Fiat Euro! 21/2012
Another unnecessary summit, politicians know how to focus and agree only when they are under pressure from the bond markets. Who is ready for Grexit? A feast on German
Month: May 2012
What Can and What Can’t the State Do?
An answer to this rather broad question is one of the issues that formed the subject of Alexander Fink´s presentation during the discussion forum on the topic of “East German Transformation and German Public Finance” organised by Liberalni Institut on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Before we are able to even tackle this question, it is necessary to put it in to proper context. The first issue that Mr. Fink discussed was the method of evaluation…
Mr. Euro-Bond
Will Germany open its arms to the call from new French leader Francois Hollande for growth supporting measures instead of pure austerity imposed by the Sarkozy-Merkel duo? That was the key question at the European Union summit held in Brussels last week. Taking a decisive step in ramping up the European effort for containing for the ongoing debt crisis could not be expected. The issue of European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the €700 billion rescue fund…
Euro Bill Updated
The Euro Bill is project run by Slovak think tank INESS, which tracks all guarantees and expenses related to euro zone rescue efforts. The May update includes several changes, related mainly to the spring default of Greece. Paradoxically, the overall sum of guarantees dropped slightly to EUR 1860 per capita (in Slovakia). This is due to casino online “accounting” changes. The buy cheap cialis online old IMF program, which granted Greece EUR 30 billion together…
“Liberal Opportunities in East Central Europe. Chances of a Liberal Comeback”: Conference, June 4, Republikon, Budapest
European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR) and Republikon Institute (Hungary) have pleasure to invite to a conference “Liberal Opportunities in East Central Europe. Chances of a Liberal Comeback“ WHEN: June 4, 2012, 10:30 a.m. WHERE: A38 ship (Petőfi bridge, Buda side) Budapest Working language: English and Hungarian Registration: republikon@republikon.hu PROGRAMME 10:30- Registration 11:00-11:05 Welcome Csaba Tóth, director of strategy, Republikon Institute 11:05-11:40 Key-note Speech: Liberalism in Europe and in the East…
One Step Closer to the End – Fiat Euro! 20/2012
About the Greeks beating German-looking pensioners and Greek members of parliament playing black metal, while Merkel is happy to gamble with their lives. About fiscal pact, which is good in one country and bad in another one, about reducing debt with the help of magic and about American budgetary hockey game, which ended 99:0. After 3 000 years Greeks have improved the art of drama to the level of perfection. After practically nobody happened to agree…
Drama and Chaos
As finance ministers sat together at the Ecofin meeting last week, the future of the Eurozone was at stake, with Greek political deadlock casting a shadow of darkness over its own euro existence. Greek President Karolos Papoulias was going to ask politicians last Tuesday to stand aside and let a technocratic government be formed to avoid bankruptcy of the heavily indebted Balkan country even though radical leftists from Syriza party have already rejected the proposal…
LFMI News and Activities: April 2012
In April we continued working actively on the issues of higher education. The Parliament passed amendments to the Law on Science and Studies, incorporating our recommendations submitted in March. Among them is the provision enshrined in the law that well-learning students “shall be granted” studentships (the original wording of the bill was “may be granted” studentships). We understand that there is still a number of pressing issues to be solved as regards the higher education…
Lessons from Lithuanian Austerity
In recent years, the Baltic States have been showcased as an austerity success story. While the whole world has seen countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal struggling to reduce their public spending, Lithuania has been hailed as an austerity example. Lithuanian success in public spending cuts has been widely acknowledged; yet simultaneous tax increases and their harmful effects have received less attention. Since the end of 2011, however, the country once again found itself…
LFMI: Tax Freedom Day in Lithuania Falls on May 20
According to the Lithuanian Free Market Institute’s (LFMI) annual calculations, Tax Freedom Day in Lithuania has moved earlier in the calendar and will fall on May 20
