Sunday 16th March
- The European Central Bank won’t have to disclose how Greece used derivatives to hide its debt after the European Union’s top court quashed efforts to make the information public
- Police in an eastern German state will reintroduce border controls between Poland and Germany due to rising crime rates, seven years after checks at crossings were scrapped.
Monday 17th March
- Portuguese construction sector slumped 14.5% in 2013. What recovery?
Tuesday 18th March
- EU’s bank, the European Investment bank, is to lend Greece another €1 billion
- European Investment Bank deputy head refuses to resign despite being investigated over a €140 million fraud
- Unemployment in Bulgaria climbed close to 13% in 2013
- EU’s telephone regulator fails to convince budgetary control MEPs that its management of EU funds was in order in 2012
- Romania invests least amount of money in justice system out of EU states
- Slovakian court upholds the state’s right to eject undesirables without the need for a conviction
- Vestas, world’s largest wind turbine builder, is facing a multimillion compensation payout to unhappy investors
- EU/ECB/IMF ‘Troika’ are said to have reached a deal with Greece and are about to hand over another €10 billion to them
- Immigration has cost the UK £140 billion since 1995 according to a new report from Migration Watch
- EU hands €180 million to Jordan
- If you don’t believe that the UK has an immigration problem why is Dover the busiest passenger port in the EU?
- Spain’s Foreign Minister says that the Catalan independence referendum is as illegal as Crimea’s
- Votes for sale in Euro elections priced between €15 and €150 in Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania
- German investor confidence slumps again for the third month in a row. What recovery?
- Danish Opposition calls for rearming against Russia
- Polish opposition leader Kaczynski says he would seek EU funding for families who have a 2nd child if he wins in 2015
- The EU prepares to pour more money into Kosovo
Wednesday 19th March
- 500 migrants jump the fence into Spain in single largest border raid to date
- Catalonia’s tax on the internet begins this summer. Funds raised to subsidise film students
- One in every two Greek SMEs is facing the threat of closure in 2014, while for very small businesses the risk concerns two out of three
- EU gives €800 million to Ireland and €1.8 billion to Portugal
- EU releases how €3.2 billion in emergency funds was distributed since 2002 – Germany got 6 times more than the UK
- Now EU Associate member and potential EU member Moldova has a breakaway state that wants to join Russia
- Unemployment payments to eastern European immigrants in Denmark increases TEN FOLD since 2008
- The Portuguese treasury only managed to pay off €50 million on Tuesday out of a €8.2 billion bond line it has to repay up until October 2015.
- IMF’s Lagarde to be questioned in court over her involvement in €400 million state payments made to a businessman in the ‘Tapie Affair’
- The EU’s bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending €50 million to Garanti Bank of Romania to invest in SMEs
- The EU cannot raise its army of 1,000 troops to send to the Central African republic
Thursday 20th March
- The EU gives money to make two separate Romanian films
- The EU finances 17 films in the EU this year. None from the UK.
- Moldova urges EU to fast-track integration
- Venice voting in non-official poll to split from Italy as forerunner to referendum. 60% said to be in favour
- The Bank of England states “the repayment of bank loans destroys money”. No wonder we are in such a mess
- In a FABULOUS use of resources, the EU is about to announce its “Tree of the Year 2014”
- Over 75% of revenues generated by European capital markets and investment banks are generated in the UK
- The EU hands over €6.5 billion to a group of Asian countries
- The Bank of England now implicated in currency fixing scandal
- EU states will have to build new refuelling/recharging stations for cars, trucks and ships using alternative fuels
- Bulgaria’s grey economy as much as 40%
Friday 21st March
- EU announce Winners of 2014 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards. €10,000 each to the winners.
- Italy begins its break up as 65% of those polled want independence for Venice, in non-official vote that has had 750,000 votes so far
- Over one third of Dutch homeowners are in negative equity. Up from 13% in 2008.
- Support for Catalan independence is up to 60%, creating massive problems for the Spanish Govt who has insisted they cannot secede
- Ukraine & EU Sign Political Part of Association Agreement, in a move sure to make tensions mount