Merkel Is Ready to Greet, and Then Resist, Obama

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, an avowed friend of the United States and the leader of the European Union’s biggest economy, is diplomatic about the coming visit by President Obama. But she is clear that she is not about to give ground on new stimulus spending, stressing the need to maintain fiscal discipline even as she professes to want to work closely with the new American president. “International policy is, for all the friendship and commonality, always also about representing the interests of one’s own country,” Mrs. Merkel said in an interview with The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune. During the hourlong interview, Mrs. Merkel made clear that she was not wavering in her response to the economic crisis, by loosening the German checkbook or encouraging the European Central Bank to follow the Federal Reserve in pumping money into the system. She also said she expected Mr. Obama to keep his word to gradually rein in imbalances that would cause American indebtedness to grow sharply as a result of his domestic stimulus plans. For a new president in difficult times who may miss the simplicity of campaigning, Mr. Obama might be well served to think of Mrs. Merkel as the swing state of European leaders. “On an international level, we must all recognize that after the crisis we need to return again to solid financial policies,” Mrs. Merkel said. “Otherwise, we run the risk of already preparing the next crisis.” For all the domestic pressures, Mrs. Merkel has always been dedicated to the strong relationship that sprang up between the United States and Germany. She stressed during the interview, “It is in the interest of Germany that America plays a strong role in the world and emerges from the crisis stronger.” “I firmly believe that the crisis has made it clear that no country can solve its problems on its own, and we, at the beginning of the 21st century, must have the will to enhance international cooperation to a new qualitative level,” Mrs. Merkel said.

( Retirado do jornal INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - 30.03.09 )

Berlusconi seeks more power after party merger

Rome Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, yesterday told members of a new conservative party that united his own Forza Italia with the right-wing Alleanza Nazionale that he needed more powers vested in him to help to modernise Italy.

About 6,000 delegates, gathered in Rome for a three-day congress officially to baptise the Il Popolo della Libertà (People of Freedom) party, heard Mr Berlusconi, who is 72 and has been Prime Minister three times, promise reforms in education, women’s rights and environmental policy. But he said that his position commanded only “false” power and that he had been hamstrung in the past from carrying out changes by an “irresponsible opposition”, an unwieldy parliament and the inability to change his Cabinet.

Many analysts believe that he intends to strengthen the role of the president of the republic and then manoeuvre himself into that position when this legislature ends, but he made no mention of the presidency in his speech.

( Retirado do jornal TIMES - 30.03.09 )

Nokia cutting 700 more jobs in Finland

Mobile telephone manufacturer Nokia plans to cut 700 jobs in Finland. Most of the redundancies are to be enacted by the end of the year.
The international economic crisis has reduced sales of telephones so much that the company’s personnel director Juha Äkäräs feels that cost-cutting measures are needed both in Finland and abroad.
“All cuts will be implemented so that we can also invest in the future. We will seek to make wise strategic choices with which to secure our competitiveness in the short and long terms”, Äkräs says.
In January Nokia estimated that sales of mobile telephones this year would decline by ten per cent from last year. It means a reduction in sales worth more than 100 million handsets.

Trimming product development activities in Finland was not unexpected. Nokia Research and Development employs 14,700 people worldwide, 8,850 of whom are working in Finland.
The company aims to cut operation costs by EUR 700 million by the end of next year. To this end, the selection of models has been streamlined, subcontracting has been reduced, corporate travel has been trimmed, and pay increases have been frozen.
Last autumn Nokia took on over 1,000 new employees when it bought the programming company Symbian.
In other countries, Nokia is cutting 1,000 jobs mainly in the marketing and strategy unit. The greatest number of jobs will be lost in the United States and Britain.

( Retirado do jornal HELSINGIN SANOMAT - 18.03.09 )

CYPRIOT FINANCE MINISTER

Minister of Finance Charilaos Stavrakis said President of the Republic Demetris Christofias, the government and the ministers were doing much to limit the consequences of the global financial crisis, noting that figures spoke for themselves.

Addressing a trade union meeting, Stavrakis said that "in the last quarter of 2008 we had the highest growth rate in the Eurozone, in 2009, according to official European Commission projections, we are again expected to have the highest growth rate among the old members of the Eurozone."

Stavrakis pointed out that "the higher the growth rate, the less pressure you have towards unemployment."

"It has been estimated that we will have a growth rate of about 2.5% to 3%, taking into consideration the increase of inflation. Unemployment remains stable," he said.

( Retirado do jornal CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY - 29.03.09 )

ECB vice-president says governments should clean up banks more quickly

EUROPEAN BUSINESS SUMMIT 2009

By Simon Taylor

26.03.2009 / 14:48 CET

Lucas Papademos calls for measures to help banks get rid of bad assets

Lucas Papademos, a vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said today that governments should speed up measures to help banks get rid of bad assets.
“A lot has been done. What is important is to implement at greater speed what has been decided by governments,” he said. "Huge commitments have been made, but actual implementation has been rather slow.”
The EU and US have agreed approaches to help banks get rid of impaired assets in a bid to get banks lending again.
The ECB had provided “unlimited liquidity” to the financial sector by expanding the balance sheet of the euro system by 70%.
“The economic and financial situation are characterised by synchronised decline in economic activity associated with collapse of world trade and growing signs of an adverse feedback loop between the real economy and the financial sector,” he said.
Papademos also defended the reluctance of EU governments to agree additional economic stimulus measures. He said that eurozone countries had agreed a stimulus worth 2% of gross domestic product in 2009 and 2010 which he called a “substantial fiscal stimulus”.
He pointed out that automatic stabilisers, increased public spending on unemployment benefit as the number of jobless rose in a downturn, were stronger in Europe than in the US. “An appropriate fiscal stimulus need not rely so much on additional discretionary measures as elsewhere,” he said, referring to calls from the US for the EU to provide a greater stimulus.

( Retirado do jornal holandês EUROPEAN VOICE - 26.03.09 )

Manifestantes protestam contra a crise nas grandes cidades europeias

 

'Enterro do capitalismo' em Berlim

Milhares de pessoas vãos às ruas de várias cidades europeias em defesa de uma "economia de mercado mais justa". As manifestações marcam o início de uma série de protestos que antecedem a cúpula do G20 em Londres.

 

Neste sábado (28/03), mais de 10 mil pessoas (segundo a polícia local) protestaram em Berlim contra a atual crise econômica. Segundo os organizadores da passeata, havia 30 mil manifestantes nas ruas da cidade.

Os manifestantes exibiam faixas com ataques ao capitalismo e carregavam um caixão negro com rosas vermelhas em cima, numa celebração simbólica de um enterro do mesmo. Vários participantes dos protestos traziam máscaras com os semblantes dos presidentes norte-americano, Barack Obama, e francês, Nicolas Sarkozy, bem como do premiê britânico Gordon Brown.

A manifestação foi pacífica até perto do seu final, quando aconteceram confrontos entre alguns ativistas e a polícia diante da Prefeitura Vermelha, na Alexanderplatz.

"Por cima de cadáveres"

Manifestantes em FrankfurtEm Frankfurt, a polícia registrou a presença de mais de 9 mil manifestantes, que carregavam faixas com os dizeres "não vamos pagar pela sua crise". Os organizadores dos protestos defendem um sistema econômico "mais justo e ecologicamente mais suportável" e atacam o saneamento do setor financeiro "às custas da grande maioria".

Jochen Nagel, presidente do sindicato dos professores no estado de Hessen, onde está localizada a cidade de Frankfurt, defendeu uma maior tributação para os mais ricos. Nas faixas dos manifestantes estavam estampados dizeres como "parem com a loucura dos bônus" e "nosso sistema econômico passa por cima de cadáveres".

Vaias para Brown

'Primeiro as pessoas': lema dos protestos em LondresEm Londres, os protestos aconteceram na região central da cidade em direção ao Hyde Park, com a presença de cerca de 15 mil pessoas, segundo informações oficiais. Sob o lema "put people first" (ponham as pessoas em primeiro lugar), a manifestação contou com a participação de mais de 150 sindicatos e grupos de ativistas e ambientalistas.

A presença da polícia foi ostensiva, embora não tenha havido nenhum confronto. Os manifestantes vaiaram abertamente quando a passeata passou em frente à sede do governo. O secretário-geral da central sindical britânica TUC, Brendan Barber, afirmou, contudo, que nas manifestações deste sábado "não há lugar para incitação à desordem".

No Reino Unido, houve um aumento de mais de 2 milhões de pessoas registradas como desempregadas, enquanto os preços dos imóveis caíram 11% no último ano. A produção industrial apresenta a pior derrocada dos últimos anos desde 1981.

Início de uma série

Os protestos, que aconteceram também em várias outras cidades europeias, como Paris e Viena, por exemplo, marcam o início de uma série de manifestações que deverão ocorrer nesta semana até o início do encontro de cúpula do G20, marcado para a próxima quinta-feira (02/04).

Retirado de Deutsche Welle - 28/03/2009

Demitido pela Crise

Após a queda dos governos da Islândia e da Letónia, o primeiro-ministro húngaro, Ferenc Gyurcsany, propôs demitir-se, dia 21, durante o congresso do Partido Socialista que lidera.

O anúncio de Gyurcsany apanhou de surpresa os delegados que tinham acabado de o reconduzir na liderança do partido por 85 por cento dos votos. Mas o primeiro-ministro húngaro decidiu lançar a toalha ao tapete e no seu discurso final admitiu não estar em condições de encontrar uma solução para o país. «Compreendo que sou um obstáculo à cooperação política necessária para aplicar as reformas. Espero ser o único obstáculo, já que vou eliminá-lo». A capitulação de Gyurcsany não é porém de estranhar dada a situação desesperada em que se encontra a economia, após quase duas décadas de destruição do aparelho produtivo construído pelo socialismo e da entrega do país à especulação capitalista e a políticas de casino para captar investidores estrangeiros. Mas não foi nenhum rebate de consciência que levou Gyurcsany a colocar o seu lugar à disposição. Este socialista que traiu os ideais comunistas para prosseguir a sua alegre carreira política ao serviço do capital, sabe que é cada vez mais contestado pelo povo. No poder desde 2004, as sondagens apenas lhe atribuem 23 por cento de apoio, a mais baixa quota de popularidade de sempre no país. Procurando sobreviver politicamente, Gyurcsany resguarda-se por enquanto na liderança do partido e propõe que o Parlamento aprove uma moção de censura «construtiva» de modo a evitar a convocação de eleições antecipadas, sancionando o novo primeiro-ministro que deverá ser escolhido no dia 5 de Abril. Em tempo de vacas magras, Gyurcsany não vê possibilidade de ganhar as eleições legislativas de 2010 e entende que o melhor é sair de cena, para que sejam outros a aplicar as draconianas medidas anti-sociais prescritas pelo FMI como condição para salvar o país da bancarrota.

( Retirado do jornal português Avante! - 26.03.09 )