Accessibility helpSkip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footer

Cookies on FT Sites

We use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.

Accept & continue
Manage cookies
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
Open side navigation menuOpen search bar
Financial Times
myFT
  • Home
  • World
    Sections
    • World Home
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
    Most Read
    • US launches air strikes against Iran-linked militias in Syria
    • Why global Covid infections have plummeted
    • ‘Their hair is on fire’: Trump fans await return to political stage
    • Scotland reaps dividend of Covid response that diverged from England’s
    • US removes stumbling block to global deal on digital tax
  • US
    Sections
    • US Home
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
    Most Read
    • Nasdaq slides 3.5% as government bond rout accelerates
    • US launches air strikes against Iran-linked militias in Syria
    • Yuval Noah Harari: Lessons from a year of Covid | Free to read
    • Treasury yields fall after savage bond sell-off abates
    • Why global Covid infections have plummeted
  • Companies
    Sections
    • Companies Home
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
    Most Read
    • McKinsey partners sacrifice leader in ‘ritual cleansing’
    • Amanda Staveley loses High Court battle against Barclays
    • Head of Canada’s largest pension fund quits after Covid vaccine trip
    • Jeff Immelt shares out blame for GE’s decline
    • Soho House plans to list in New York with $3bn valuation
  • Tech
  • Markets
    Sections
    • Markets Home
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
    Most Read
    • Treasury yields fall after savage bond sell-off abates
    • ECB signals rising concern about eurozone bond market sell-off
    • Australia sovereign wealth fund chief warns of stock market ‘clean-out’
    • When bitcoin bros* talk money-printing
    • Return of the bond vigilantes: will inflation fears spoil the post-pandemic party?
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    Sections
    • Opinion Home
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
    Most Read
    • A Lucid sign of the tech bubble
    • Joe Biden has a lesson in democracy for Angela Merkel
    • Jay-Z created a hip-hop path to luxury influence
    • Let the market determine bitcoin’s value
    • Budget 2021: the knowns and unknowns
  • Work & Careers
    Sections
    • Work & Careers Home
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
    Most Read
    • Leaders’ Lessons: what can we learn from those at the top?
    • The unsettling internal threat to McKinsey’s next leader
    • Forced mediocrity can boost your creativity
    • Delta’s Ed Bastian: building staff loyalty to survive a crisis
    • Toxic offices don’t change when they go virtual
  • Life & Arts
    Sections
    • Life & Arts Home
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
    Most Read
    • Yuval Noah Harari: Lessons from a year of Covid | Free to read
    • Mexico’s Tulum is a buyer’s market
    • Budget 2021: the knowns and unknowns
    • Late greats: why some brilliant ideas get overlooked
    • Do Republicans even want government to exist?
  • How to Spend It
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
MenuSearch
  • Home
  • World
  • US
  • Companies
  • Tech
  • Markets
  • Climate
  • Opinion
  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts
  • How to Spend It
Financial Times
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe

$50 for your first 3 months Get the print edition and steer from crisis to recovery

Subscribe now

Wolfgang Münchau

Former European Commentator

Wolfgang Münchau was an associate editor of the Financial Times, where he wrote a weekly column about the European Union and the European economy. Before taking up this position in September 2003, he was co-editor of Financial Times Deutschland for two years.

Before joining FT Deutschland, Mr Münchau was a Frankfurt correspondent and later economics correspondent of the Financial Times, reporting on the preparation for the final stage of monetary union and the launch of the euro.

Add to myFT Digest

Add this topic to your myFT Digest for news straight to your inbox

  • Sunday, 27 September, 2020
    European Union
    Complacent insiders sow the seeds of their own demise

    Different qualities help nonconformist challengers to succeed

  • Sunday, 20 September, 2020
    European Union
    Beware of smoke and mirrors in the EU’s recovery fund

    National political pressures will divert money from truly worthwhile projects

  • Sunday, 13 September, 2020
    Coronavirus pandemic
    Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment holds a worldwide warning

    Do not jump to conclusions about lockdowns before all the data is in and analysed

  • Sunday, 6 September, 2020
    Eurozone economy
    ECB should ignore latest central bank inflation fad

    There are more pressing real economy issues than tweaking its price targeting regime

  • Sunday, 30 August, 2020
    Eurozone economy
    Europe needs to avoid a ‘decade of forbearance’

    Otherwise its economy will emerge from this crisis weakened, yet again

  • Sunday, 23 August, 2020
    Brexit
    The risk of a no-deal Brexit is rising, and that’s no bad thing

    The EU cannot deny the UK the same discretionary approach of its own competition policy

  • Sunday, 19 July, 2020
    Central banks
    A flexible inflation target is not a panacea

    Central banks are attracted to a policy that would give them more flexibility during a crisis, but it has downsides

  • Sunday, 12 July, 2020
    Technology sector
    Covid-19 will finally mark the end of the analogue age

    The pandemic has accelerated society’s shift to a more digital world

  • Sunday, 5 July, 2020
    Eurozone reform
    Will Angela Merkel save Europe?

    Solving the EU’s problems will take more than her coronavirus recovery plan

  • Promoted Content
  • Sunday, 28 June, 2020
    Eurozone economy
    A rapid rebound would challenge EU contradictions

    While welcome, swift economic recovery would pose awkward questions for monetary and fiscal policy

  • Sunday, 21 June, 2020
    Trade disputes
    A truly ugly transatlantic trade war is looming

    Both the US and EU are being unreasonable, be it over digital taxes, food, gas or cars

  • Sunday, 14 June, 2020
    3D printing
    3D printing can be a real source for optimism

    The Covid-19 lockdown could provide the boost the technology needs

  • Sunday, 7 June, 2020
    Brexit
    The UK and EU are facing the most extreme version of Brexit

    Political miscalculations have harmed negotiations that could well fail to secure a trade deal

  • Sunday, 31 May, 2020
    EU economy
    Europe cannot fudge its way to a federal future

    The EU’s emergency budget increase is not all it seems, and Germany is still no convert to a fiscal union

  • Sunday, 24 May, 2020
    European Union
    China is pitting EU countries against each other

    Italy’s lurch towards full-blown Euroscepticism threatens the bloc’s stability

  • Sunday, 17 May, 2020
    European Union
    Failure of storytelling stokes identity politics in Europe

    To defeat Euroscepticism, leaders in Brussels must change the narrative 

  • Sunday, 10 May, 2020
    European Central Bank
    The ECB is deluding itself over German court ruling

    A smart response would be for the EU to address the problems of the eurozone head on

  • Sunday, 3 May, 2020
    European Central Bank
    Don’t blame German judges if they say No to ECB asset purchases

    It would be the underlying law and EU treaty that needs changing, not the ruling

  • Sunday, 26 April, 2020
    EU economy
    How to think about the EU’s rescue fund

    We do not need another big lending programme; equity investments would get us out of the credit-versus-loans debate

  • Sunday, 19 April, 2020
    Eurozone economy
    Italy is in more danger than the eurozone knows

    It is hard to overstate the turn to Euroscepticism. It will not go away when lockdown ends

  • Sunday, 12 April, 2020
    Eurozone economy
    How the next euro crisis could unfold

    What if Italy cannot service its debt and a future government is tempted to default?

  • Sunday, 5 April, 2020
    Coronavirus pandemic
    Germany’s testing success looks real — for now

    But statistics that show how many days one country is behind another are humbug

  • Sunday, 29 March, 2020
    Eurozone reform
    Go-it-alone ‘coronabonds’ are worth the risk

    Nine countries can make a stand for sharing the fiscal burden of the pandemic

  • Sunday, 22 March, 2020
    Coronavirus pandemic
    Europe needs a new scale of stimulus — and cash not credit

    Direct payments should be made to citizens and companies

  • Sunday, 15 March, 2020
    European Union
    Eurozone stability is under threat again

    Without a co-ordinated response, national stimulus policies will end up increasing imbalances

Previous You are on page 1 Next

Useful links

Support

View Site TipsHelp CentreContact UsAbout UsAccessibilitymyFT TourCareers

Legal & Privacy

Terms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyCookiesCopyrightSlavery Statement & Policies

Services

FT LiveShare News Tips SecurelyIndividual SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsRepublishingContracts & Tenders
Executive Job SearchAdvertise with the FTFollow the FT on TwitterFT TransactSecondary Schools

Tools

PortfolioToday's Newspaper (ePaper)Alerts HubBusiness School Rankings
Enterprise ToolsNews feedNewslettersCurrency Converter
More from the FT Group
Markets data delayed by at least 15 minutes. © THE FINANCIAL TIMES LTD 2021. FT and ‘Financial Times’ are trademarks of The Financial Times Ltd.
The Financial Times and its journalism are subject to a self-regulation regime under the FT Editorial Code of Practice.
Financial Times

International Edition

  • Switch to UK Edition
  • Top sections
  • Home
  • World
    • Global Economy
    • UK
    • US
    • China
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Emerging Markets
    • Europe
    • Americas
    • Middle East and North Africa
  • US
    • US Economy
    • US Companies
    • US Politics & Policy
  • Companies
    • Energy
    • Financials
    • Health
    • Industrials
    • Media
    • Professional Services
    • Retail & Consumer
    • Tech Sector
    • Telecoms
    • Transport
  • Tech
  • Markets
    • Alphaville
    • Markets Data
    • Capital Markets
    • Commodities
    • Currencies
    • Equities
    • Fund Management
    • Trading
    • Moral Money
    • ETF Hub
  • Climate
  • Opinion
    • Columnists
    • The FT View
    • The Big Read
    • Lex
    • Obituaries
    • Letters
  • Work & Careers
    • Business School Rankings
    • Business Education
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Recruitment
    • Business Books
    • Business Travel
  • Life & Arts
    • Arts
    • Books
    • Food & Drink
    • FT Magazine
    • House & Home
    • Style
    • Travel
    • FT Globetrotter
  • Personal Finance
    • Property & Mortgages
    • Investments
    • Pensions
    • Tax
    • Banking & Savings
    • Advice & Comment
    • Next Act
  • How to Spend It
  • Special Reports
  • FT recommends
  • Graphics
  • Lex
  • Alphaville
  • Lunch with the FT
  • FT Globetrotter
  • #techAsia
  • Moral Money
  • FTfm
  • Newsletters
  • Video
  • Podcasts
  • News feed
  • myFT
  • Portfolio
  • Today's Newspaper (ePaper)
  • Crossword
  • Our Apps
  • Help Centre
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In