Mario Mariniello, a competition policy expert at Bruegel, analyses the impact of the EU's fines in the cartels operating within Europe. The findings of his latest paper, "Do European Union fines deter price fixing?" show that the profits of cartels can sometimes be higher than the fines imposed by the Commission. Read more
16th May 2013
Bruegel scholar Zsolt Darvas argues Slovenia does not currently need a bail-out. After Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, "it is very fashionable to ask who the next domino will be," he says. "But public debt and unemployment are not comparable to those in troubled countries." Read more
22nd April 2013
On Friday April 19th 2013, Bruegel fellows Jean Pisani-Ferry, André Sapir and Guntram Wolff presented a study evaluating the Troika's recent programmes in Europe. The presentation took place at the Peterson Institute in Washington, D.C. Read more
3rd April 2013
Ahead of Thursday's Governing Council meeting of the European Central Bank, Bruegel's Deputy Director Guntram Wolff recommends to further cut the interest rates to tackle the deteriorating economic situation in Europe. He also discusses the ECB's role in Cyprus, judging that the institution was wrong not to provide liquidity after the final deal to restructure the banking system had been agreed. Wolff argues that capital controls should not have happened and instead, the ECB should have provided liquidity to replace deposits that were fleeing the country. Read more
15th March 2013
Zsolt Darvas presents the main arguments of his latest Policy Contribution: "Should non-euro area countries join the Single Supervisory Mechanism?"
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6th March 2013
Following a conference about the global economic situation organized in Tokyo by Bruegel, PIIE and IIES, Jean Pisani-Ferry and Guntram Wolff review Japan's new monetary policy. Read more
1st March 2013
The renewed signs of Europe's economic weakness raised by the Commission's economic forecasts for 2013, the stark contract within the euro area between a prosperous North and a struggling South, and growing social and political resentment in the countries most affected are triggering a new policy debate. Is austerity working?
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15th February 2013
Benedicta Marzinotto, Research Fellow at Bruegel, interprets the EU budget deal for 2014-2020. Marzinotto analyses its usefulness for growth, the benefits of its flexibility, and what may change after the European Parliament's intervention. Read more
8th February 2013
Mario Mariniello, Bruegel's competition policy expert, talks about his latest publication, called "Standard-setting abuse: the case for antitrust control."
He highlights the need for the European Commission to create a consistent, well targeted and efficient policy towards patent abuse in standards settings. According to his research, standards entail an anti-competitive risk and the EC is right to intervene. But the current approach risks ignoring a number of potential sources of harm for consumers. An approach with a wider scope of action should therefore be implemented. Read more
1st February 2013
Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, talks about his country's role in the European Union. Together with MEP Elmar Brok and Bruegel Fellow André Sapir, he spoke at an event called "Deepening the EMU in a stable and coherent EU -- how to proceed?" held at Bruegel's offices in Brussels and chaired by the think-tank's, Chairman Jean-Claude Trichet. Read more