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Commentary Archive
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Fukuyama gets a letter from paranoid Hungary – but why not me?
Posted on February 5, 2012 | 1 CommentBut like all state bureaucrats, and even like the Communist censors of the past regime, they miss the point of the article, thereby confirming and reinforcing the message. (Maybe it is at this point that Kovacs was trying to demonstrate that institutions DO matter). -
Nabucco’s bubble bursts
Posted on January 19, 2012 | No CommentsNabucco's bubble grew with the momentum built on the concept of security of supply for Europe. For companies and governments who supported the project, their commitment and involvement meant that the momentum needed to be maintained. -
Hungary’s Viktator crashes against the new global order
Posted on January 7, 2012 | No CommentsWhat is so great about Orban taking Hungary over the cliff of rationality is what it exposes for the modern state system: Erratic dictators are controlled by an international regulatory regime that requires stability, predictability and fairness. Orban went against every tenet of this system in his nationalistic power grab. -
The Orban Regime: Sails Hungary onto rocks – killing democracy
Posted on January 2, 2012 | No CommentsThe passengers of the destroyed boats look to the IMF and EU for a lifeline but Moby Orban (who really is Ahab), tells the drowning passengers they should swim faster - they don't need IMF life jackets - "faster, faster!" he yells. "I will save you, just give me power and the money from the central bank!!" In an attempt to motivate the drowning flock, he proclaims, "The problem is not that you are drowing, it's you haven't given me enough money to save you. Your pension wasn't enough - agree to give me your life savings in your bank accounts, and then swim quickly to me, I promise this will be enough to save you." -
Five ways to destroy your energy sector and your economy – a note to the Hungarian Government
Posted on December 18, 2011 | No CommentsIn short, as in the Socialist era, the Hungarian government will decide that government institutions do not need to pay their energy bills, they will either make the Hungarian rate/tax payer pick up the tab through their utility bills - thus higher prices, or they will force the companies to incur losses caused by non-payment from the government. -
E.ON gets fed up and disposes of E.ON Bulgaria
Posted on December 8, 2011 | No CommentsThe reason given in the press release is due to the corporate strategy of divesting "15 billion euros in assets by the end of 2013. So far more than 9 billion euros have already been realized." Couching the disposal of a corporate unit as wrapped up in the shifting corporate strategy is as polite as a corporations gets to admitting that maybe after seven years of this relationship (the seven year itch?) things didn't work out well. -
Nabucco, and the distant love of Europe
Posted on December 2, 2011 | No CommentsNine lives or no lives? That is the prospect for Nabucco. Noise or game changing events: another round of alternative pipeline plans, the re-positioning of political actors, makes another act in the... -
Why regulation protects utilities from politicians
Posted on October 24, 2011 | No Comments‘All politics is local,’ is the commonly held phrase. This same phrase can be easily applied to energy. ‘All energy is local.’ The evolution of the energy sector is from... -
Russia and the EU: Playing Russian energy roulette in Europe
Posted on October 16, 2011 | No CommentsThus the anti-monopoly raids on Gazprom offices across the European Union in September 2011 appear to have set off a rocky period between Captain Renault and Rick Russia and the EU. -
Effective Institutions? Assessing low carbon EU institutions
Posted on October 15, 2011 | No CommentsIt almost feels like a big PR launch. But the timing has been coincidental. After a few years of working on how low carbon technology and governance are connected a...
