Germany vs Italy (or Greece)

"New and old promises"
That's the title ("Neue und alte Versprechen" in German) of an article that appeared on August 25th on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Its writer, Tobbias Piller was or lives in Rome. This article has the potential of becoming a milestone for those bewildered by the Eurozone crisis. It explains -in a short text- the German understanding of European politics, economics and finance.

The Euro coin and Schengen

This Euro coin looks recently as an annoyance to Europeans. Not because it is not convenient, but because they think that it destroyed their life savings and welfare. Well it is not the currency, it is the politics.

Twenty years ago, as Europeans were traveling from country to country were annoyed by two things: having to stop often at the border for customs and identity controls and mostly for having to exchange money.The latter was annoying for several reasons. Currency exchange services were adding additional costs to everyone's pocket. This unnecessary expense didn't make a lot of sense. Europe has historically used a "single" currency several times and for very long periods. European citizens were aware of that and understood that it would be better to transact with a common currency.

Schengen Treaty: Extend or Rewind?

Recently Denmark announced rather noisy that border controls are being re-introduced! I bet the government would opt that Denmark were an island like Britain, so that they could anyway scrutinize ferries, passengers (on what criteria?) as well as merchandise. 

A short note on Europe

Since ancient times, Europe and Asia were by convention divided by Bosporus and the Aegean sea. This idiomorphic geography, where "West" and "East" had frequent confrontations being either military, economic, cultural, linguistic or religious was -once- a land of inspiration. Nowadays modern Greece seems to have created controversy and -at least- sparked the most intense economic and political debates worldwide.

Nevertheless this blog is not about Greece. Europe cannot get rid of Greece, exactly as Greece cannot get rid of the Europe or the "West". This blog is mostly about a global vision on European affairs meant cross-border. Not in an internationalistic or globalized way, but rather through a practical and humanitarian point of view.