“She only eats grains!” In a country where people argue over whether eating (a lot of) meat and machismo go hand in hand, the Prime Minister’s culinary habits have not been spared the polemic. When accused by a government advisor of eating “only grains” over the summer, the prime minister responded a few days later […]
Nasi Goreng, the superstar street food dish in Bali, tries to balance flavor variety and nutritional content. And a balance between climate goals and the need for energy security is something that the G20 leaders will also have to strive for next week. In fact, the signals coming out of the G20 summit on Nov. […]
The EU internal market is unique and has become an indispensable part of companies’ everyday lives. Whether it is a matter of procuring important parts for their own production, visiting a customer in a neighboring European country, or handling payment transactions with suppliers: Without the EU single market, the business of a European mechanical engineering […]
Giorgia Meloni won the parliamentary elections in Italy. Her Fratelli d’Italia party is clearly the strongest party in the center-right coalition. Not least remarkable is the low voter turnout. Less than 64 percent of eligible voters went to the polls, compared with 73 percent in 2018: a sign that a substantial part of the electorate […]
Philippe Lamberts’ father owned a small company that produced sauerkraut. In Belgium. However, simply taking over the family business did not appeal to him, and certainly not a company that had to rely on the uncertainties of the weather for successful harvests. So he decided to study engineering and later worked at IBM for about […]
To paraphrase France’s chansonnier Charles Aznavour, I will tell you about a time unknown to those under thirty. At that time, energy and especially electricity issues were only important to experts, engineers and other “geeks”.Those days are over. And the State of the Union address, known as SOTEU in EU jargon, will reflect how much […]
The debate on sanctions against fossil energy imports has revealed how great the dependence of the EU and Germany on Russia was, and in some cases still is. Wrong political decisions (Nord Stream 2), the wrong framework (slowing down the expansion of renewable energies) and economic interests are currently resulting in price increases and supply […]
European economic policymaking is currently particularly complicated. The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is a heavy drag on growth, while inflation is rising rapidly. Spiraling energy prices require policy measures that cushion their impact without preventing companies and households from adapting to permanently higher fuel and electricity prices.At the same time, the war necessitates […]
The outlook for the global economy is anything but rosy. The world faces a threefold crisis: an energy price crisis, a food crisis, and a financial crisis. This threefold crisis comes on top of the health crisis and climate crisis. They all amplify each other. The World Bank expects energy prices to increase by more […]
What would a stop on Russian gas imports mean for European economies? The question sharply divides economists. Everyone agrees that there would be negative consequences, but how bad? Predictions range from a mild recession to economic disaster and mass unemployment.Much intellectual energy was spent on estimating the magnitude of potential GDP reductions. Much less has […]