The Euro Zone Summit on 12-13 July 2015 forced the Greek Syriza-led government into accepting practically all demands of the other euro zone states. In return, the Greek government received the prospect that negotiations on renewed credit programme might commence and the vague promise that longer grace and payment periods on the Greek debt might be considered. An analysis by Joachim Becker
The measures that are envisaged brush the result of the Greek referendum on 5 July aside which had shown a resounding “no” to further austerity. The democratic rejection of the Troika policies in Greece made the euro member states to confront the Greek government with even stricter demands than in the past. Within two days, the Greek parliament is to pass a Value-Added Tax reform that will put an additional burden on the poor, first steps of a pension reform plus the institution of quasi-automatic spending cuts in case that certain budget targets are not met. Within another week, the parliament is to pass inter alia a law on the reorganisation resp. closing down of banks in trouble that will curtail the options to deal with a banking crisis ...
At first glance, everyday life seems not to have changed in Istanbul. The streets are congested; people hurry to the ferry or the bus. For weeks, there has been no terror attack. Nevertheless, there are some visible changes. There are much more policemen in the streets. In some days, the Istiklal Caddesi, the main shopping street on the European side, seems to be under a state of siege. At every street corner, there is police van with the blue light switched on.
Recent disturbing trends in international finance have particularly problematic implications, especially for developing countries. The new United Nations report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2017 (WESP 2017), is the only recent report of a multilateral inter-governmental organization to recognize these problems, especially as they are relevant to the financing requirements for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Trump government signals unequivocally the end of international US hegemony. An international hegemon is able to define rules that find relatively broad acceptance internationally and plays a role in safeguarding international economic stability. The Trump government announced measures that go against the present economic rules while not proposing new ones.
The global deficit in quality jobs and deteriorating economic conditions in a number of regions threatens to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction, warns a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) 2016.
Weakening of workers' rights in most regions is being aggravated by severe crackdowns on freedom of speech and assembly, according to the 2016 Global Rights Index. Restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly, including severe crackdowns in some countries, increased by 22%, with 50 out of 141 countries surveyed recording restrictions.