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Rampini, Federico
5 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Petty wars instead of consensus
The left-leaning Italian newspaper La Repubblica criticises the contrast between the ideal of unity propagated by the French EU presidency and the crude reality of unilateral actions taken by member countries: "After creating a common currency and allowing its banks to become uncontrollable giants through international mergers, the EU must now acknowledge the system's lack of political integration. This leads to petty wars between individual states, such as we are now seeing between Ireland and England. English savers are fleeing to Ireland, which attracts them with new state safeguards on accounts. The four in Paris could not even agree on a common level for state guarantees in the case of bank insolvency. The only thing they could agree to was calling a halt to golden parachutes for bad bankers. At the same time they promised to soften accounting rules, allowing banks to continue putting off revealing the extent of their losses as required."
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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Europe
A powerless Central Bank
La Repubblica newspaper underscores Europe's inability to react suitably to the banking crisis. "The bank crash whirlwind has hit Europe. ... The continent is now discovering that there is something worse than the crisis in America, namely having its own banking institutes that are too big to be saved and that have outgrown the proportions of [banks in] the old nation states. It is frightening to witness Europe's blatant political and institutional shortcomings. The Union is not even in a position to come up with the likes of the Paulson Plan [for saving the US banks]. Although European banks have long been global players, in the EU there is not a single binding authority for the financial markets. The European Central Bank has nothing like the power of America's Federal Reserve System."
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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Europe, » U.S.
Union response to globalisation
A fusion between Unite, Britain's biggest trade union, and the American union United Steelworkers has created the largest inter-continental union in the steel sector. Federico Rampini explains the background to the "super-union" with an eye to threats facing the steel industry: "For years the steel industry has been considered the yardstick for economic development in both countries. But today it is firmly in Indian hands. Takeovers by Asian firms have been carried out on a massive scale in recent years. The Asian companies are by no means hostile to workers or unions, but they have different, stricter criteria in their layoff and wage policies. The super-union is an expression of the workers' fear in the face of globalisation. The negotiating table is the only answer to the massive competition from Asia."
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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Social Policy / Employment, » United Kingdom, » Asia, » U.S.
More than just aid
Federico Rampini calls on Europe to provide humanitarian aid, but is also concerned about the time after the catastrophe: "The referendum ... is a fraud, a tragic farce, staged by the government to silence international protest in the wake of the bloody suppression of the September uprisings. ... The catastrophe has hit one of the poorest countries in the world, and now there is one priority. We must get blankets, medicine, drinking water and food to Birma as quickly as possible, before epidemics break out. When the emergency is over Burma must not once more sink into oblivion like it did after the bloody events in September, when international attention dwindled and the two superpowers China and India quickly resumed business with the military junta."
» full article (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Asia
China and the EU conversing in Beijing
"Europe is off to Beijing, torn between business and human rights", notes the editorialist Federico Rampini. "An armada of European corporate managers are invading Beijing, motivated by bellicose intentions. Objective number one: to stem the commercial deficits with China that are growing at a rate of 17million euros per hour, exacerbating the impatience of European companies. ... This imbalance is accentuated by the under-evaluation of Chinese currency. It is in order to discuss this subject that various people landed in Beijing a few hours apart: Nicolas Sarkozy, an unprecedented European troika (Jean-Claude Trichet, Jean-Claude Juncker and Joaquin Almunia) and the European Commissioner for External Trade, Peter Mendelson. Only Nicolas Sarkozy's visit had any political contents. However, upon meeting the Chinese Head of State, the French president made a declaration on human rights, that can hardly be called explosive."
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More from the press review on the subject » Economic Policy, » Europe
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