EU Healthcare: Bad health: EU buries billions with 550,000 premature deaths due to chronic disease

A joint OECD/European Commission report says chronic diseases and premature deaths cost the EU billions every year. It calls for better prevention policies and improved health care. So what else is new?

Health reports seldom say anything new. There's the obligatory risk factors - smoking, alcohol and obesity - and an equally standard call for better prevention policies and improved healthcare systems. Let's face it: We could all live a bit more healthily.

Such is the mainline in "Health at a Glance: Europe 2016," a joint report launched Wednesday (23.11.2016) by the OECD and the European Commission in Brussels.

But what's striking about this report is the human cost of Europe's failing health.

The report estimates that about 550,065 people of working-age (25-64 years) in the European Union die prematurely from chronic diseases. It could be a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, or a form of cancer. And their dying early, says the report, costs the EU 115 billion euros annually.

Note EU-Digest: another issue not discussed in this report, which certainly must be seen as a part of the problem, is that in some countries, like the Netherlands, where insurance programs have been  privatized and the insurance premium costs have continuously been on the rise for the consumer, people have not been going to the Dr. or hospital for preventive care, mainly because of personal economic reasons.

For the complete report Read more: Bad health: EU buries billions with 550,000 premature deaths due to chronic disease | Science | DW.COM | 23.11.2016

EU Banking Reform: Strong banks to support growth and restore confidence

The Commission is presenting today a comprehensive package of reforms to further strengthen the resilience of EU banks.

This proposal builds on existing EU banking rules and aims to complete the post-crisis regulatory agenda by making sure that the regulatory framework addresses any outstanding challenges to financial stability, while ensuring that banks can continue to support the real economy.

Banks have a central role in financing the economy and for promoting growth and jobs. They are a key source of funding for households and businesses. In the wake of the financial crisis, the EU pursued an ambitious reform of the financial regulatory system to bring back financial stability and market confidence. Today's proposals aim to complete this reform agenda by implementing some outstanding elements, which are essential to further reinforce banks' ability to withstand potential shocks. The proposals also fine-tune some aspects of the new regulatory framework where necessary to make it more growth-friendly and proportionate to banks' complexity, size and business profile. It also includes measures that will support SMEs and investment in infrastructure.

Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, said: "Europe needs a strong and diverse banking sector to finance the economy. We need bank lending for companies to invest, remain competitive and sell into bigger markets and for households to plan ahead. Today, we have put forward new risk reduction proposals that build on the agreed global standards while taking into account the specificities of the European banking sector."


Read more: European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - EU Banking Reform: Strong banks to support growth and restore confidence

Global Economy: Wall Street worried Trump 1970s stagflation - by Bob Bryan

One of the dirtiest words to come out of the 1970s, at least in economic circles, is stagflation.

The decade saw a combination of increasing inflation and lackluster economic growth that hurt everything from consumers to stocks prices.

Since the election of Donald Trump, economists and analysts have once again begun to bring up the idea of stagflation hitting the US economy. The combination of government spending and trade policies, coupled with an uncertain growth picture, have brought the disastrous specter of the late 1970s back into the economic discussion.

Read more: Wall Street worried Trump 1970s stagflation - Business Insider

European Banking Industry: The next big short’? Eisman warns that Europe and its banks ‘are still screwed’ - Silvia Amaro

Eight years after the 2008 financial crisis, European banks remain in trouble as their balance sheets continue to feature a high level of non-performing loans, Steve Eisman, the hedge fund manager who famously predicted the crash,has told the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper.

The state of Italian banks is one of the main problems, but the German lender Deutsche Bank, which is seen as one of the most important institutions in Europe, also raises concerns, Eisman added.

"Europe is screwed. You guys are still screwed," Eisman told the newspaper in an interview published over the weekend.

"In the Italian system, the banks say they are worth 45-50 cents in the dollar. But the bid price is 20 cents. If they were to mark them down, they would be insolvent," he added.

Italian banking stocks have been under pressure for months. Last week, the Italian banking index dropped as much as 4.2 percent to the lowest level since early October, according to Reuters, with investors worried over the upcoming constitutional referendum.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest bank, was singled out in stress tests conducted by the European Banking Authority earlier this year. The institution indicated it was the lender with the least capacity to sustain any potential economic shocks. Unicredit, another Italian lender, was also among the 10 of 51 borrowers with the shortest capital ratio.

Deutsche Bank also featured in that top-10 list. The German-lender has been asked to pay a $14 billion settlement for the miss-selling of U.S. mortgage bonds.

Eisman believes that Deutsche Bank is a long way off from returning to profit as it is too dependent on leverage to improve its performance. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse said in a note last week that banks are "not clear winners" from Donald Trump's election victory. Despite expectations of less regulatory pressure under a Trump presidency compared to a Clinton win, there are concerns that his policies will negatively impact the economy.

"I think the regulators did a horrendous, just horrendous job pre-crisis. But under the (Federal Reserve), the banks have been enormously deleveraged and de-risked. There are no sub-prime mortgages any more ... the European regulators have been much more lenient than the U.S. regulators," Eisman told The Guardian.

Apart from non-performing loans and regulation issues, sovereign bonds are another concern in Europe, Eisman warned. "What is very negative is that in every country in Europe, the largest owner of that country's sovereign bonds are that country's banks," Eisman also said. This means that if the price of those bonds goes down, the balance sheet of the bank deteriorates.

Read more: The next big short’? Eisman warns that Europe and its banks ‘are still screwed’

Morocco - Ethiopia: signs over $2 billion investment deal in Ethiopia

Morocco signed an agreement on Saturday to invest over two billiondollars in Ethiopia over a five year period to build a fertilizer factory.

The $2.4 billion to be invested between 2017 and 2022 in the 100 acre factory near the eastern city of Dire Daoua is expected to make Ethiopia self-sufficient by 2025.

The deal was signed during the official visit of Moroccan,King Mohammed VI to Ethiopia to strengthen its political and South/South partnership.

Read more: Morocco signs over $2 billion investment deal in Ethiopia | Africanews

Britain: Brexit: They can't have their cake and eat it too: Europe’s leaders must force Britain into hard Brexit

Britain can't have it's cake and eat it too

European leaders have come to a 27-nation consensus that a “hard Brexit” is likely to be the only way to see off future populist insurgencies, which could lead to the break-up of the European Union.

The hardening line in EU capitals comes as Nigel Farage warns European leaders that Marine Le Pen, leader of the Front National, could deliver a political sensation bigger than Brexit and win France’s presidential election next spring – a result that would mean it was “game over” for 60 years of EU integration.

According to senior officials at the highest levels of European governments, allowing Britain favourable terms of exit could represent an existential danger to the EU, since it would encourage similar demands from other countries with significant Eurosceptic movements.

One top EU diplomat told the Observer: “If you British are not prepared to compromise on free movement, the only way to deal with Brexit is hard Brexit. Otherwise we would be seen to be giving in to a country that is leaving. That would be fatal.”

The latest intervention by Farage will only serve to fuel fears in Europe that anti-EU movements have acquired a dangerous momentum in countries such as France and the Netherlands, following the precedent set by the Brexit vote. Ukip’s interim leader, who predicted both the vote for Brexit and Donald Trump’s US victory, told the Observer that while Le Pen was still more likely to be runner-up to an establishment candidate next May, she now had to be taken seriously as a potential head of state.

“She will clearly win through to the second round. And after what has happened elsewhere, only a fool would say she would have no chance of winning overall. France is a deeply, deeply unhappy country. If she were to win, it would be game over for the EU.”

Le Pen has made clear she wants to take France out of the euro and the EU. The prospective hardline approach has been agreed by the 27 member states as a bloc. Acting in concert, the remaining EU states will refuse to grant the UK access to the single market unless London agrees to sign up to its rules, including free movement of people, capital, services and labour.

Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the German Bundestag, told the Observer that he wanted to help the UK but, if there were no willingness to accept EU rules, there was no hope. “I am really ready to come to a result but if [the British position is] no, no, no, then even I would have to say that there is no common ground.”

Note EU-Digest: If the EU Commission does not play hard ball with Britain it will be game over for the EU. No concessions at all. Britain can't have it's cake and eat it too. 

Read more: Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit | Politics | The Guardian

TTIP - US-EU TTIP trade deal 'frozen' after Trump vote: commissioner

Talks on a vast free-trade deal between the EU and US are likely to be "frozen" for years after the stunning election victory of Donald Trump, the EU said on Friday.

US president-elect Trump campaigned furiously on a promise to scrap international trade deals, throwing the ambitious pact with the European Union into serious doubt.

Brussels and Washington tried to get the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) through by the time Barack Obama left office but fell short.

"TTIP will probably be in the freezer for quite some time and then what will happen when it is defrosted, I think we will need to wait and see," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said after trade ministers held talks in Brussels.

"We don't know what he thinks about TTIP," Malmstroem said, referring to Trump, although she acknowledged that the brash billionaire was clearly opposed to big trade deals.

TTIP has been under negotiation since 2013 and was supposed to be one of the most ambitious free trade accords ever attempted.

Read more: Flash - US-EU TTIP trade deal 'frozen' after Trump vote: commissioner - France 24