July 10, 2013
Hardly noticed in Europe, India, China and Indonesia, the three biggest Asian countries, have most recently raised their gasoline prices. This unpopular measure had become necessary in view of rising world market prices, excessive budget subsidies or current account deficits. The persistent preaching by the IMF against fossil fuel subsidies might also have had some… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
July 9, 2013
Climate change keeps accelerating at an alarming rate. The 2013 global weather conditions demonstrate it once again, with summer temperatures in northern Alaska , floods in central Europe and India, algae pollution at Chinese beaches, forest fires in California etc. Humanity must put an end to climate change if it wants to survive in the… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
Hundreds of thousands Brazilian citizens have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest against high public transport fares, publicly financed football stadiums, inadequate investments in education and health and, last not least, rampant corruption. High transport fares have been the detonator of these unprecedented demonstrations in one of the most successful emerging countries;… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
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Development Policy, English, Global Europe, Sustainable Dev., transport |
July 4, 2013
It has become commonplace to blame austerity policies for their negative impact on employment. But such criticism tends to overlook that they may also remove privileges certain social groups have been enjoying over decades. Take two examples, the Belgian government and the EU. In its efforts to come to terms with its critically high public… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
A week before Croatia joined the EU 1st July 2014, its central bank governor, Boris Vujcic, expressed the desire to see his country become a euro-zone member as rapidly as possible. According to him this might be possible by 2017-18. At this juncture it appears absolutely premature to speculate on the entry of Croatia into… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
July 1, 2013
After many months of discussion, negotiators of Council, Parliament and Commission agreed to a compromise on June 24, to make stricter C02 car emission standards (95 g/km) mandatory by 2020.The finalisation of this compromise under the Irish presidency was considered a formality. But this turned out to be illusory. Under high-level pressure from Germany, the… » read more
Posted by Eberhard Rhein
Thoughts on energy and climate, the Mediterranean and whatever comes to mind.
