The stability of Europe is threatened not only by regional disputes such as a civil war in Syria: The looming potential Brexit, a rapid increase of refugees, an unsolved financial problem, but also Russian expansionism as well as a rise of nationalism which is taking the center stage of politics. People tend to focus on European areas when they think about the current financial situation in Europe, however, they should turn their eyes more to Russia.
The nationalism currently overwhelming Europe has its roots in funding from Russia towards the extreme right-wing parties in each country. In the United Kingdom, the government refuses to make a definite promise of receiving refugees because of popularity of United Kingdom Independence Party who supports Putin (the President of Russia). Although Syrian government troops are invading to retake the city Aleppo which anti-government forces controls, Russia supports government troops through bombardments. It makes the peace process more difficult.
Such Russian action did make a slight contribution to the stock market. Many stock markets in the world plunged in the beginning of 2016, but almost improved later on. Russian and Turkish stock markets raised their stock prices to double figures since the beginning of 2016, and currency and bonds are rallying. However, European stock is falling behind the stocks of other countries. Consider the Stoxx 600 index (which consists of 600 main enterprises in Europe), the rise and fall rate since the beginning of 2016 is still down 6.7%. Especially European bank stocks were heavily damaged. Its drop rate reached 19.5%. The European economy is not in very bad condition. ECB (European Central Bank) announced a quantitative easing policy that ended up working better than expected by financial market in March 2016. On the other hand, even though the headwind still blows from overseas, it is getting weak.
However, I think that there are risks remaining inside Europe. Its refugee crisis response made investors realise the awkwardness of policy making. The pending British referendum could be a further risk. There are still fears that the Greek problem comes to the surface again. When it comes to the euro zone, the acceleration of economic growth is still a desire, not reality. S&P (Standard & Poor’s, a rating firm headquartered in the United States) revised its expectation of the growth of the eurozone by 1.8% to 1.5%. This means that Europe is still waiting for continuous growth. Europe should not wait for so long because it can make investors decrease their eagerness about investment. Furthermore Europe also should make Russia stop funding to extreme right-wing parties.
Anzu Imamura
economicpolicystudentscriticism 
Interesting topic! It is true that Russia is quite adept at acts of subversion aimed at weakening European unity, both economically and politically. Indeed, Russian military actions in Syria were partly meant to aggravate the current migration crisis overwhelming Europe – through bombings of hospitals and other areas with a strong civilian presence. In spite of Russia being a declining great power, Putin’s tactical skills are not to be underestimated. Keep up the good work!
– Timothy van der Venne
LikeLike