A rumour, probably grounded on the opposition of two of Finland’s political parties to an EU rescue programme for Portugal, is spreading that Portugal is considering applying for a financial rescue programme solely from the IMF. Such a move would represent a major failure of euro area governance.

The future of the Common Agricultural Policy beyond 2013 is currently the subject of a major policy debate across the EU, as the European Commission prepares to publish legislative proposals to reform the CAP later this year.

The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee has this week backed and strengthened the 'six-pack' of economic governance proposals that form the core of the EU's long-term response to its sovereign debt crises.

Momentum builds towards a restructuring of Greece's debt.

José Manuel González-Páramo, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, gave a speech on this topic in Moscow last Thursday.

A day later his colleague and Vice-President of the ECB, Vítor Constancio, delivered a speech on Financial regulatory reform and the economy at the 20th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference in New York.

A great expert analysis of how the Greek debt crisis can play out.

The IIEA was delighted to welcome two of Denmark’s thought leaders in the energy world, one of whom provided a broad strategic overview of these developments and plans, and another who provided a fascinating case study with clear implications for Ireland.

The common area between all EU countries where people, goods, services and capital can circulate freely, the Single Market is perhaps the most tangible and beneficial element of European cooperation and integration. But after a decade and a half of successful momentum, the initiative has struggled recently in the face of national protectionism, criticism that its benefits are unfairly distributed, and a failure to complete the push into difficult sectors such as finance, energy, and the digital economy.

The European University Institute (EUI) in Florence is hosting an interesting conference tomorrow on the theme of Life in the Eurozone With or Without Default. Among the speakers are UCD's Karl Whelan and Lee C. Buchheit of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, both of whom gave excellent presentations on related issues at the IIEA last year. The dinner speaker is Wolfgang Munchau of theFinancial Times and the invaluable Eurointelligence.

The full programme can be downloaded here. The EUI will be livestreaming the event online from tomorrow morning and you can tune in here.

Readers of this blog will be interested in an excellent new paper from Oxford-bound Professor of Economics Kevin O'Rourke on the 'two trilemmas' facing Europe. Prof. O'Rourke considers the current state of EMU by reference to the classic economic 'inconsistent trinity' (freedom of capital movements, fixed exchange rates and independent monetary policy) and Dani Rodrik's more recently developed political trilemma (between democracy, national determination and economic globalization). 

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Benelux countries, the UK and Ireland have committed to collaborate on one of the most ambitious renewable energy projects in the world.

The North Seas Countries’ Offshore Grid Initiative (NSCOGI) will make it possible to transmit high volumes of electricity generated from wind and wave energy in the coastal regions of Northern Europe across great distances to centres of demand in the heart of Europe.

This will constitute the first building block of the European Supergrid. The integration of the North and Baltic Seas’ offshore potential is vital to the development of a European internal energy market and to the achievement of European energy and climate change goals.

José Sócrates, Portugal’s caretaker Prime Minister, announced yesterday evening that he had put in an official request for IMF/EU aid after the country’s latest bond auction sold debt at interest rates higher than the blended rate Ireland is currently paying on its international loans (averaging 5.7%) and the Portuguese banking sector let it be known that it would not be prepared to continue purchasing its sovereign’s debt.