Ana Palacio, a former Spanish foreign minister and former Senior Vice President of the World Bank, is a member of the Spanish Council of State.
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Ana Palacio
Commentaries by Ana Palacio
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The Importance of Doing Business
MADRID – This month, an independent review panel is expected to release its findings regarding the World Bank’s Doing Business report. Specu…
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How to Boost Foreign Investment
MADRID – Economic globalization, together with a rebalancing of power between the world’s north and south, has made developing countries, an…
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Obama’s Promised Land
MADRID – Now that the dust has settled on President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated trip to Israel, it is possible to analyze the significan…
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Winning the Transatlantic Trade Challenge
MADRID – US President Barack Obama’s announcement that negotiations will begin on a comprehensive “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partne…
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Obama the European?
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama began his second term as US President with an inaugural address that presented a broad vision of American governme…
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Europe’s Narrative Struggle
MADRID – The start of any year invariably prompts stocktaking, and 2012 certainly offers much to consider: the dramatic events in the Middle…
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A European “Maybe” for Palestine
MADRID – On Monday night, the Palestinian Authority submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly that, if approved, w…
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Europe’s Regional Revolts
MADRID – In both Catalonia and Scotland, calls for independence are growing once again – an indication of conditions not only in Spain and t…
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Europe’s Nobel Wake-Up Call
MADRID – In a decision criticized and praised in equal measure, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year’s Peace Prize to the Europea…
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The Next Task for China’s New Leaders
BEIJING – On a recent fact-finding trip to China, organized by the European Council on Foreign Relations, I began with the assumption that t…
Recent comment received by Ana Palacio
Recent comments by Ana Palacio
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Europe’s Nobel Wake-Up Call
I completely agree that there has been too much focus in the media on the financial and economic drivers of the crisis. And while responsibility falls upon all segments of Europe’s socio-economic fabric, the deeper underlying problems are, in fact, political. Given that, as you rightly point out, partial unions have little chance of survival, the issue of articulating Europe’s path becomes even more critical. Against the backdrop of Europe’s lack of able political leadership, commentators are right to question who would be up to that important task. The Nobel Peace Prize would hopefully serve as the catalyst that will bring to bear the duty that comes with it.
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The Next Task for China’s New Leaders
Dear Procyon,
Thank you for your generous comments and insightful remarks.
I particularly agree with your focus on global connectedness and the clash between rising expectations and diminishing mobility – both are important issues that, unfortunately, I couldn’t properly tackle due to space constraints.
It is also true that China’s pragmatism has led it pursuing solutions in a different way, but perhaps it will be more accurate to label them as “old solutions, with Chinese characteristics,” the latter term being omnipresent in the formal Chinese socio-economic and political lexicon.
It is this very pragmatism that should prompt China to voluntarily strengthen the Rule of Law and move it up on the priority list among, as you mention, the many tasks facing the country.
Regards,
AP
The Importance of Doing Business
Gerard Uijtendaal: Although I do not agree with all the criteria used in the Doing Business, I see how it works for example in Russia, Russia might not being seen as the most entrepreneurial friendly place at this momen…
The Importance of Doing Business
Michael Heller: The open letter of support for Doing Business is signed by Michael Klein, Paul Collier, Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu, Graeme Wheeler. EconoMonitor reports: http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2013/05…