Ireland's painful adjustment

By: Alan Ahearne, NUI Galway

After the benefits of EMU, now come the costs.

My three point plan for the G20

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Coordinate a stimulus, pool the euro area's seats at the IMF, and start thinking about exchange rates.

Germany has another Landesbank

German governments injects €10bn in Commerzbank for a 25% stake; German exports fell by over 10% during November; France emulates Germany’s attempts to set up a fund to support credit constrained companies; Merkel and Sarkozy have a tough message for Obama: don’t block our attempts to reregulate finance; how about this for a record: the Bank of England, meanwhile, cut interest rates to the lowest level since 1694.

Sarkozy's coup d'etat

By: Wolfgang Münchau

Events are moving in Sarkozy's favour. New banking bailouts, and a euro area wide stimulus package will have to be negotiated at euro area level.

The case for a European rescue plan

By: Wolfgang Münchau

The case for an EU wide rescue plan is overwhelming: to prevent dangerous spillovers, to ensure adequate funding, and to prevent a collapse of EMU.

How to deal with Spain and Ireland?

By: Wolfgang Münchau

This is possibly the worst time to bash the ECB. The biggest risk to the euro area aera economy is a meltdown of the Spanish economy, something which the ECB can do nothing about. We need to consider a quid-pro-quo IMF style liquidity injection into the Spanish economy in exchange for assurances on policy changes.

The French EU presidency - a bumpy road ahead

By: Daniela Schwarzer, SWP and Eurozone Watch

Since the Irish voted against the Lisbon Treaty, France’s political priorities for its six months EU Presidency seem overly ambitious and slightly out of touch with the overall political situation in the EU. The success of the French presidency depends crucially on Sarkozy's capacity to moderate a way out of the current deadlock situation and to refrain from polarising his allies.