Read all posts for ‘Central and Eastern Europe’

Two months after a public debt crisis was declared and with various anti-crisis scenarios in circulation, the budget of Serbia was rebalanced in early June. If the balancing act had been a play, “Much Ado about Nothing” would have been a very fitting title for a great deal of windy […]

In February and March 2011 thousands of citizens organized through social networks came out to protest in Zagreb against the worsening social and economic situation in Croatia. In January 2012 protests against austerity measures in Bucharest turned violent. In February 2013 the government of Bulgaria fell because of protests in […]

Politicians, economists and other experts speak gravely about the need for austerity measures on a European and global level. But when it comes to governing their own country, leaders try to avoid using the A-word. Even if they actually do implement some kind of cuts in government spending, they all […]

  Russia’s steady growth in GDP and its 5% unemployment rate could make countries like Greece and Spain green with envy. The Russian economy surged ahead from the mid-2000s, seemingly immune to the shocks of the 2008 economic crisis. Foreign corporations kept pumping money into a country whose high levels […]

When economic growth is not a given anymore, how can democratically elected governments trigger growth, maintain the welfare state and keep public spending down all at the same time? The answer is easy: they simply can’t. European welfare states have come to a crossroads. On the one hand, private investors […]