Friday 13 means in many countries bad luck. France, Austria and seven other countries in Europe are probably agreeing with that now as yesterday, January the 13, the US based ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut France and Austria triple -A rating by one notch to AA+, and downgraded the other seven countries -Spain, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and Slovenia two notches. Read the rest of this entry »

This coming April the first round of the French presidential elections will take place, with the two biggest vote winners going through the last and decisive round in early May. While European elections don’t play as long as American ones nor are they so ubiquitous on television and all media, the French ones this time had been talked about more than usual due to the arrest in new York last May of Dominique Strauss-Kahn who until that moment had been considered as the one who could become the next French president. Read the rest of this entry »

There was not much talk about the euro crisis during the Christmas holidays. For a few days we almost pretended everything was well and we could relax. But now just when many have realized that January is going to be a hard month, never mind that we tried to be careful with the expenses, we have been hit with the euro sliding to below $1.27, the lowest since September 2010 Read the rest of this entry »

Three very different people left this earth this past weekend. Three lives mourned by many for what they represented. Read the rest of this entry »

Summits, reunions, meetings… and yet no solutions for the economic problems the EU is suffering from. In reality, we should recognize that the situation is critical and we have to start now to cure it and even so, as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no easy fix to the European financial crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Located in the French Riviera, Keyboard Politics is in a “privileged” position to witness all the incredible happenings taking place in Cannes for the G-20 summit. From Menton, in the border with Italy, to Cannes, the area is controlled by a large display of police. Many people had the new experience of having their cars checked in the border what was something rarely taking place since the elimination of border posts among the EU countries. Read the rest of this entry »

Some elections that were a little out of the radar for many people took place in Switzerland. On October 23, Swiss citizens in the country and abroad were called for elections, which are held every four years, to renew the seats in Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »