Net Zero is a perfect cover story for the EIB and EIF
Published on 25th April 2023
Net Zero is proving to be a good cover story for the European Investment Bank Group to create huge financial liabilities for the EU taxpayer. The amount looks set to exceed €1.2 trillion by the end of the current EU […]
Misleading account at the European Stability Mechanism
Published on 24th April 2023
The European Stability Mechanism is the main bailout mechanism behind the euro. Croatia recently joined it upon adopting the euro. The ESM uses two accounting tricks to make it appear larger and more robust than it actually is, disguising that it lacks the firepower to […]
EU supranationals harbour major risks for member states
Published on 21st April 2023
The structures of the EU and Eurozone have allowed the creation of a series of supranational entities that have taken on debts whilst having little financial strength of their own: their creditworthiness depends on guarantees or capital calls from member states, without the extent […]
Rating agencies discriminate against the UK
Published on 18th April 2023
Public credit rating agencies have not been even-handed in their treatment of the UK compared to EU member states, given the large shadow debts and contingent liabilities that weigh on the latter.
This is explained in the newly-released book ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and […]
Public credit rating agencies over-rate EU issuers
Published on 16th April 2023
The public credit ratings of EU/Eurozone member states are inflated, because the credit rating agencies have not factored in the significant shadow debts and other financial liabilities bearing down on the respective member state’s debt service capacity. Total financial liabilities are much higher than these […]
Germany cannot afford all the EU/Eurozone debts
Published on 15th April 2023
Global debt markets appear comfortable to absorb all of the bonds issued by the European Union for its €750 billion Coronavirus Recovery Fund on the basis that ‘it all tracks back onto Germany’. This is true: the guarantee structure behind the EU’s debts makes each […]
EU and Eurozone break global debt rules
Published on 14th April 2023
The EU and its member states position themselves as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order, but they break its financial rules in both letter and spirit by failing to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat – ‘General government gross […]
EU/Eurozone debts: a risk to global financial stability
Published on 13th April 2023
EU and Eurozone member states understated their debts at the end of 2021 by 44% of EU GDP and their total liabilities by 70%. This represents a major risk to global financial stability, as the understatement causes shortfalls of capital and collateral at the […]
EU and Eurozone are over-indebted
Published on 12th April 2023
EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat – ‘General government gross debt’ – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent […]
Published on 6th April 2023.
The underlying article was published by IREF Europe on 5th April 2023.
Introduction
How resilient is the global banking system? Are banks’ capital buffers now much larger than they were going into the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8, as authorities claim?
The buffers – called ‘Common Equity Tier 1’ (or CET1), ‘Tier 1 Capital’, […]