Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg – top of the pile in Europe according to the FT – today gave the EU committee of the Swedish Riksdag the lowdown ahead of Monday’s meeting of EU finance ministers (in some countries, lo and behold, ministers are actually accountable to their parliaments for what they say and do at EU summits). Amid all the gloom and doom, Borg outlined seven reasons to now be more optimistic about the state of the European economy:
1. The risk posed by Greece to European banks has been substantially reduced
2. The ECB has taken strong actions
3. The talks with private creditors over a Greek debt write-down are about to be concluded
4. The Italian government is pushing ahead with reforms
5. The Spanish government is pushing ahead with reforms
6. A solid recovery in the US
7. The Chinese government believes that its growth will remain relatively strong in 2012
Enough to believe that the worst is behind us? You decide.
Ps. For some Friday 'entertainment', you may wish to check this out - a rather odd sample of Swedish humour....
"Ir's being so cheerful that keeps me going" (Mona Lott, ITMA in WW2)
ReplyDelete"When the end is invevitable, relax and pretend it isn't happening" (me, 2012, updating Confucius)
"What - me worry?" Mad Magazine's main cartoon character 1960s onwards.
"If you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs - you clearly don't understand what is happening" (Anon)