EU Brief

French government: Doha failure nothing to do with Paris - launches coded attack on WTO

In an interview with La Croix, French Minister for Trade Anne-Marie Idrac says the failure of the world trade talks had "nothing to do with France or the EU." She claims that the negotiations failed because of the lack of agreement between the US and India on the 'special safeguard mechanism', and argued that the EU was amongst those offering the most "generous and active" proposals at the talks.



She admits however that there was no common vision within the EU on the level of reciprocity that should be expected of other negotiating parties, or on the means for obtaining it. She notes that Sweden and Britain were happy with the terms already granted by other WTO members, in contrast to a camp including France, Italy and Hungary who were not satisfied. Idrac says that "France and the EU have always been in favour of multilateralism: we should all play by the same rules. But it is not impossible that regional approaches will multiply. And that tomorrow, regional agreements will have more importance than certain international agreements."

La Croix



The heads of Europe's two biggest satellite contractors have criticised the European Commission's "unnecessarily slow" procurement of the Galileo satellite navigation system, urging it to accelerate or face what might become politically unacceptable delays in getting the service started.

Space.com GPS world



Stephen Castle: EU has not ground to a halt without Lisbon

In the IHT, Europe Correspondent Stephen Castle looks at the Lisbon Treaty, noting that its rejection would "in technical terms" not prevent enlargement nor would it grind the EU to a halt. He notes that the Treaty could even make enlargement more difficult, particularly in terms of Turkey, as voting weights in the Council would be based more on population size. Furthermore he argues that the division of responsibilities between a President and a Foreign Minister under Lisbon could make the EU's foreign policy incoherent. He notes, "EU efforts might well be devoted to the minutiae of setting up a new diplomatic corps rather than to more critical matters. When the call comes from Washington, as one U.S. government official put it, the reply might be 'don't bother us now - we're busy jockeying for appointments.'

IHT



Hannan: EU takes confused stance towards China

On his Telegraph blog, Dan Hannan highlights the EU's confused stance towards China. Hannan contrasts what he describes as the weak gestures of complaint from Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering over China's actions in Tibet with the ending of the post-Tiananmen Square EU-China arms embargo and EU-China co-operation over the Galileo satellite system.

Dan Hannan's blog



EU makes "fire safe" cigarettes mandatory, raising costs to produce cigarettes

Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva is to make "fire-safe" cigarettes mandatory across the EU, hoping that the cigarettes - which stop burning automatically after a few seconds if not smoked - can reduce the number of deaths from fires in the EU.

NetZeitung



Gaddafi says Mediterranean Union will divide Africa

Libya's Colonel Gaddafi has repeated his opposition to the French-led Mediterranean Union idea, saying it would separate north Saharan countries from the African Union, during a visit to Tunis on Monday. He said: "I do not agree to cutting up Africa for hypothetical prospects with Europe," adding that the participation of African countries in a Mediterranean bloc was a "violation" of resolutions by the African Union, a 53-nation continent-wide organisation.

AFP EUobserver



EU ready to take on role in Georgia

The EU has briefed the Georgian Foreign Ministry on its proposed role in the situation with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The report says that Europe is ready to more actively engage in direct dialogue between the parties and to help with the process of normalisation of relations with Russia. Estonia has called for the use of EU peacekeeping forces to stem the threat of a new war.

ITAR-TASS EUobserver European Voice WSJ



Britain's Ambassador to Serbia, Stephen Wordsworth, has said Serbia's request that the International Court of Justice gives an opinion on Kosovo's independence is "a mistake" and "a direct challenge to the EU".

Balkan Insight



Gloomy outlook for Spanish banks

A study by Morgan Stanley has given a bleak forecast for Spanish banks suggesting that a replay of the 1990's ERM crisis may take place next year, which would wipe out the capital base of lenders already weakened by the housing market crash. The report also suggests that a "sudden reversal of capital inflows" could leave Spain unable to finance its current account deficit, which is the second largest in the world.

Telegraph FT



World



Alan Greenspan has warned that a heavy-handed regulatory response to the financial crisis would do more harm than good because it would depress global share prices. He worries that governments, already troubled by inflation, might try to reassert their grip on economic affairs.

FT Greenspan