Dialogue - Page 33 of 39

The ECB enters a new era in monetary policy

The European Central Bank (ECB) is to start buying up sovereign bonds from 9 March. Its president, Mario Draghi, believes that the programme of unprecedented monetary stimulus in the Eurozone will succeed in stemming the threat of deflation in the region. Next week will see an enormous machinery set in motion for the purchase of public debt on a mass scale from the 19 countries in the monetary union. Known as quantitative easing (QE), this has now been renamed by the ECB as the Public Sector Purchase Programme (PSPP) and will consist of bond purchases up to €60bn per month.

Setting the ground for Eastern partnerships

The Fourth Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit to be held in Riga in May 2015 will mark an “opportunity to evaluate progress achieved in political association and economic integration” between the EU and the post-Soviet states of Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Georgia. According to this semester’s Latvian EU Presidency, the summit will send a “strong signal of long-term strategic support” to the EaP countries. There will be discussions about trade, mobility and energy. A declaration of Heads of State will be negotiated and published, probably reaffirming the EU’s commitment to a more adaptable and tailored-made EaP based on its current four priorities: democracy and good governance, economic integration, energy security and people-to-people contacts. That said, EU relations with Eastern Partnership countries are far from simple.

Emily Ratajkowski, more than a sexy girl

British actress and model, Emily Ratajkowski, it is more than a pretty face. Despite her quite hot photos from her instragram account, we have to say that she is more than what we see there. She was one of the contenders for the Oscar for Best Actress and also appeared in the videoclip Blurred Lines,…

The quarterlife crisis

We have all heard about the midlife crisis but, I hope I’m not alone here, I believe there is also a quarterlife crisis that might be hitting more people than we think. Maybe even you, reader, can see yourself, to a certain degree, stuck in this weird phase without even noticing it. You’re certainly not a kid but you don’t see yourself as a full adult either, so you’re trapped in a sort of limbo…

Who’s this?

Recent Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne is back in set. British actor is now filming The Danish Girl, where he will play Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe, one of the first people in the world that went into a gender reassignment surgery. Before the shooting film, Redmayne decided to do a little bit of research and didn’t hesitate…

Russia at a crossroads

One can only hope that Boris Nemtsov’s death, the protests, investigation and soul-searching that will follow it, will prove a turning point towards a more transparent, tolerant and democratic Russia. The country needs a new start. Let’s see if President Putin can change course and steer such a positive transition.

Urgent need for better irregular migration policy in Europe

Dialogue , Op-ed , EU
1 March, 2015

By Tristan du Puy “Europe needs to manage migration better.” This statement was made on 19 February 2015 by EU Commissioner Avramopoulos, in charge of Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, and is spot-on. Europe’s irregular immigration and asylum policies are failing on several fronts. Although one could argue that these questions remain a part of national policies, it should also be stated that the chaotic organization at the European level only brings inefficiency on migration issues. The current situation does not afford the luxury for EU member states to go on quarreling on the righteousness of managing irregular migration at the EU level.

Fear in Ukraine’s Besarabia

by Marcos Suárez Sipmann.

Ukraine and Europe have managed to evade a widespread war. The peace agreement reached in extremis by the leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine is a fragile hope. No-one knows whether the fighting will stop in the eastern regions, Donetsk and Lugansk, and many inhabitants of Budjak, Ukrainian Bessarabia, fear that violence will spread to their región. Bessarabia is a south-eastern region of Eastern Europe. To get an idea of the unrest that has shaken up this territory, only one fact need be remembered: in the last 200 years this area, bounded to the north and east by Ukraine and to the south and west by Rumania, has passed through the hands of nine different states.

Is Carlota Casiraghi pregnant?

We’ve recently seen Carlota at the LA airport accompanied by her husband, French comedian Gad Elmaleh, their son and her everlasting smile. This family visit to LA was due to Gad’s presentation of his new show in San Francisco, but until now only the LA public has enjoyed it. But this post isn’t about this…

Erasmus destination: Italy and the UK (from France)

J’ai eu la chance d’effectuer deux semestres d’Erasmus consécutifs. Le premier en Italie, à Forli (à 70 km de distance de Bologne) et le suivant en Angleterre à Stoke on Trent. Je pense que de toutes mes études universitaires cette année là a été la plus formatrice tant humainement qu’académiquement.