The Great Debate

– Margaret Doyle is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are her own –

It’s tough on Ukraine, but European banks should pull out. It may not be the only Eastern European economy giving its western bankers a headache but that country’s political chaos and weak corporate governance outweigh the prospects of a return to growth.

Hungarians and Romanians, the bulk of whose loans are in foreign currencies, have seen their debts rise as their own currencies fall. And Sweden’s SEB and Swedbank have taken a pasting in their neighbouring Baltic states.

Austria’s Erste Bank managed to make a profit in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and even Romania, (where it lifted bad loan provisions five-fold), albeit at a lower level than last year.

However, like the Swedes, it came a cropper in Ukraine.

The EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have stepped in to the rot, but Ukraine is still floundering.

– Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine that has left hundreds of thousands of Europeans shivering in the winter cold is bound to accelerate plodding European Union efforts to build a common energy policy.

The cut-off of Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine highlighted how little progress the 27-nation EU has made in connecting national energy networks and diversifying supplies since the first such crisis three years ago.

– Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

The European Union is entering a lame duck year just as new challenges are mounting from Israel’s assault on Gaza, Russia’s gas cut-off to Ukraine and the impending inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The EU’s active crisis management in the Georgia war and the global financial meltdown last year under the energetic leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy was an exception, not the dawn of a new, more effective Union.