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Critics of the nuclear agreement with Iran reached in April 2015 say the verification under a UN agency will be weak, and the "snap back" of sanctions in the event of failure may not work in the real world.

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This article in the Economist describes the different perspectives on the Greece crisis in July 2015 as seen inside Germany. It cites a poll showing German 51% to 41% favoring a Greek exit from the eurozone. About 85% reject further concessions in a July 1, 2015 poll, including 68% of the supporters of The Left, a post-Communist party. Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel, said of the Greece timeout from the euro proposal by finance minister Schauble- that it was the appropriate thing to consider all options. And 78% polled see Greeks not keeping their side of the deal. Some experts see stronger sentiment about Greece after the events in July 2015, and the raising of the issue of the debt haircut given to Germany in 1953, because Germans see themselves as having gone to great lengths to build a strong Europe after their own troubled history in the 20th century. If the goal was to win German support in 2015, this has come across as poor tactics and poor strategy, considering how it has changed German opinion across the spectrum of political opinion....

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Anger in Greece at the austerity measures was evident in the results of the April 2012 elections. The two major parties polled even less than the low poll numbers that they expected. The Socialist Pasok party of former premier Papandreou received only 13% of the vote and not the 15-18% expected, the New Democracy party of Antonio Samaras received only 18.8% and not the 25% expected. As a result the two main parties that have ruled Greece received less than one third of the vote combined. The second largest party after New Democracy is now the Coalition of the Radical Left or Syriza, which received 16.78% of the vote. It is led by young Alexis Tsipras, 38, who has said the bailout treaties witht the EU and the IMF were "not salvation, but a tragedy." Syriza opposes the austerity measures and prefers to exit the eurozone. A extremist far right anti-immigrant party New Dawn received 7% of the vote showing the desperate situation. New Democracy's Samaras tried hard but failed to form a government, and under the Greek constitution each party gets a few days to form a government. The outcome is likely to be new elections in June 2012 and a caretaker government appointed by the president....

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About $229 billion, three fourth of Greece's debt, is now held by the European Central Bank, the IMF and the European Commission. This is taxpayer money and the governments are making sure that they get back bailout loans in the form of interest payments. About two thirds of the $177 billion given to Greece as bailout loans since May 2010 actually came back to the ECB, IMF, and the EC, in the form of interest. The ECB is keen on recovering taxpayer money. The money route has been setup with an escrow account in Greece for bailout loans so that interest payments get paid, and this money cannot be used for any other purpose. Banking experts say this is a practice in risk management, and with Greece's poor record in finances the controls have been put in place to recover money the ECB invested in Greek bonds in an effort to calm nervous financial markets and now gets about 10% in annual interest payment. Under earlier debt restructuring for private creditors to Greece a haircut of over 50% on Greek bonds was taken, with the ECB insisting on receiving full payment. If Greece were to repudiate the loans under a new elected government losses would have to be taken by the ECB, IMF, and EC, and by private creditors. The ECB has Greek bonds in the range of $44 billion to $69 billion, and the European Financial Stability Facility $88 billion, by some estimates. Greece's exit from the euro would result in losses on these bonds .for the ECB and the EFSF, ultimately European taxpayers. It would also make the new bonds to private creditors under the restructuring of little value which is why European banks would not favor that outcome. Greece's tax receipts at some point, possibly 2013, would exceed basic operating expenses of the government, at which point a future Greek government might decide to exit the euro and stop interest payments on debt in its best interest....

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Krugman reflects on the discontent in Europe reflected in anti-EU opinion at the time of the elections to the European parliament in 2014.

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Strikes at German airports nationwide, public transportation in Berlin and possible strike in trains nationwide as unions demand wage increases of about 8% vs the government's offer of 5%. Workers after years of restraint in fear of losing jobs are now looking to get part of the benefits of the economic improvement and gains in global market share of German companies.

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Night trains are making a comeback in Europe. Nostalgic ideas of travel from way back are when trains were the main forms of transportation. In 2017 European transport emissions were 28% above 1990 levels. The European Green Deal sees cutting these emissions as a priority for meeting climate change. Rail is critical for achieving this. For EU CO2 emissions road transport is largest contributor (73%), aviation (13%) and maritime (11%).Austria's OBB rail system is launching night sleeper trains from Vienna to Brussels and Vienna to Amsterdam.  Competition will increase in rail. Italy's Trenitalia  has applied to EU Agency for Railways (ERA) to operate in France. French SNCF and Trenitalia will enter Spain in June 2020. Critical are capital investments in rail per person for each country. Austria and Switzerland lead, and Germany is 140 euros per person target as part of the 86 billion euro plan in capital investments  for rail over the next ten years. Technical standardization is an important goal- as a stop in Aachen for Austrian railways night train from Vienna to Brussels for 30 minutes because of changing a locomotive and the train driver having to be Flemish. Freight movement by rail is another goal as it is stuck at 17% for years.  The Green Deal in transport in Europe is likely to have an impact around the world as rail makes a comeback for sustainable tourism. ...

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Martin Feldstein points out why the recent agreement for a "fiscal compact" is no more than an empty statement about fixing the eurozone's finances. In this respect it is no different than the Stability and Growth Pact it replaces, with serious weaknesses. Feldstein cites the weaknesses in the language of the agreement. Each eurozone country is required to limit its"cyclically adjusted" budget deficit to 0.5% of GDP and bring its debt down to 60% of GDP. Compliance will be performed by the European Court of Justice and fines imposed. In practice the questions loom large- for a country like Spain with a 23% unemployment rate, isn't all of the 6% budget deficit cyclical? Again the agreement says deficits are calculated "net of one-off and temporary measures." Under this provision a lot of the stimulus programs would be considered in the category of "one-off." Other language lets eurozone countries frame budgets based on "exceptional circumstances" and "periods of severe economic downturn." Italy has declining economic growth, does it make sense to have a large budget surplus in that situation to lower debt to GDP, and how does that goal relate to "exceptional circumstances."...

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A report on the Status of German Unity from the German cabinet, says the eastern part of Germany, formerly the German Democratic Republic, suffers from a declining population and could have benefitted from the addition of young people as immigrants. As it stands the area with the lowest number of refugees or immigrants is where most of the xenophobia anti-immigrant sentiment exists.  It says the eastern part of the country including cities like Dresden need to develop a more receptive culture to attract young people for economic progress.

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This piece in the DW.com describes the error made by Andrea Leadsom in her interview with the Times, saying that she was better qualified than Theresa May for leadership of the Conservative Party and the post of prime minister because she had children. Leadsom's error was compounded by the comments made by May that she regretted being childless. The comments were in the media for days and led to negative perception of Ms. Leadsom. Leadsom called for a retraction by the Times but the Times had already recorded her comments, making the whole affair appear to be a mistake by Leadsom, even a  bit stupid. Leadsom's efforts to embellish her resume about investment banking experience had already raised questions.With Boris Johnson supporting Leadsom this has proved Johnson, Gove and other Brexit leaders as lacking credibility. Therea May is now left with the difficult task of negotiating Brexit, but at least says most of the European media and media in Germany, May is not a fanatic, and Brexit is in the hands of a responsible politician who never supported Brexit. ...