Western Europe’s share of world GDP fell from 36 percent in 1974 to just 26 percent in 2011, with a projected fall to 15 percent by 2020. In contrast, the US share has remained steady at about 26 percent of world GDP. As economic freedom declines, EU member states are becoming less and less competitive on the world stage, while emerging economies from Asia to South America are gaining ground. Decades of big government policies have now brought several European economies to their knees. Soaring taxes, spiraling unemployment, mountains of red tape, stifling labour regulations, and ruinous levels of public spending needed to fund vast and unsustainable welfare states and entitlement programmes have created a perfect storm of economic malaise. And France is a potent symbol of that decline, with huge levels of public debt, now standing at more than 80 percent of GDP, government spending at 55 percent of …

After two weeks of closed door negotiations, a U.N. preparatory committee (PrepCom) has failed to reach consensus on a global plan of action, titled “The Future We Want,” to be adopted by a summit meeting of world leaders mid-June in Brazil.The negotiators, comprising representatives of all 193 member states, proclaimed limited success, including reducing the size of the action plan - formally called the “outcome document” - from nearly 200 to less than 100 pages. In an effort to break the deadlock, the PrepCom will give another shot at the zero draft when it holds an unscheduled five-day session beginning May 29. This will be a last ditch attempt to finalise the draft action plan.

Das drohende Aus der Aluminiumhütte Voerdal im niederrheinischen Voerde ist aus Sicht von Wirtschaftspolitikern der Vorbote einer drohenden Deindustrialiserung aufgrund steigender Strompreise. Voerdal hat nach Angaben der IG Metall Insolvenzantrag gestellt. In Gewerkschaftskreisen hieß es, die hohen Stromkosten seien Hauptgrund für die Insolvenz.

Six of ten local politicians in Sweden doubt whether human activity is to blame for global warming, a new study has found. The findings come from a survey carried out by FOI looking into how local decision-makers in Sweden view the issue of climate change.

Maverick environmentalists Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus make that claim in a piece that appears at the invaluable NewGeography.com. They point out that CO2 emissions in the US have been in decline since 2005, and that while the recession has ‘helped’, emissions are now projected to decline through the rest of the decade. That is without a carbon tax, without a cap and trade system, and without mandatory, Kyoto style limits and a global carbon treaty. In Europe, they note, emissions are not falling — and Germany is even moving back to coal. What made the difference? The revolution in natural gas. Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than, for example, coal and the natural gas bonanza in the US is making cleaner energy sources cheaper than their rivals.

Die zuständigen Bundesminister haben sich darauf geeinigt, vorerst keine Bohrungen nach unkonventionellen Gasreserven in Deutschland zuzulassen. Der Fracking-Boom findet woanders statt: BASF plant wegen der neuen Technik eine Großanlage in den USA.—Der Chemiekonzern BASF will mit einer neuen Großanlage seinen Geschäften in Nordamerika zusätzlichen Schwung verleihen. Mit der Anlage will BASF unter anderem von der wachsenden Nachfrage nach Schiefergas in Nordamerika profitieren.—Die Bundesregierung will einem SPIEGEL-Bericht zufolge vorerst keine Erdgasförderung aus Schiefergestein in Deutschland zulassen. Darauf hätten sich die zuständigen Ressortchefs, Umweltminister Norbert Röttgen (CDU) und Wirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler (FDP), geeinigt. Die Bundesminister wenden sich damit gegen die Pläne von Energiekonzernen, die insbesondere in Nord- und Ostdeutschland auf in Gestein eingeschlossene Erdgasvorkommen gestoßen sind. 

In France, and in Greece, the anti-austerity backlash has achieved a double victory this weekend, bringing closer the point at which the euro breaks asunder. Continued German support for the single currency relies on acceptance of the austerity imposed by the fiscal compact. Both France and Greece have now resoundingly rejected the old political consensus, making the future of the single currency more uncertain than ever. But is Berlin going to accept this volte face? This seems at best questionable. It is all very well to vote against austerity, but where is the money to come from for fiscal expansionism, even in France, let alone Greece, Spain and Italy?

François Hollande became the first Socialist French President for over 20 years on Sunday night and the moment of his victory over Nicolas Sarkozy to declare a fight back against Germany’s austerity policies. On the same day in Greece, neo-Nazis entered the country’s parliament after national elections that wiped out mainstream parties that had supported austerity measures imposed by the EU. Accepting his mandate as French president, Mr Hollande threw down the gauntlet to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who has made austerity policies a condition of euro membership.