- German Constitutional Court rules in favour of Lisbon Treaty, but requires a change in an accompanying German law to strengthen parliament;
- Verdict is welcomed by EU leaders, but contains a number of bullets, including a stipulation about the finality of European integration;
- Strengthens the role of the German parliament, and the role of the German Constitutional Court;
- Verhoftstadt is elected president of ALDE, the European liberals;
- Tony Blair is the front-runner for the presidency of the European Council;
- French infrastructure projects often run into opposition from local councils;
- Jean Marc Vittori says economists have a hard time at dinner parties;
- Spanish house prices fall by 10%, and have more to fall;
- The latest Case-Shiller index for the US suggests house prices are falling, but not as fast as before;
- UK house prices, by contrast, seem to have stabilised for now;
- Wolfgang Munchau says that debt aversion is prevalent in all strata of German society;
- Janet Yellen says don't worry about inflation; deflatoin is still the bigger problem.
Comment and Analysis
By: Wolfgang Munchau
France and Germany are heading into opposite directions in fiscal policy. An interesting experiment.
