
Troika consultancies: A multi-million euro business beyond scrutiny
A small club of big consultancies has a monopoly on servicing EU bailouts, posing questions on transparency and conflict of interest.
Monday
21st Nov 2016

A small club of big consultancies has a monopoly on servicing EU bailouts, posing questions on transparency and conflict of interest.

Ivan Korcok says Slovakia's EU presidency has achieved "tangible results" despite difficulties caused by Brexit and the US election. But no agreement on asylum reform is in sight.

The former French president came third in the first round of the centre-right primary election on Sunday. Francois Fillon, a pro-Russia conservative, is the new favourite for next year's presidential vote.

Slovenia is paying consultancies over €21 million to test its banks in controversial contracts classed as military secrets.

An Italian judge has convicted Deutsche Bank of fraud, amid widening probes on tax evasion and rate-fixing.

"You will be surprised in the autumn by the degree of movement that will have taken place in some member states," says Thomas Wieser, one of the economists preparing plans for banking union ahead of the October EU summit.

The European Central Bank is an important firefighter in the euro-crisis. But increasingly divergent eurozone economies are limiting the effects of its policies and democratic scrutiny remains an issue.
Concern over democratic oversight of the EU's bailout funds has led to six constitutional complaints in Germany and outrage in the European Parliament.
A lobby for the world's biggest banks - the International Institute of Finance - became a key EU player when it negotiated the debt cut on Greece's second bailout. Its world of rented castles and sopranos shows losses were bearable.