Greece

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

Two years after the European Commission carried out the bidding of German Chancellor Angela Merkel by approving a plan to distribute migrants entering the Schengen area through Greece and Italy evenly across the European Union, the people of Europe have made their displeasure with Merkel’s “open door” policy abundantly clear.

Besides the traditional and quite forgettable exchange of diplomatic pleasantries during the first meeting between President Trump and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday, there were two remarkable highlights.

The man who made "nein" a household word everywhere, and especially Greece, will no longer be in charge of Europe's biggest economy.

As part of the fallout from Sunday's disastrous, for the CDU election, election which will see Merkel govern in a three-way coalition with the minor German parties, it was expected that Germany's iconic finance minister Wolfgang Schauble would be kicked out of his post. It also means that Germany's pro-business, low-tax FDP, whose support Merkel is likely to need, will be put in charge of the coveted finance ministry position.

Authored by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, famous for his imbibition capacity and uttering -not necessarily in that order- the legendary words “when it becomes serious, you have to lie”, presented his State of the Union today. Which is of pretty much limited interest because, as Yanis Varoufakis’ book ‘Adults in the Room’ once again confirmed, Juncker is nothing but ventriloquist Angela Merkel’s sock puppet.