The European Council in December 2007 established a Reflection Group to identify the challenges that the European Union must face in the following twenty years and review what the answers to this event could be. The group was lead by Felipe Gonzalez and the result of their deliberations were made public 30 months later, just when the international crisis reached that country, causing huge political tensions as a result of the needed economic adjustment that had to be taken to face it and achieve mitigating them.The timing of the report is undeniable. It precisely addresses the issues that are the core of the dilemmas which entails the loss of wealth with increasing unemployment rates and the problems of competence for wage and salary, costs, an aging population, the loss of force of the European economies. Added to all the above, we have to mention the destabilizing fiscal deficit; the debt reappearance as a sword of Damocles, the fragility of financial markets and their intermediaries; the environmental damage as well as the long horizon for the return of all the roads which these economies require to maintain their global poise and not lose the leading role they have achieved and is threatened by the presence of several emerging economies that are climbing in their participation within the global economy.

Excessive weight of current expenditure, the inability to sustain high levels of public investments, shortages of foreign direct investment and lack of incentives and security for private investments, a weak institutionalization and rule of the law; deficient infrastructures, narrow minded attitude towards trade and globalization; low competitiveness and productivity among others, are the adverse factors to the imperative of achieving a sustained and high growth and sound public finances.

Budget for 2010

Despite the unanticipated revenue stream, the high oil prices and acceptable tax returns for the payment of the 2009 floating debt and the lack of credits to finance the deficit , in the first half of 2010, the government had to stop the public spending, mainly the investment..Until the end of the year it will be forced to keep the tendency and therefore reduce the deficit. A possible scenario is shown in graphic 1.

Google shut down its mainland Chinese-language portal earlier this year over censorship concerns and a cyber attack it said it traced to China. China has the world's largest number of Internet users and while the market has boomed, Beijing has kept a tight grip over sensitive content on subjects like politics and ethnic unrest. Robert Boorstin, Google's director of corporate and policy communications, said the company is working with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the State Department, Commerce Department and European officials to build a case to take to the World Trade Organization. Such a case could help U.S. tech companies seeking greater access to Chinese consumers while furthering the U.S. government's human rights agenda.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her technology advisers have promoted Internet freedom as a basic human right.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa got under way with a spectacular and vibrant opening ceremony at the 94,000-capacity Soccer City in Johannesburg.  The ceremony was followed by the first game of the tournament between the hosts and Mexico, which ended 1-1.  Africa is staging the World Cup for the first time, with 32 nations competing in 64 games until the final on 11 July. Nelson Mandela was due to attend the opening ceremony but withdrew following the death of his great-granddaughter.  Zenani Mandela, 13, died in a car crash when travelling home from the pre-World Cup concert in Johannesburg on Thursday. She was one of the 91-year-old anti-apartheid icon's nine great-grandchildren.