Europe: About to Take One Step Back?

The story of Europe has been the story of two steps forward and one step back. Here are the two steps forward:

Since the eurozone crisis, the ECB has taken steps with its LTRO programs to stabilize the banking and financial system. Moreover, I wrote that Mario Draghi, on behalf of the eurocrats, outlined the Gayle Allard at the IE Business School in Madrid who says to not count Spain out in a crisis:

[Allard] said Spain’s biggest problem is investors’ lack of faith in the population’s willingness to withstand austerity. “They don’t see the Spanish people in that way, they don’t understand how a country can put up with it,” she said.

“Having watched Spain through previous crisis, they are a pretty surprising country. They get behind things, hard things,” Allard said. “I don’t think this is ever going to look like Greece and that’s something the markets don’t understand.”

Italy does structural reform
Over in Italy, FT recently reported that Mario Monti clashed with the unions over structural reforms "that would give companies more flexibility to fire workers for economic reasons" and he is winning because of weakened opposition:

[W]ith the [labor union] CGIL considerably weaker than a decade ago and with the main political parties in no position to offer a coherent alternative to the present government, political commentators doubt Mr Monti’s technocrats risk being driven from office.

Opinion polls indicate strong public support for Mr Monti in general, although a majority of Italians opposes changing Article 18 which protects workers in the courts from wrongful dismissals for economic reasons. Under the proposed changes, employees would receive compensation but not reintegration back into their workplace.

Monti is also following the Grand Plan script of structural reforms which pit the young unemployed against their elders, who have secure jobs:

With nearly a third of young people unemployed, Mr Monti also wants to end Italy’s two-tier labour market that protects older workers on indefinite contracts but provides little or no security for mostly new hires on short-term contracts.

The politicians are indeed following through with painful structural reforms. In the meantime, there is doubt from the markets that they can implement them even if the legislation is passed. In a typical EU-style compromise, some of the legislation will get watered down, but I believe that the pendulum is swinging back and the momentum toward structural reform is inevitable.

For now, the message for investors is be prepared for some downside volatility out of Europe. But also know that it is likely a temporary hiccup out of which Grand Plan 2.0 will emerge.

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Written By: Cam Hui