Juncker Will Stay As Head Of Eurogroup, WirtschaftsWoche Reports

Bloomberg reported news from Wirtschaftswoche, according to which Juncker will stay on as President of the Eurogroup, AND Yves Mersch, the Luxembourg central banker will join the Executive Board of ECB.


If confirmed, this reveals Juncker's excellent skills around the un-elected European power alleys. He contemplated the possibility to be outmaneuvered and said he would not pursue the job anymore. Then helped setting rules for his successor to be a former head of government, then lobbied for Mr. Schaeuble, himself not a head of government, and finished visiting Mr. Hollande almost minutes after he got elected President of France. To knowledgeable observers, this was clear evidence of a covert operation to keep the job.


What is more, Juncker has declared that he would prefer concentrating on his job as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and that accumulating two jobs would be unrealistic for the future head of Eurogroup. That notion got amended more recently into something that makes it all of a sudden highly desirable again that Mr Euro should also be a national Minister of Finance, which he is. Accumulating or not? Mr. Frieden, his successor in petto as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, keeps his fingers crossed.


If all this is true, it is a beautiful success for Juncker in the messy European establishment politics. It was also always speculated that if Juncker would stay on as Mr Euro, that would preclude Yves Mersch from joining the ECB's Executive Board. According to Wirtschaftswoche's sources, Luxembourg would get the two prizes! A double whammy!


We might not beat Malta in soccer, but our people are tops in Europe, and tell you where it goes around! No wonder you all trust us with your money in our banks. We provide the sheriffs as you can see.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency charges Lance Armstrong who denies charges.

Lance Armstrong was formally charged with doping as ESPN reported.

Our Luxembourg cycling fans will note in the correspondence available at ESPN, and the initial paragraph of which is below, that also named is Mr. Bruyneel, who is, if I'm not wrong, Andy and Frank Schleck's manager. 

It is a sad day for cycling, even if this this turns out to be untrue. But this is a steep mountain to climb.

In so many words!

When regulators meet in Luxembourg:

Come see how we do it!

Luxembourg and the 68th anniversary of D-Day

68 years after the Longest Day on Normandy's beaches on June 6th, 1944, I found no mention of the historic event in the Luxembourg online Press. Silence.

   Luxembourg-Hamm US Cemetary. Silence. Too.

Luxembourg companies operate 65% of the world's geostationary satellites

That sounds impossible?
Let's see the news: http://tinyurl.com/72xcqm9
Intelsat launched Intelsat 19. Intelsat is a Luxembourg company, since it moved its headquarters from Washington to Luxembourg.
It thus adds the satellite count to the domestic SES, which adds up to about 110. Uncertainty is about the satellites at the end of life cycle and being replaced.
That makes Luxembourg the mightiest satellite operator in the universe. What about that!?
There was a time in the 1980ies, when our French neighbors pushed to limit Luxembourg satellites' foot print to the territory of Luxembourg

EU To Extend Probe On State Aid Given To Dexia

Dexia, the crisis plagued Franco-Belgian-Luxembourg bank on life support has the number of "doctors" around it scratching their heads. Comes along the regulator, who thinks that the treatment might be illegal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120531-716485.html

It certainly reeks of therapeutic relentlessness. By the way, many of the good fine weather doctors have left the Board when things got too ugly. They had a good ride though.