My articles for Restarting the Future

08/01/2015 Corruption vs Competition: clean negotiations lead to free market dynamics, By Vania Putatti, #EP2014 http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#corruption-vs-competition-clean-negotiations-lead-to-free-market-dynamics

03/02/2015, 20 years of fighting against corruption in the European Union, By Vania Putatti, #EP2014 http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#20-years-of-fighting-against-corruption-in-the-european-union

03/03/2015 The regulations to fight against corruption already exist at the European Union, By Vania Putatti, #EP2014 http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#the-regulations-to-fight-against-corruption-already-exist-at-the-european-union

25/03/2015 Confiscation of illegal assets: a profit-driven method to fight against criminal organizations, By Vania Putatti #EP2014 http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#confiscation-of-illegal-assets-a-profit-driven-method-to-fight-against-criminal-organizations

30/03/2015 Libera Brussels launches a campaign inspired by Restarting the Future. COM.IT.ES Trasparente: in April vote for transparency! By Vania Putatti #EP2014 http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#libera-brussels-launch-a-campaign

16/04/2015 COM.IT.ES: MORE TRANSPARENCY, LESS CORRUPTION, by Vania Putatti #EP2014, http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#com.it.es-trasparente-more-transparency-less-corruption

Giugno 2015 – Bella Ciao – Numero 1 Libera Bruxelles! Vania Putatti e Marceella http://bellaciaobelgio.altervista.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/bellaciao_1.pdf

The origin of the Great Recession | eu-magazine.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The origin of the Great Recession | eu-magazine.com.

Many economists agree that the financial crisis started in 2007 in the US due to a combination of credit expansion and an underestimation of the risk in financial markets. On the one hand, banks used to use deposits to fund loans that they then kept on their balance sheets until maturity. If the borrowers defaulted, the banks would bear the losses. This process, called “originate to hold model”, incentivises banks to evaluate the creditworthiness of borrowers. Over time, the process turned into the so-called “originate to distribute model”. Banks began expanding their funding sources and instead of holding on to mortgages, brokers and banks started originating and selling them to be securitised. The originators were incentivised to sell as many mortgages as possible because they were paid based on the number of mortgages that they approved.

In addition, as they were selling the mortgages, they were not giving much consideration to the creditworthiness of the borrowers. On the other hand, the innovation of the process of securitisation lead to an underestimation of the risk. Securitisation was based on a whole set of loans taken from across the country to diversify the risk. The combination between the origin-to-distribute model and the new process of securitisation caused a credit boom without the proper procedure for checking the quality of the borrowers. Indeed, mortgages created before these changes were of significantly higher quality than those originating after.

In the real estate sector, borrowers were encouraged by banks or brokers to borrow mortgages up to the full value of their property, and to borrow more as soon as the value increased, with little regard to their ability to service the debt. As The Economist pointed out already in 2005 “the total value of the residential property in developed economies rose by more than $30 trillion over the past five years to over $70 trillion, an increase equivalent to 100% of those countries’ combined GDPs. Not only does this dwarf any previous house-price boom, it is larger than the global stock market bubble in the late 1920s (55% of GDP). In other words it looks like the biggest bubble in history”1.

1 In come the waves, The Economist, June 16, 2005 http://www.economist.com/node/4079027.

Photo credits: www.coreviews.com

Author: Vania Putatti

COM.IT.ES: più trasparenza, meno corruzione

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.riparteilfuturo.it/blog/esperti/com.it.es-trasparente-piu-trasparenza,-meno-corruzione/

Alla vigilia delle elezioni del Comites, organi locali di rappresentanza della comunità italiana all’estero, è possibile osservare gli sviluppi della campagna COM.IT.ES Trasparente, ispirata a Riparte il Futuro e promossa da Libera Bruxelles.
Libera Bruxelles ha invitato i candidati delle due liste, n1 “Fare e Rappresentare” e n2 “Comites è Partecipazione”, a firmare un documento in promozione di un comportamento pulito e trasparente dei rappresentanti futuri. Oltre alla promozione per l’anticorruzione e la trasparenza nelle procedure d’assunzione in cui i Comites sono coinvolti, anche indirettamente, Libera Bruxelles ha chiesto un contributo individuale ai candidati, attraverso la resa pubblica del curriculum professionale e la dichiarazione di qualsiasi conflitto di interesse o precedente penale.

Nicoletta Casano, Comites è partecipazione.

Undici dei quattordici membri della lista “Comites è Partecipazione” hanno firmato la campagna. “È necessario trasmettere maggiore trasparenza per l’elettorato di questi enti”, dichiara Simone Casadei Pastorini, infatti “per realizzare gli obiettivi di partecipazione e di coesione che ogni comitato è chiamato a perseguire, tutti i candidati devono garantire la propria indipendenza davanti alla comunità a cui si rivologono”, precisa Alessandro Lanzillotto. Come è possibile capire leggendo le dichiarazioni a questo link, tra i firmatari è condivisa l’idea che la lotta contro le organizzazioni criminali e corruzione politica dovrebbe essere una prerogativa per qualsiasi rappresentante eletto. Inoltre dovrebbero essere intraprese azioni più attive a sostegno di comportamenti puliti. Oltre a Simone Casadei Pastorini e Alessandro Lanzillotto, anche i seguenti candidati hanno firmato la campagna COM.IT.ES Trasparente: Casano Nicoletta, Bettarini Lapo, Zamburlini Maria Giovanna, Albertazzi Andrea, Baldini Elisa, Grispigni Marco, Fulgenzi Erika, Palmieri Federica, e Bonne Massimiliano . È possibile trovare loro dichiarazione, contatti e CV a questo link. Costa Stefania, Alessandro Castro e Cala ‘Cataldo non ha firmato la campagna (alla data 14/04/2015).

Massimiliano Bonne, Comites è partecipazione.

Al contrario, la lista n2 “Fare e Rappresentare” ha mostrato notevole scetticismo nei confronti della campagna promossa da Libera Bruxelles. I candidati Eleonora Medda, Raffaele Napolitano, Riccardo Ricci, Benedetta Dentamaro dichiarato ” alcuni degli impegni richiesti [dalla campagna di COM.IT.ES Trasparente, NdR] travalicano le competenze del Comites e sfuggono sia all’ambito di attività del comitato stesso che alla condotta dei singoli componenti”. Come è possibile leggere dal comunicato stampa del 01/04 , i candidati della lista n1 preferiscono “scongiurare l’uso strumentale di tematiche così importanti proprio negli ultimissimi giorni di campagna elettorale per il rinnovo dei Comites”. Da quanto dichiarato dai medesimi candidati, i principi della campagna promossa da Libera di Bruxelles sono già inclusi nel programma della lista n1 e non è necessario promuovere una campagna parallela con gli stessi valori. Nonostante ciò, Libera di Bruxelles ha sottolineato il fatto che parole come “trasparenza” e “conflitto di interessi” non appaiono mai nel programma di “Fare e Rappresentare” (disponibile a questo link). Nessuno dei dodici candidati della lista n1 ha firmato la campagna COM.IT.ES Trasparente: Medda Eleonora, Napolitano Raffaele, Lazzaroni Francesca Anna Marta, Ricci Riccardo, Dentamaro Benedetta, Morelli Vittorio, Dalmasso Maria Luisa, Patane ‘Sergio, Gervasi Lidia Angela , Schiavoni Fabrizio Bruno Pierre Franco, Luisa Bongiovanni e Cacopardo Santo (alla data 14/04/2015).

COM.IT.ES Trasparente: in aprile votare per la trasparenza!

Il 16 Aprile 2015 si terranno le elezioni dei COM.IT.ES, organi di rappresentanza locale delle comunità italiane all’estero. Pur non avendo competenze decisionali, i Comites hanno importanti ruoli consultazione e controllo su uffici pubblici italiani all’estero, in particolare il consolato. Questo significa che i rappresentanti che verranno eletti avranno l’opportunità questi poteri per promuovere procedure amministrative “pulite” o segnalare comportamenti o pratiche non trasparenti.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.riparteilfuturo.it/blog/esperti/comites-trasparente-in-aprile-votare-per-la-trasparenza!/

In occasione dell’elezione del 2015, Libera Bruxelles, il primo presidio in Belgio di “Libera. Associazioni, nomi e numeri contro le mafie”, lancia la campagna COM.IT.ES Trasparente. Fondata nel dicembre del 2013 e composta esclusivamente da volontari, Libera Bruxelles promuove e sostiene la lotta contro le organizzazioni criminali e tutti i reati connessi, nel tentativo di diffondere in Belgio e dell’Unione europea consapevolezza nei confronti di questi fattori pericolosi. COM.IT.ES Trasparente è una campagna politica ispirata Riparte il Futuro, con cui condivide lo stesso obiettivo: il raggiungimento di una classe dirigente “pulita” e trasparente.

Libera Bruxelles invita i candidati alle elezioni dei Comites a compromettersi in una campagna per promuovere trasparenza e buona condotta negli uffici pubblici italiani all’estero. I candidati sono invitati rendere pubblico il curriculum professionale, dichiarare possibili conflitti d’interesse e precedenti penali. Inoltre, viene chiesto ai potenziali rappresentanti di promuovere politiche interne ad esterne ai Comites di trasparenza e anti-corruzione, in particolare nei rapporti col Consolato.

Le prime risposte arrivano dalla lista N2 “Comites Ê Partecipazione”. I seguenti candidati hanno firmato personalmente la campagna COM.IT.ES Trasparente: Lapo Bettarin, Marco Grispini, Andrea Albertazzi, Simone Casadei Pastorino , Nicoletta Cesano e Alessandro Lanzillotto.

Da sinistra a destra: Marco Grispini, Lapo Bettarini, Andrea Albertazzi, dalla lista “Comites è Partecipazione”.

Dalla lista N1 “Fare e Rappresentare” ancora nessuna adesione, ma i rappresentanti Eleonora Medda, Raffaele Napolitano, Riccardo Ricci, Benedetta Dentamaro hanno comunicato attraverso un comunicato stampa del 1 Aprile 2015 che non possono aderire alla campagna per “scongiurare l’uso strumentale di tematiche così importanti” e per il fatto che gli “impegni richiesti travalicano le competenze del Comites”.

COM.IT.ES Trasparente rappresenta l’inizio di un percorso politico in cui i rappresentanti possano dimostrare attivamente la promozione di pratiche pulite e trasparenti. I candidati hanno un’importante occasione per dimostrare il loro impegno politico su questi importanti valori associando alla propria candidature un impegno in prima persona.

Da sinistra a destra: Simone Casadei Pastorino , Nicoletta Cesano e Alessandro Lanzillotto, della lista N2 “Comites è Partecipazione”.

LIBERA BRUSSELS LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN INSPIRED BY RESTARTING THE FUTURE. COM.IT.ES TRASPARENTE: IN APRIL VOTE FOR TRANSPARENCY!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://www.restartingthefuture.eu/news#libera-brussels-launch-a-campaign

On the 17th of April 2015 will take place the elections of the COM.IT.ES, the representative bodies of Italians communities abroad. Despite not having decision-making competences, the COMITES have important consultation and control powers on the Italian public offices abroad, in particular the consulate. This means that elected representatives have an important opportunity to use their role to promote clean procedures or report non-transparent behaviours or practices.

With the occasion of the election of 2015, Libera Bruxelles, the first representative seat of  Libera in Belgium, launches the campaign “COM.IT.ES Trasparente” (more information here). Founded in December 2013 and composed exclusively by volunteers, Libera Bruxelles promotes and supports the fight against criminal organizations and corruption, with the main goal to rise awareness towards these dangerous factors, in Belgium and in the European Union.

COM.IT.ES Trasparente is a political campaign inspired by Restarting the Future, with which it shares the same objective: the achievement of a clean and transparent political leadership.

Libera Bruxelles invites all candidates to compromise themselves in an effort to promote personal transparency and support clean activities inside Italians public offices abroad. On the one hand, the candidates are asked to make their professional CV public, and to declare any personal conflict of interest and penal background. On the other hand, they are asked to endorse internal and external policies on whistleblowing protection and transparency concerning open public vacancies as well as the relationship between the consulate and the COMITES.

The first signatories come from the list N°2 “Comites è Partecipazione”. Lapo Bettarini points out that the agenda of COM.IT.ES Trasparente should be a prerogative for all the elections, as Marco Grispini explains: “all representative bodies should guarantee honesty and transparency as an essential first step” (e.d.: the quote is translated from Italian). In this way, corruption could be left outside of politics, as underlines Andrea Albertazzi.

COM.IT.ES Trasparente represents the beginning of a path in which representatives are directlyactive in the promotion of “healthy” political behaviours. The candidates have an important opportunity to prove their commitment with these values and associate themselves with an official action against corruption.

From left to right: Marco Grispini, Lapo Bettarini and Andrea Albertazzi, from the list “Comites è Partecipazione”

By Vania Putatti, @VaniaPutatti

CONFISCATION OF ILLEGAL ASSETS: A PROFIT-DRIVEN METHOD TO FIGHT AGAINST CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS

Original Article: ‪#‎EP2014‬ http://t.co/juOZTR47PK

In Brussels on Tuesday 24th, the conference on the “Confiscation of criminal and illegal assets: European perspectives in combat against serious crime” took place. This conference has been held by the correspondents of Transparency International (TI) Bulgaria, Romania and Italy with the participation of a few representatives of the Commission and the European Parliament.

The idea is spreading in Brussels that the EU needs an effective supranational legislation on the fight against corruption and criminal organizations. Indeed, the vice-president of the Budget and Human Resources department of the European Commission, Kristalina Georgieva, has defined corruption as a “cancer” for a democratic state that allows criminals to accumulate “illegal money on a really massive scale”. Furthermore, in its last report Europol counted approximately 380 criminal organizations from all around the world being present all over Europe.

More and more experts agree that serious crimes, such as trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of women and children, illicit arms and drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and organised crime, have to be fought through strong and rigid EU regulations that include high levels of cooperation and a detailed explanation of the implementation. In fact, in the last 20 years the effects of globalization have drastically shaped the world, and the national borders are losing their capability to limit transnational criminal actions. These represent a serious threat to the democratic principles and, as remarked by the Bulgarian MEP Andrey Kovatchev, a waste of resources that could be used in other sectors.

As the Restarting the Future agenda suggests, one of the most effective ways to fight organized crime is an efficient regulation on the freezing and confiscation of criminal and illegal assets. It is essentially a profit-driven method that would demonstrate that the state is stronger than the criminals and would increase the confidence in national institutions. Furthermore, the proper reuse of illegal assets would restore the “stolen” social justice and, most importantly, would remove the direct economic gains of criminal organizations and discourage them to continue illegal activities, at least, in specific sectors.

The EU legislation on freezing and confiscation of illegal assets has been in development since 2001. The last EU act on this topic is the directive adopted on the 3rd of April 2014 by the European Council (EC) and the European Parliament (EP). Besides the great expectations, this act still does not represent an efficient regulation. Indeed, Kristalina Georgieva recognizes that, despite the improvements that it had generated, the negotiation of the directive in the EP and EC lead to a reduction of the impact of the first more “advanced” draft of the act, in particular, concerning the mutual recognition and the conviction of illegal assets. To give an example, it is still complicated for a Member State to proceed with the confiscation when the assets or the guilty defendant are not in that Member State anymore. In other words, the actual EU legislation still has some gaps that can be used to avoid national regulations on illegal asset forfeiture.

While the European Commission took the commitment to search for a deeper understanding of the conviction and the improvement of the transnational cooperation on assets forfeiture and reuse, TI asks for the creation of EU common standards for all possible asset forfeiture models. In particular, it proposes an “ideal model on common standards for national procedures for confiscation or forfeiture of assets” based on the Bulgarian, Romanian and Italian models. Seen as a temple, the model finds legitimation on the protection of fundamental human rights (the basement) and it should be guaranteed by the principles of integrity, transparency, accountability and efficiency.

Finally, the core of this model is represented by a packet of inter-dependent measures (the pillars): mechanisms for control on the work of confiscation bodies; institutionally strengthened national confiscation authorities, legal guarantees for transparency, integrity, efficiency and accountability, confiscation based on a court decision, adequate mechanisms for management and reuse of confiscated properties, raising the visibility of the state’s dominance over law offenders and common high standards for inter-institutional and inter-state cooperation at the EU level. As TI underlined multiple times, this model will be efficient only if it will be built on all this aspects, otherwise it will give chance of loopholes and gaps that could contaminate the whole system.

By Vania Putatti, @VaniaPutatti

Towards a European Energy Union | eu-magazine.com

Towards a European Energy Union | eu-magazine.com.

At the press conference last week, 6th February, in Riga (Latvia), where the Energy ministers of the EU had met to discuss the future of European energy, the Commissions launched their new initiative: a European Energy Union.

«Our current energy policies are unsustainable in every sense and in urgent need of reorganisation. Citizens should be at the core of our energy policy. While we have a very ambitious agenda, the momentum is here and now. We will work to ensure a coherent approach to energy across different policy areas, to create more predictability».

Maroš Šefčovič, the Vice-President for the Energy Union, stressed, during his speech, the importance of the initiative, pointing on the urge of a reorganisation of energy policies within the union. Climate action and energy policy are one of Juncker Commission’s priorities and the project can be seen as a part of Jean-Claude Juncker’s agenda and political guideline “A new start for Europe”.

According to the Commission’s press release for the launch of the energy union, the EU imports 55% of its energy, and as much as 90% of the housing stock in Europe is energy inefficient. The initiative is thus supposed to reform the way Europe produces, transports and consumes energy. In addition, there is also a focus on diversifying the mix of energy sources. The main goal is to ensure the security of energy supply within the union and to build a single internal energy market, but also to raise energy efficiency. Renewable energy sources will therefore get increasing attention from policymakers, as the Commission wishes to promote research and innovation in order to make the EU a world leader in renewable energy and in the fight against global warming. Moreover, a European energy Union helps European countries to become less independent on energy import and to reach the climate targets for 2020 and 2030.

The new union is scheduled for adoption on 25th February.

Author: Maria Hoff Rudhult, Alternativa Europea (Italy)

The European Central Bank in time of crisis | eu-magazine.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: The European Central Bank in time of crisis | eu-magazine.com.

The Eurozone economic crisis has drastically shaped the European Central Bank’s policies. The need to face the strong shock of the financial markets and the limits in monetary policies imposed by the treaty, lead the ECB to use a series of less conventional tools. In September 2008 the failure of Lehman Brothers caused the catastrophic fall of the global trade volumes (about 18%) and in the euro-zone the real GDP rate decreased by 4.5%. This event caused a dramatic trauma to the banking sector, paralyzing the interbank market and affecting the entire operation of credit. Banks suffered indeed both the fear of counterparty default and the “deleveraging”. The following development of the crisis constitutes the first real challenge for the ECB since its establishment in June 1998.

The first response is between October 2008 and June 2009. In seven months, the European Central Bank (ECB) reduced the key interest rates from 4.25% to 1.0%. Later, it introduced a number of non-standard measures to support credit provisions by banks to the euro-zone: the access of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to the Eurosystems operations; the commitment of the Eurosystem to acquire 60 billion euros of covered bonds; and the introduction of refinancing operations of one year at 1% interest.

Despite the previously mentioned measures, the economies of the Eurozone suffered an increase of public deficit, of debt and of unemployment. To face the first two problems, and given that the treaties prohibit the ECB to purchase government bonds on the primary market, the ECB developed in May 2010 the Securities Markets Program (SMP) to permit the acquisition of Greek, Irish and Portuguese bonds in the secondary market. Afterwards, the SMPs have also been developed for the acquisition of Spanish and Italian bonds. At the end of 2011, the ECB acquired about 190 billion euros.

Between December 2011 and February 2012, the ECB provided loans to banks for an amount of 1,020 billion euros with a 1% interest rate. This action was taken in the framework of the Long Term Refinancing Operations (LTRO) and aimed to help banks with refinancing issues.

In 2012 and 2013, the ECB decided again to reduce the key interest rate to a historic minimum of 0.25%. In addition, to answer to the deterioration of the Eurozone banks system, it creates the Single Supervisory Mechanism, allowing the ECB to monitor the financial stability of the banks based in the Eurozone.

Nowadays, even if in the first quarter of 2015 the Eurozone’s GDP growth rate is positive, many economies of the area still suffer of high deficit, debt and, in particular, unemployment rates. After the announcement of the “seed money” from the new President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Junker, the ECB declared that a new programme, called quantitative easing (QE), will be introduced. The QE will provide 60 billion euros per month (until September 2016) to the Euro-area banks to buy government bonds.

Author: Vania Putatti, Alternativa Europea (Italy)

Photo credits: www.surysur.net/