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So far Bob has created 261 blog entries.

Eurozone’s ‘shadow debts’ start to become real ones, and threaten the Bundesbank with bankruptcy

Published by The Bruges Group on 29 June 2023

Published on 7th July 2023

The German Federal Audit Office (‘Bundesrechnungshof’) has warned that the Bundesbank may need a bailout due to losses on the EUR650 billion of bonds it bought as part of the Eurozone’s equivalent of Quantitative Easing. The Daily Telegraph reported on this on 26 […]

UK inflation is a threat to financial stability – time to conceal that with tried and tested Eurozone techniques

As published on IREF Europe

Published on 6th July 2023

UK Consumer Price Inflation remained at 8.7% in May. The Bank of England has raised the cost of overnight money to 5% via increases in its Base Rate, and has caused the cost of medium-term money to rise by selling off the bonds that it bought since […]

‘Digital pound’ will not be ‘central bank money’ if there are deductions or a settlement delay

‘Digital pound’ consultation

Published on 28th June 2023

We have sent an addendum to our previous response to this consultation on the ‘digital pound’.

Its message is that the ‘digital pound’ will not be a form of ‘central bank money’ if its so-called Distribution Model replicates what happens in the Visa and Mastercard ecosystems on three points.

The consultation […]

There cannot be a Euro ‘Central Bank Digital Currency’ – because there isn’t any Euro ‘Central Bank Money’

From the ECB’s website

Published on 27th June 2023

The European Central Bank is one of several institutions in the central banking world to be investigating the introduction of a ‘Central Bank Digital Currency’ or CBDC. They refer to it as the ‘digital euro’.

The above paragraphs are from their website section about the ‘digital euro’ project and […]

Leaving the EU meant dodging not just one bullet – but an annual volley

Published by Brexitwatch on 23rd June 2023

Published on 26th June 2023

We are well off out of the EU’s dysfunctional system, but much remains to be done to extinguish its vestiges in the UK.

You can download the pdf version of this article here.

Thanks to Brexit the UK has managed to dodge a bullet: the risk of […]

‘Plain Sailing for the ECB? Look out for the rocks!’

Published on 25th June 2023

I am delighted to feature here the recent paper by Barney Reynolds, ‘Plain Sailing for the ECB? Look out for the rocks!’, Politeia, 2023 – https://www.politeia.co.uk/plain-sailing-for-the-ecb/

You can download it here.

Barney was co-author with myself and Professor David Blake of Managing Euro Risk: Saving Investors from Systemic Risk (Politeia, 2020, ISBN 978-1-9163575-1-8).

His […]

Central banks should be wobbling in their drive towards Central Bank Digital Currencies

Published on 8th June 2023.

The underlying article was published by IREF Europe on 7th June 2023.

Introduction

Central banks have undertaken many investigations, pilots and proofs-of-concept into Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), proving little beyond the lack of a convincing case in their favour, but unearthing many risks, drawbacks and unanswered questions.

Recent material from Sweden, Japan, the […]

Totality of on- and off-balance sheet liabilities of the EU public sector is cloaked in obscurity

Total EU public sector debt is shrouded in mystery

Published on 29th May 2023

The totality of the public sector liabilities of EU and Eurozone member states is clouded in obscurity.  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 […]

The archipelago of EU public sector entities with borrowing powers has created a behemoth of liabilities

EU public sector entities harbour a debt mountain

Published on 26th May 2023

The EU member states contain numerous public sector entities with borrowing powers, and whose debts fall outside the definition of member state debt as reported by Eurostat. The responsibility for the debts tracks back, one way or another, to the member state but the […]

Sir John Redwood comments for The Bruges Group

Published on 24th May 2023

Sir John Redwood in conversation about the issues of EU and Eurozone debts as raised in my book ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability’.


Sir John Redwood on the debts of EU and Eurozone