Esta edición de la Semana Europea se centra en las tensiones diplomáticas entre Turquía y Grecia, las protestas en Georgia y las buenas noticias sobre la economía.
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00:00Hola y bienvenido a State of the Union, soy Stefan Grobe en Bruselas.
00:10Hace un año, una reunión de las líderes de Turquía y Grecia creó noticias sensacionales.
00:16Pero cuando el presidente Recep Tayyip Erdogan asistió al primer ministro Kiryakos Mitsotakis
00:21en Ankara esta semana, fue casi una conversación rutina entre vecinos.
00:27Hace más de un año, el mundo ha visto una iniciativa de amistad de cinco meses que
00:31fue diseñada para poner fin a décadas de animosidad mutua.
00:36En lugar de eso, los dos miembros de NATO se enfocan en comercio, turismo, energía y
00:41reparación de conexiones culturales.
00:43Erdogan visitó Atenas en diciembre y los dos países han mantenido contactos de alto nivel
00:50aparentemente con éxito.
00:57Hay áreas en las que ambos lados han aceptado el desacuerdo, pero es bueno ver que un viejo
01:24punto de confusión en Europa se ha visto desaparecer, mientras que otro punto de confusión
01:28justo alrededor de la esquina estaba calentando mucho esta semana.
01:31Estoy hablando de Georgia, donde miles de manifestantes se manifestaron cerca del edificio
01:36parlamentario en Tbilisi, nuevamente, solo horas después de que los legisladores dieron
01:40la última aprobación a la ley de influencia extranjera controversial.
01:45Una pieza de legislación que podría haber sido aprobada en Moscú.
01:49Han aprobado la ley a pesar de las alarmas de la Unión Europea de que se interrumpiría
01:52el camino de Georgia a la memoria de la Unión Europea.
01:55La reacción oficial en Bruselas fue silenciada, revelando un sentido de desesperación.
02:01Maybe the government of Georgia should focus on real issues, like the economy, and not
02:24on unpopular stupid laws.
02:26This week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development released its latest economic
02:31outlook.
02:32The numbers for Georgia, which is part of the area where the EBRD operates, were rather
02:38sobering.
02:39In general, the forecast also contained some encouraging news.
02:43Joining me now is Beata Javorczyk, chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction
02:48and Development.
02:49Welcome to the program, always good to see you.
02:52Thank you for having me.
02:54So your latest report is appropriately called Taming Inflation.
02:58And when I look at the numbers, inflation in the EBRD regions came down from a peak
03:03in October 22 of 17.5% to an average of 6.5% last March.
03:13Explain that number for us.
03:14What is behind such a huge drop?
03:17What has helped bring the inflation down were, to a large extent, developments in the international
03:23markets.
03:24We have seen a sharp drop in the prices of natural gas in Europe, decline in prices
03:31of agricultural commodities, and oil prices have remained moderate.
03:38But of course, inflation in our regions of operations still remains above the level saw
03:46before the pandemic, as is the case in advanced economies.
03:50Do you feel a sigh of relief regardless now, or are there still important inflation risks
03:57remaining?
03:58Not all central bankers can consider their job done.
04:01If you look at cumulative inflation, that is, inflation since February 2022 up till
04:08now, it has exceeded 30% in several countries, notably in Egypt, in Turkey, in Hungary, Kazakhstan,
04:19Moldova and Ukraine.
04:21So that means that in the absence of wage increases, people in those countries would
04:27have lost a third of their purchasing power.
04:30Let's talk about the growth outlook in the EBRD's EU regions.
04:36Do you see positive signs going forward?
04:39This year is going to be much better than last year for the Eastern European EU member
04:44states.
04:45In particular, Poland and Croatia stand out with the expected growth of 3%.
04:52Hungary will do as well too.
04:55We see real wages increasing.
04:58We see fiscal policy helping out and the EU funding, the new generation EU, also stimulating
05:07economic activity.
05:08Well, I can't release you without a word on Ukraine.
05:12How is their economy doing in the third year of the war?
05:16The heavy bombings in the last two months mean that the ability of Ukraine to generate
05:26electricity has been severely diminished.
05:31Electricity production is at 40% of what it used to be before the bombings and this capacity
05:40cannot be easily repaired.
05:43All right, Beata Jaworczyk, chief economist of the EBRD, thanks for coming on the show
05:48today.
05:49Thank you for having me, Stephan.
05:51Looking for something fun to do over the weekend?
05:54How about this?
05:56Jumping from a helicopter at 3,000 feet high, diving down to 35 meters above the River Thames
06:03and then soaring through London's Tower Bridge, only to rise up again to 80 meters, the height
06:09required to open the parachute before landing safely.
06:13A complex James Bond-like maneuver known among insiders as a flare.
06:18Well, two professional skydivers from Austria did it this week and described the experience
06:25as a dream come true.
06:27And this coming from veteran skydivers with more than 22,000 jumps under their belt.
06:33From take-off to landing, the London wingsuit flight covered more than a kilometer and reached
06:38a top speed of almost 250 kilometers per hour.
06:43And it lasted 45 seconds.
06:46That might not be enough fun for an entire weekend, but it's a start.
06:51Just don't look down.
06:54That's it for this edition.
06:55I'm Stephan Grobe.
06:56Thank you for watching.
06:57Have an excellent week.