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EU military mission in Chad dependent on Russian support
The Irish Times reports that Russia has agreed to send four helicopters and up to 200 military personnel to take part in the EU mission to Chad despite recent tensions with Europe over its role in the Georgian crisis. It is reported that EU officials this week after discussion decided to accept Russia's offer. The article notes that the mission has struggled to find enough helicopters and quotes Daniel Keohane of the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris, as saying: "Despite spending 200 billion eurosannually, it still took fully six months to find only 16 helicopters and 10 transport planes for the Chad mission."
UK Government welcomes EU plans to allow citizens to be tried in their absence in other member states
Various papers pick up on Open Europe's new briefing paper on EU plans which would allow for citizens to be extradited automatically at the request of other EU states, since the proposal would impose recognition of foreign trials in absentia.
The Ministry of Justice has said the plan would "increase legal certainty and improve mutual trust amongst member states", while a spokesman was quoted: "The initiative will ensure that there is clarity as to when the courts of one member state recognise a decision taken by another member state in a person's absence." However, the plans have come under criticism for compromising civil liberties.
Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe was quoted on the BBC website and in the Mail, as saying, "This proposal could open the door to serious miscarriages of justice and ministers should not be supporting it."
BBC Daily Mail Telegraph Hannan The Trumpet Open Europe briefing
The European Parliament's Culture Committee has adopted a report recommending the regulation of blogs, including making it impossible to blog anonymously.
Brown's fuel poverty plan thwarted by EU rules
The Times reports that Gordon Brown's plan to raise £500 million to fund fuel vouchers for vulnerable families has had to be abandoned as a result of EU rules. The original plan had been to increase the number of permits being sold (rather than given away for free) under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from the current 7% of the total to 10%. However, one source familiar with the negotiations told the newspaper that "The EU have said that they are not prepared to reopen the book on that." The article notes that "the collapse of the scheme will be a blow to Mr Brown and will no doubt renew pressure on him to impose a windfall tax on energy companies' profits."
The EUreferendum blog argues that "the conflict between the EU's obsession with climate change and the national interest of the UK, in needing to maintain continuous and affordable energy supplies, looks like it could become the defining issue in our relationship with the EU."
The Guardian reports that the EU is studying plans for a transnational power grid in the North Sea, intended to link wind plants in the region. It could cost up to 20bn euros (£16bn) to install. The Times article notes that the investment needed for new renewable energy in the UK (required by EU targets) will top £100bn.
Ukraine coalition crumbles; US commits $1bn aid to Georgia
Ukraine's pro-Western Orange coalition fell apart in acrimony yesterday. According to the FT, President Yushchenko accused Ms Tymoshenko's followers of plotting an "anti-constitutional coup" by voting with the opposition communists and the Moscow-leaning Regions Party for legislation to cut the President's authority.
Meanwhile, the US yesterday announced $1 billion (£563 million) in aid to Georgia to help to rebuild its war-ravaged economy. US officials said, however, that it was too soon to consider military assistance.
UK Conservative leader David Cameron said in a foreign policy speech in Islamabad yesterday that "There must be no more scurrying of European leaders to Moscow to compete for Mr Putin's favours. This got us nowhere. And let's be clear, the EU does not need a new treaty to work out an agreed policy on Russia."
Telegraph Times Times 2 FD FT FT 2 FT 3
EU officials increasingly leaving Brussels to take up private sector posts
Le Monde reports on a growing trend in Brussels which has seen former EU Commissioners taking up high profile jobs in the private sector. In 2000 German Martin Bandermann, former EU Telecommunications Commissioner, provoked a scandal when he decided to leave office and join Spanish company Telefonica. Since then, members of the Commission must respect a 'code of conduct' whereby an ethical committee must be convened if they go on to take a job related to their former portfolio in the year after the end of their mandate. However Le Monde notes that the rules are lax, and haven't stopped former Competition Commissioner Mario Monti from becoming an advisor at Goldman Sachs, for example. The article notes that several officials are now following suit, taking up jobs in lawyers' offices or with multinationals. Recently, for instance, Frenchman Michel Petite, Director General of the Commission's judicial services has been taken on as an advisor by Clifford Chance, and before him, Alexander Schaub, Director General of Internal Market, joined Freshfields.
This practice of civil servants leaving to take up work in the private sector, which Le Monde says remains "sensitive" or even "taboo" in Brussels, is not limited to the Commission. For example, the UK ambassador to Brussels, John Grant, left his job to head up the European operations of London-based mining giant BHP Billiton. There are also examples from the European Parliament. The paper notes that part of the motivation is the fact that Brussels is a hotbed of lobbying, with around 15,000 industry lobbyists active around the institutions.
A separate article notes that barely 300 lobbyist groups have registered on the database set up at the end of June.
Le Monde reports on a new TNS poll which shows that only 38 percent of French people feel like European citizens, compared with 37 percent in 1992. 54 percent said they would feel more European if they were able to vote for a President of the EU.
MacShane: European Court of Justice is pushing social provisions on member states
In the New Statesman's "Trade Union Guide 2009", former Labour Europe Minister Denis MacShane has an article on how the EU is pushing social democratic legislation on the member states, most notably through the European Court of Justice (ECJ). He argues that the ECJ has "upheld a wide range of rights for woman in Britain, ranging from paid holidays to common retirement ages" and has extended EU discrimination directives through interpretation.
Ireland to break EU Stability and Growth Pact for the first time
Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has confirmed that Ireland will have to breach EU guidelines on borrowing this year and next year in order to deal with the deteriorating public finances. The guidelines set down in the Stability and Growth Pact limit Government borrowing to a maximum of 3 per cent of gross national product (GNP). This year will be the first time that Ireland has breached the pact which was agreed in Dublin in 1996.
The Euro has lost 8% of its value in less than one month and is at the lowest value against the dollar since the beginning of the year.
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