Breaking up the Euro would empower the nationalists

(*) A shorter version of this article was published on 17/11/2016 in Politico Europe. There is a strong consensus among Anglo-American economists that the Euro was, and remains, a bad idea. It has proven to be a failure, they say, and should be dismantled. Criticism is pervasive across the spectrum, from Martin Feldstein on the […]

Brexit: a sentence that does not change (excessively) the horizon

(*) Published on 10/11/2016 in The Diplomat in Spain. Also available the Spanish version: Brexit: una sentencia que no cambia (en exceso) el horizonte On Thursday, the awaited -and severe- court sentence forcing the Government of Theresa May to listen to the British parliament facing the activation of article 50 of the TEU was made […]

English are the exception — Europeans dig the EU

(*) Published on 11/7/2016 in Politico. In the wake of the Leave campaign’s shocking win in the U.K.’s In/Out referendum, commentators have painstakingly defended Britain’s rampant Euroskepticism as part of a larger trend. They point to the wave of discontent sweeping through the Union, from Sweden and Denmark in the north, to France, the Netherlands […]

Brexit for Spain: many problems and one opportunity

(*) Published on 27/6/2016 in The Diplomat in Spain. At the moment, David Cameron must be regretting the  promise of referendum he made  in January 2013 and that has only allowed him to enjoy 13 months of absolute majority.  This decision has not only made him fall, it also threatens to trigger an internal  battle […]

Brussels attacks: Challenge to Security and Coexistence

(*) Published on 23/3/2016 in El País (in Spanish). Original version in Spanish: Atentados en Bruselas: Desafío a la seguridad y la convivencia Belgium stopped bombing Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS) targets in Iraqi territory at the end of June 2015. The country had joined the international coalition against the Jihadist organisation in […]

Limited but non negligible consequences of Cameron’s agreement for Spain

(*) Published on 16/3/2016 in Europp (LSE blog). Internal tensions pushed David Cameron to launch the risky wager of undertaking a referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017. Leaders only use this mechanism, which often has a polarising effect on the electorate, when they are sure of attaining a clear victory. Following this […]

China has changed the global economic order – with the help of Europe

(*) Published on 14/1/2016 in People’s Daily (in Chinese). Ten years ago China was increasingly seen as an important economic power. It had just overtaken France to become the fifth biggest economy, was reaching almost $1 trillion in foreign reserves and was slowly learning how to successfully operate within the WTO framework. A decade later, […]

The institutional limits to the internationalisation of the RMB

(*) Published on 15/1/2016 in Beyondbrics, FT Blog. The recent inclusion of the renminbi (RMB) in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) is a major victory for the People’s Bank of China, which for years has claimed that the Chinese currency deserves to be in the club of top reserve currencies. It is also a […]

A new era of dialogue and consensus in Argentina

(*) Published on 14/12/2015 in The World Post (The Huffington Post). Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s new president, was the candidate standing for Cambiemos, the broad center-left and center-right coalition that defeated Cristina Kirchner in the recent elections. What Macri defeated above all was an ugly, black and white approach to politics that rejected bipartisan solutions and […]