EU fiscal rules, on hiatus since the Covid recession, are about to restart. Recession is unavoidable. France and Germany take a leading role the action.
Eurozone Fiscal Rules
Eurozone fiscal rules have been suspended since 2020 but have been reinstated for 2024.
The rules limited budget deficits to 3% of gross domestic product and public debt to 60% of GDP.
The New Eurozone Rules keep intact the above limits but set a revised process to achieve them.
On December 20, 2023, the Council of the European Union finally reached an agreement on fiscal rules, to be discussed with the European Parliament in the first quarter of 2024 and enforced months later. Ultimately, the new EU fiscal rules represent a compromise between the fiscal hawks of central and northern Europe, led by Germany, and the southern countries, led by France, which insisted on the need to avoid a return to austerity in the European Union (that could cause a recession) and on the need to allow fiscal space to invest in climate transition, defense, and industrial policy.
The new rules maintain the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) from the previous rules, although some aspects have been clarified. The EDP will be triggered by both an excessive deficit and excessive debt, and in assessing it the commission and the council will consider, among other elements, “government debt challenges,” the size of the deviation, progress in the implementation of reforms and investments and, “where appropriate, increases in government defense spending.”
Q1: What do the new rules say?
A1: The new fiscal rules are based on an a prior assessment of the sustainability of each country’s fiscal strategy based on a debt sustainability analysis. This classifies countries by risk levels through a transparent and jointly agreed methodology.
If either of the two targets (deficit or debt) is not met, the European Commission intervenes. It creates a fiscal adjustment plan to bring the member state back towards compliance. This is known as the “technical path,” which will take the form of “national medium-term structural fiscal plans” with a duration of four years, extendable to seven years if certain reforms or investments are carried out.
Q2: What are the new rules and safeguards?
A2: To ensure fiscal adjustment, the EU Council has established the application of several safeguards or conditions applicable to any structural fiscal plan. First, a minimum annual structural deficit reduction rate of 0.4 percent, which may be limited to 0.25 percent if the country is undertaking reforms and investments within a seven-year plan. This minimum reduction will be more demanding, 0.5 percent, if the member state is subject to an EDP. Second, the so-called deficit resilience safeguard forces all countries to reduce their structural deficit even after the 3 percent rule is met, down to a structural deficit of 1.5 percent, to create a fiscal cushion for times of difficulty. Third, the “debt sustainability safeguard,” which concerns the pace of public debt reduction requires that debt at the end of the adjustment period should represent, as a percentage of GDP, an average annual reduction of 0.5 percent for countries with debt between 60 percent and 90 percent of GDP and 1 percent for countries with debt above 90 percent, although it will only apply when the deficit has fallen below 3 percent.
The EU is Two Downgrades of French Debt from Another Debt Crisis
Please consider Guns or Trees or Factories
We want to help Ukraine fight the Russians; become less dependent on China; re-industrialize; invest in climate policy; and cope with the demographic shock. We have not done the math.
What’s happening in Germany right now should serve as an early warning indicator of what happens when you are trying to do too much at the same time. It is the first country to hit the hard budget constraint. This is because Germany has tighter fiscal rules than others. A ruling by the German constitutional court in November enforced those rules in the strictest possible manner. Elsewhere, the EU’s own fiscal rules are also kicking back in this year. So far, governments have not taken them very seriously. But that will change for next year’s budget.
The French government ran a fiscal deficit of 4.9% in 2024, with no real fiscal consolidation in sight. We could be a couple of downgrades of French government debt away from another sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone. With Giorgia Meloni, Italy has a prime minister who succeeded avoiding the radar screens of the bond market vigilantes. But her government is also not addressing the fundamental problem of the Italian economy – the lack of productivity growth. Austerity now beckons everywhere.
You can wrap yourself in a Ukrainian flag. But you cannot help. On top of that, there is a consensus among the European NATO members that they need to spend more on defense. Germany has been struggling to meet the NATO defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP – prompting Donald Trump to make the threat that he would not protect Europe from an attack by Russia.
The west is confronted with more or less foreseeable fiscal shocks – on defense spending, on ageing populations, global trade and subsidies wars – and on climate change.
Germany’s opposition, the CDU/CSU, has already started breaking out of the Green policy consensus in the EU by opposing key planks of the EU and the German Green policy agenda, including the EU’s nature restoration law and Germany’s own domestic heating bill.
Until a few years ago, Germany basked in the delusion that it would become a global leader in green technologies. We now know that this is not so. China is the champion of the car battery and solar technology. The US Inflation Reduction Act is also luring green producers away from Europe.
Germany is the canary in the coalmine – the country where the various fiscal collisions kicked in early. But Germany is not unique.
European countries may choose different responses. Some may try to raise taxes. Some may try to get away with less defense spending than others. Most will reduce Green investments. One way or the other, austerity is coming to a country near you.
Eurozone Fiscal Brakes Are About to Kick In
The French government ran a fiscal deficit of 4.9% in 2024. The rule is 3.0%.
This is why France argued loudly to not return to the old rules.
On a Debt-to GDP basis, France is in even worse shape. “France Government debt accounted for 111.7% of the country’s Nominal GDP in Sep 2023, compared with the ratio of 111.8% in the previous quarter.”
On a debt-to-GDP basis, Germany is 66.1%, Greece 173%, Italy 142%, and Belgium 104% according to Trading Economics.
The target is 60%. Good luck with that.
Congrats to Estonia at 18.5% and Ireland at 44.4%.
Zero Chance to Hit Targets
I see no realistic chance for France, Greece, Italy, or Belgium to hit fiscal targets within four years, or even 10.
Those countries will likely make a token effort. The first thing headed into the ash heap of history will be green policies. That will have the EU greens and Biden hopping mad.
The EU’s 2% of GDP spending for NATO will also go on the ash heap. And that will have Trump hopping mad.
Forget about EU funding for Ukraine. The US will be on its own.
Those are the low-hanging fruit items. Then what? Tax hikes?
Even baby steps towards the fiscal targets will kick off a severe recession.
Germany’s Industrial Superpower Days are Over
Meanwhile, please note Germany’s Industrial Superpower Days are Over
German industrial production started its decline in 2017. An energy crisis and Green madness put on the finishing touches.
Couldn’t have happened to nice people
I’m amazed the eastern EU states put up with this nonsense.
The European institutions can deal with it. Extend and pretend. Debt can be monetized.
Lost in all of the noise on this site is that the euro area’s fiscal position is much better than the US fiscal position.
Only if you can aggregate all the members, as the European-integration supporters would like.
But the United States of Europe will never happen now. Merkel has gone.
Reality is that Germany, with significant support for AfD, will never agree to common debt responsibility.
Most likely outcome is a bank run (my bet starting from Italy), too big for the Bundesbank to counter.
So Germany withdraws from the EUR-system, introducing a new-DEM.
Then all Hell breaks loose, maybe civil war in Spain.
Watson
Go and short the euro then. Put your money where your … is.
I have no idea when the EUR will fail.
So a better strategy is to simply stand ready to buy the new-DEM (as soon as it can be bought) against the EUR.
And an even better strategy, if the circumstances arise:
I believe that if Germany withdraws from the EUR, then Italy may well be forced to introduce a new-ITL.
If that happens, shorting the new-ITL against the new-DEM looks very attractive indeed.
Watson
Biden put the nail in the coffin when he had Nordstream blown up. China has major real estate and stock market problems. Right now the USA is the best looking horse in the glue factory
Yes, in France we face a “a couple of downgrades of French government debt” in one or two month.
This is explained in
link to youtube.com
(in French, sorry)
“Recession, unemployment, debt: will France cause a global crisis?”
The Ministry of Finance has forecast that debt repayment will be the primary source of state spending, ahead of education and the army, in 2027. And this was before the inevitable increase in borrowing rates. I wonder if the incessant talk of impending war has something to do with it. Will it be the Russians’ fault?
About 65 % of the working class in France are directly or indirectly working for and paid by’ La Patrie’ that s ALL there is to be said about France’s ‘healthy’ economic plight ….A war is more than welcome , in other words ….
“In a compelling guest piece by American historian H.A. Scott Trask, various economic myths are scrutinized and debunked through insightful historical analysis.
The article delves into #10 prevalent misconceptions, providing a nuanced understanding of economic principles.”
link to schiffgold.com
For sure Ukraine is the cause of all problems worldwide.
What did we even do to find scapegoats prior to 2 yrs ago?
The media had Trump to blame
I thought Russia will be in severe recession.
The entirety of Progressivism is nothing but an endless series of hobgoblins.
Just in recent years; we’ve had “terrorists,” “Isis”, “Mexicans”, “Al Queada”, “Scary Chinese Childlaborers”, “Saddam”, “Iran”, “Branch Davidians”, “Taliban”,”Houthies”,”Putin”, “Cartels” and I’m sure plenty more.
All imaginary, as all Hobgoblins are, of course. But that’s never stopped idiots from neither fearmongering over them, nor falling for it.
The only entities you can count on to not be cast in any Hobgoblin role, are Goverment, The Fed, Ambulance Chasers and the current leeching classes; who are enriched and empowered by nothing whatsoever other than those. Never mind that those account for; well within roundoff; absolutely all the issues currently experienced by Americans.
Instead of blaming Ukraine, I think it would be more accurate to blame US meddling in the affairs of other countries. I would start with Victoria Nuland and her merry band of neocons who encouraged the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine in 2014. Nuland has held senior posts in the State Department in the Obama and Biden administrations. You can read more about her on Wikipedia.
Germany has refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq…The UK : England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland are flooded by people from Bangladesh. Ireland is a separate entity. Ireland has more Islamist than in Londonistan.
“Eurozone fiscal rules have been suspended since 2020 but have been reinstated for 2024.”
Where would things be if they hadn’t been suspended? If no one had listened to what draconian China did, or Ferguson’s phony balony numbers? Never let the opportunity to manufacture a crisis go to waste. Countermeasure is a military term, not a medical term.
Covid was such a badly-managed crisis that it will go down in the history books on not what to do.
A simulated crisis to destabilize countries via binge spending.
Most countries in Europe are already over the 2% target. Collectively the European Nato members hit it late last year and are still increasing. 20% of those budgets are for equipment. Virtually everyone in power recognizes that with Russia acting the way it is, rigid fiscal discipline will have to wait. Macron only said out loud what every other European leader was thinking. So Green is out as well as fiscal discipline. Europe is finally doing what Trump, said they should do so Trump can take a victory lap.
Louis XIV, alias Macron, le nouveau Roi Soleil ! I d even say, the new Napoleon, but that would be too much of a honour to a fckn IDIOT , Napoleon was at least a smart strategist…..till he decided to attack Russia of course. Will history repeat itself ? Sure, it always does , after all we re just as primitive as thousands of years ago, izza in our fckn genes .. not me, but thats why most idiots like football too !
Belgium belongs to France and don’t you forget it. It is French since Charlemagne. Germany is French too since Charlemagne as well as Italy.
Flanders would actually ve been be better off being part of Holland ! , La Wallonie, on the other hand, should, and they would if it wasn t for the financial support from Flanders, go back to france …. BUT , What if la Wallonie really WANTED to be part of ( bankrupt )La France and Flemish Nazis decided to prevent it by murdering and terrorizing the wallones ? Hey , that s exactly what s going on in Whorekraine , innit ? ! You lucky to have a belgian friend telling a unworldly ignorant yank about historical geopolitical issues ,aren t you ? No,need to thank me, we re friends after all, arn t we …
No. The Dutch are Protestant and the Flemish are Catholic. On top of it the Flemish stayed with the Hapsburg Empire with the Dutch fought and won their freedom so they would not be welcome in the Netherlands. That’s why it was kicked out of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1830. Belgium as a country didn’t exist until the British cut it off from France after Waterloo to protect the English Channel from the French. They even had to jump through hoops to find a noble who agreed to be the king of the new kingdom. Well at least his family was able to make a ton of money from the Belgium Congo.
For Ukraine, Russia may not like it but it is a separate country now and they hate Russia’s guts.
nononono…..Crimea was, is, and will ALWAYS be Russian, with at least a 80% consent of its people ! ….Just like the Donbass, although Putin would ve agreed with a neutral status on the latter ,….if it hadn t been for a fckn , US bribed , useful idiot, named fckn Boris Johnson and its trigger happy, good ole times worshipping, now going down the crapper, UK ….
Crimea belongs to the Ostrogoths and their language was spoken there until recently.
I doubt that Russia would agree to give up control of Crimea unless it lost a nuclear war with NATO. Crimea has Russia’s only warm water port and became part of the Russian Empire (by conquest from the Ottoman Empire) in the days of Catherine the Great.
You Doug, intelligent as you are, do realise that a war industry, like you seem to be promulgating , is going to be at the expense of social wellfare and the general well being of the ‘god in France’ society you are living in and taking advantage of, , don t you ?
Well if Putin hadn’t invaded Ukraine with a big army then everything would have been better, don’t you agree? Things like that makes everyone nervous because they feel they might be next.
It is actually NATO that s been invading Russia ‘s sphere of influence for decades now …. Btw, so far we havent seen Russia s ‘big army’ yet.. Don t push for it….
You mean Russia sees its neighbors as vassals? What if they don’t agree?
“Well if Putin hadn’t invaded Ukraine with a big army then everything would have been better..”
For Ukraine.Or, more specifically: For those Ukranians not more fond of Putin’s gang than the Kyiv one.
As for the Tuvaluans, Plutans, Americans, Andromedans and French? Their main problem is that at least some of them are being robbed so much their local Macrons can even afford to be aware of what Russians and Ukranians are dorking around with a thousand miles; to lightyears; away.
i em afreda my inglis izza notta goodenoffa to ondestand al dissa …
Possibly, but I doubt it.
There are two ways to become such a Superpower:
Germany’s problems are mostly down to a combination of Merkel and Green nonsense, and an over-reliance on Russian energy.
Merkel’s gone, the Green nonsense is in retreat, and Germany will be quietly diversifying its energy sources – and probably ensuring v. large stockpiles held on German territory.
But 2. above is still true.
Watson
“Germany’s problems are mostly down to a combination of Merkel and Green nonsense, and an over-reliance on Russian energy.”
As well as; and this is the biggie: The ECB.
You’re not going to be world leading at anything for long, once all resources are redistributed, by debasement, away from productive people and enterprise; to instead be handed to nothing but negative talent, rent seeking leeches.
It probably seems hopelessly quaint by now; but even the US was once an industrial superpower. Then, ’71 happened, and hence we’re now just another third world dump where an ever shrinking leeching class; propped up by The Fed and Junta; is living comparatively high, off of robbing everybody else and absolutely nothing but exactly that.
Germany needs to leave the Euro. Ideally go all the way to Gold. But considering the (lack of) realistic competition, even just getting the old West Mark back, would do absolute wonders compared to the bottomless hole they are now sinking ever deeper into.
“We have not done the math.”
No one wants to do the math, except the CRT woke, where there is no wrong answer.
“One way or the other, austerity is coming to a country near you.”
Math always wins. ZH: “Top Canadian Pension Fund Sells Manhattan Office Tower For $1, Sparking Firesale Panic”
Germany definitely deserves the Noble Price of the most idiotic deluded insane nation of the fckn world ! Can somebody, (old Doug maybe) , explain to me WHY the fck a top industrialised nation would decide to go along with a self destructive policy imposed by a criminal warmonging nation called the US ??
PriZe… of course …..
It’s Nobel Prize and not Noble Price and somehow, I am not surprised at all at your error. Secondly, Germany decidedly doesn’t like Putin or Russia these days. That is a complete turnaround from a few years ago. Something like an invasion of a neighbor probably accounts for this change. Third of all, a young in shape guy like you who is deeply into the Viking ethos are a perfect candidate for conscription. Your warrior code will not allow to shirk your duty to you Lord and ring-giver. Much valor to be gained and plunder too!
It is ALL about one of the biggest banks in the world , DB, not having access to, US fckn Dollars if Germany doesn t play the ‘game’ , a couple of millions on some private bankaccounts being a bonus of course …WTF would you do ?
Well if you offer them Rubles, nobody wants them so Dollars it is.
I guarantee you can only wish to have my linguistic skills … FIve of them ! You ? I do apologise though,if that makes you feel superior, for the occasional or even multiple vocabularic/ortographic errors ….
Because Germany and NATO are vassal.
Germany is still suffering from an inferiority complex because of its loss in WWII. The Third Reich was supposed to last 1000 years but only lasted a little over 12!
How about the Europe countries accept the situation in Ukraine and sue for peace? The sanctions on Russia have hurt them way more than they’ve hurt Russia. To wit, the IMF last month affirmed that Russia is now the largest and fastest growing economy in Europe. And no, I’m not a Putin apologist or troll, so save the ad hominem attacks.
You didn’t check the IMF fine print on the growth numbers. Russia is now a war economy producing ammunition and rockets; and every dead Russian soldier adds to GDP the way the national accounts are done.
….France , UK , US, Japan…. to name juist a few of our morally and financially bankrupt societies with unsustainable social liabilities are , unlike Russia, merely kept afloat with out of the blue printed dough….VERY SUSTAINABLE , aint it ?!
Why do you assume I didn’t check the fine print? Every western economy is ramping up it’s war industry so your point is didactic and not relevant.
Higher defense spending and higher defense worker salaries is creating a bit of a boom in Russia. In Europe higher defense spending will have a similar effect. Spot gas prices are back to what they were before and German heavy industry, which was in the dumps is converting to making things that go boom so the picture is not all that bad except if you are on the wrong end of German things that go boom.
Did you even look at the charts in Mish’s post?
Charts are a snapshot of the past.
It is obvious you have no idea about Germany’s DEindustrialisation since 2022 ….
By official Russian statistics it is the largest economy in Europe and maybe the world.
Remeber when those in the east said Germany would freeze in winter? Didn’t happen.
have to admit Merika taking out Nord I & II is working
OF COURSE , that s why our mostly UNelected reptile brain EU leaders double down on a inevitable war with Russia ! We ARE at the end of our financial wits, my country , Belgium, the exemplary hub of European social welfare is fckn BANKRUPT ! WAR WOULD BE fckn GREAT to unload for once and fckn all, unsustainable financial liabilities, wouldn t it ? ! We are busily working on it and hundreds of million casualites would be postive for financial and even ecological issues, wouldn t it ?! Hey , NOBODY gives a fckn shit about you, we are fckn dispensable the near future will show ! ….ENJOY while you fckn can ! CHEERS !
I care just as much about Eurozone problems as they care about US problems which is exactly 0. Everyone needs to get back to defending their own turf and solving their own domestic issues.
Sonny, aint no fckn difference between all living above their fckn means, ex colonizing, western nations, US included, or in particular even,..and that s what you fckn pârt of , like it or not ….The future ain t bright , that s at least ONE thing you can be fckn sure of , thank gowd…
The West’s greatest strength was Unity. The U.S. itself was the same way…we do better untied. Gone….all gone. Prepare for a popular war, something to try an unite everyone in the West. Manufactured? Like the 1984 book/film? IDK what to believe anymore.
We’ve always been at war with Eurasia.
…I have read 1984 more than once, better than the film as usual… Endless war, nobody actually knows why or how ….pardon my f words all of t he time , I am f… mad… unlike most other msm brainwashed idiots around me, I see and feel what s going on….
War start because those who start them believe they will win them.
That must be the fckn US of A you talkin’ about ? Have a look in the three decades rear mirror, I d say…
..fck should ve said’ into’…..pardon me ‘gain
The EU economy affects the US. Ctizens of EU won’t be able to buy goods from the US if they don’t have a job or income.
Do we drink for a mishtalk recession call if it’s not the US? Asking for a friend.
The actual numbers seem almost trivial compared to headlines about ‘collapse’ or ‘deindustrialization’ including the numbers on recession. And as with Japan, debts can go on seemingly forever without much real day to day change. We need to see harder and specific reasonings as to why this financial corruption creates disaster – and when.
Take a look at the history of the Weimar Republic
You really don’t get the point. Zimbabwe or Argentina isn’t relevant either. It does no good to just keep repeating the same supposed examples over and over and things just go on as they have.
Japan exists as it does. The EU piles up debts and so does the US. China has crazy debt and is in deflation. How does Armageddon happen?
This was all purposeful. Let’s be clear that the Pipeline take-out was PLANNED and APPROVED by the Powers in the EU. On top of it, they have begun the GREEN campaigns to take out Nuclear and go in with SOLAR and WIND. The sun “don’t shine” in stinky crevices and if there is ONE HUGE STINKY CREVICE: it is GERMANY. A once-leading Manufacturing power house has been dismantled piece by piece. Then consider the EV mandates? WOW, what a mess.
If Trump would know anything about geography, he would have realized that all NATO countries that border Russia spend more than 2 percent of GDP on defense (and for very good reasons). Thus, Trump’s invitation to Putin to invade NATO countries that pay less than 2 percent is a geographic impossibility. So much for the IQ of MAGA’s standard bearer.
I’ll get concerned when the enemy moves past Pittsburgh to Youngstown.
You seem to be totally ignorant of the fact that Putin only invaded Ukraine when democrats were in the White House. He took Crimea in 2014 under Obama and Eastern Ukraine in 2022 under Biden. He didn’t touch Ukraine under Trump. So who exactly “invited” Russia to invade? Obama when he said Crimea was a red line then did nothing to respond would be the first invitation.
Putin didn’t have to invade under Trump because he had Trump in his pocket. And Putin most likely bet in 2020 that Trump will stay, but then had to face an US administration with an actual spine.
The simple solution is to halt progressive agendas. Green energy and immigrants are expensive.
and social security and medicare. these are the two biggest progressive agenda programs for the last 80 years.
There are differences over the decades, as our cultural norms and values change. I don’t think FDR was concerned about trans’ rights in the early 1930s.
Trans were put in mental institutions back then and prohibited from interacting with children.
Agreed. The sooner this house of cards sh- show collapses, the better.
The solution is to place a FINAL born date where these programs END. That “grandfathers” everyone before that born date and everyone after has a “mandatory can’t touch” SS and Medi-like self directed savings/investment program with VERY limited choices (very low beta/risk). A very firm/fixed program that puts the responsibility on the individual with hard rules so no excuses later in life. And the 1-2 generation shortfall in SS/Medicare that this causes gets absorbed 100% by the government for enacting such a pyramid ponzi to begin with and must be covered through exhaustive cuts in defense and every other area over a tight 20 year period.
The selfish and the elected don’t give a shit about future Gens. It MUST be forced upon them and the Govt doesn’t belong in the retirement/security/savings business at all. This whole thing was a disaster but what do you expect from governments?
Mike Jonson might kick the can down for one week, until mid Mar.
Kick The Can was an episode on The Twilight Zone.
Why should the West, after guaranteeing Ukrainians sovereignty in exchange for unilateral Ukrainian nuclear disarmament, not provide money and materiel to support a western democracy under attack/invasion by the likes of Vlad
Maybe because the US gov’t under Reagan and Sec. of State, James Baker, told Gorbachev and Eduard Shevardnadze that after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany, that it was promised that NATO would not expand to the east, towards Russia. Commencing with the Clinton Administration, over a dozen countries have been added to NATO, the majority of them to the east, towards Russia borders.
I think Russia wants a neutral Ukraine, a sort of demilitarized zone as a buffer between Russia and NATO countries.
“it was promised that NATO would not expand to the east” — Correct! I do not know why this fact is not more popularly known or examined. The collective West has proven itself to be steeped in duplicity.
That promise was never put it in writing. Talk is cheap.
If you believe this drivel, you haven’t listened to Tucker getting lectured by Putin on “Russian history” for a full hour.
If it’s not written down in a treaty it means nothing. All diplomats know that.
“A diplomat who says “yes” means “maybe”, a diplomat who says “maybe” means “no”, and a diplomat who says “no” is no diplomat.”― Talleyrand
Jack – because invading and destroying and murdering millions across 7 SOVEREIGN countries over 20 years has morally and fiscally bankrupted the “west” …… meaning the US and it’s NATO thug allies ARE THE BAD GUY and trying to project that on Vlad or Xi or anyone else is just silly to anyone with eyes wide open.
What’s your next question
Is “supporting western democracy” why Zelenski canceled elections, put Ukraine under martial law, and banned opposition political parties and media?
Northern Jasa massacre.
TA : SPY & QQQ [1M] RSI escaped recession territory for 15 years, since Feb 2009. The US is likely to enter a recession. That will start a global recession.
Link didn’t make it through…
link to infomigrants.net
Ironically, Germany is looking to Colombia to fix their labor shortages.
What about their surplus of super helpful muslim immigrants?
From the article you clearly didn’t read.
“Colombia is not the only country to be approached by Germany in its bid to foster greater cooperation on migration. In December, Faeser signed a migration agreement with Georgia. This also focused on the return of migrants who have received an order to leave, as well as the recruitment of skilled workers from the country.
That was followed in January 2024 by a similar agreement on close cooperation with Morocco. Deals are also planned with Kenya, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.“
“foreseeable fiscal shocks – on defense spending, on ageing populations, global trade and subsidies wars – and on climate change”. <snip> No, climate change isn’t a foreseeable fiscal shock…but stupid financial, food production, energy, and de-industrialization decisions supposedly done to ADDRESS this non-existent problem are a fiscal self-inflicted gunshot wound. Mike is right, the Greens will be mad. If it’s so “sustaaaaainable” and affordable to live that way, then go ahead, Greens, lead by example without force.
“a fiscal self-inflicted gunshot wound”
Right on! Buy gold and silver…while you still can.