Bankwatch in the media

Kyrgyzstan’s Kumtor gold mine is responsible for some 12 percent of the country’s GDP. Nevertheless, or perhaps for that reason, politicians can’t seem to keep their hands off it.

A phenomenon that has become quite fashionable over the last decade or so among governments is the Public-Private-Partnership, or PPP. The UK started to introduce this model in the mid-1990s, and it is also a favoured option in Spain and Hungary. One of the many dangers is that it allows private companies who enter into partnership with government to funnel the profits into tax havens.

Bloomberg, not exactly a Bolshevik press agency, recently highlighted why we should have zero sympathy for the bankers of Frankfurt and Berlin. Its editors cited estimates that Germany took more than 284 billion euros from other countries in the single currency bloc between 2009 and the end of last year. Greece has so far received 340 billion euros in loans as a response to the financial crisis; just 15 billion euros of that sum came directly from Germany.

Warsaw's latest battle against efforts to 'green' Europe's economy is being played out in the European Parliament's regional affairs committee. Polish-designed technical texts could kill the environment-friendly criteria attached to the next €1 trillion EU budget.