a tendentious new book, “Civilization,” which asserts, with similar certainty, that we are now living through “the end of 500 years of Western predominance,” that while China is on the rise, the question is not whether East and West will clash, but whether “the weaker” — that is, the United States and Europe — “will tip over from weakness to outright collapse.”

did the Greeks call the referendum because they had advanced intelligence that the #EFSF would not be able to raise a cent?

Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker has been out of the spotlight recently. However behind the scenes discussions are going on to find Juncker’s replacement as the group’s head. It is now certain his reign will come to an end when his term expires in January.

And so begins the debate as to exactly who will replace him. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has already been mentioned as a possible successor. Schäuble however, rejected the claims as simply rumours.

version TWO

edited 4th July 2012

What the hell is going on with our economy in Europe since whatever that is, it underpins our level of activity; our level of social engagement our socio political locus does it not?

One cannot avoid, when living in BXL now and again picking up a history book about Schuman[1] or Delors[2] and the various grand plans which developed to drag "the EU" from the Coal and Steel union huddles in Irish bars, cigar smoke and beef prices; to this monster of power which we have today.

I have been extremely critical of the performance of the EU in the financial crisis here on this website. The crisis facing special units of the EU megalith made some howling mistakes in crisis management.

this link probably will not stick ECFIN changes its website so frequently

It has become obvious recently that senior EU personnel really do not understand how banking and financial markets function. (reference) The disaster that was the EBA (& its predecessor CEBS) speaks to that clearly!