As Jean-Claude Trichet gave his final news conference before stepping down as president of the European Central Bank, speculation focused on the likely stance of his successor – Italian central banker Mario Draghi – amid the euro-turmoil.
As Jean-Claude Trichet gave his final news conference before stepping down as president of the European Central Bank, speculation focused on the likely stance of his successor – Italian central banker Mario Draghi – amid the euro-turmoil.
National parliamentary elections in two of the smaller EU countries — Denmark and Latvia – have broken with the trend for political gains in recent years by ultra-rightwing, nationalistic, anti-immigrant parties.
Denmark got a new prime minister – the first woman to win the post -- in Social Democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt (who happens to be the daughter-in-law of Britain’s former Labor Party leader Neal Kinnock.) She eked out enough seats to become the leader of a new center-left coalition government. It is expected to ease up on enforcement of some recent Danish anti-immigrant provisions that have caused consternation in other EU countries.
If German parliamentarians had said “no” this morning, the EU plan to increase its war fund to defend Greece’s credit would have been vetoed. Governments’ collective efforts around the world to save the euro would have hit a juddering crash and crack-up, with tsunami-like ripple effects on the global economy. That prospect seemed very alive only last weekend, driving down the euro’s value and stock prices.
© COPYRIGHT THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTE 2009
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