Europe
Brown calls for "Europe-wide funding scheme" for banks;
Evans-Pritchard: who is going to bail out the euro?
Yesterday saw a coordinated response to the financial crisis as central banks across the globe from the US to Europe and China cut interest rates in efforts to stave off global recession and restore confidence in the markets. However, the Irish Independent reports that the measure has failed to arrest the slide in European shares.
Following Britain's £400bn rescue plan announced yesterday, the FT reports that Gordon Brown has called for the rest of the EU to follow suit with a "Europe-wide funding scheme" to be discussed at the EU Summit next week. However, writing in the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard calls into question whether the eurozone is capable of a British-style rescue plan: "There is no EU treasury or debt union to back up the single currency. The ECB is not allowed to launch bail-outs by EU law. Each country must save its own skin, yet none has full control of the policy instruments."
Evans-Pritchard also notes that the crisis is testing Germany's commitment to the euro: "One can sympathise with Berlin. But sharing debts with Italy and Spain was implicit when they agreed to launch the euro... We have reached the watershed moment when Germany has to decide whether to put its full sovereign weight behind the EMU project or reveal that it is not prepared to do so in a crisis."
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has stated that "Europe needs the Lisbon Treaty to tackle the current crisis facing the EU", according to the Irish Times. Barroso and the French EU Presidency have urged states to complete ratification as soon as possible to end current uncertainty.
Irish Independent Telegraph Evans-Pritchard FT Le Figaro WSJ WSJ-editorial Telegraph EUobserver WSJ Mirror EUobserver AFP FT-Peel Irish Times European Voice CoulissesdeBruxelles Irish Times 2
Government votes against transparency for EU legislation;
Denis MacShane claims German government estimate is non-existent and "a lie"
Conservative MP Mark Harper yesterday introduced a new Bill in Parliament which would have required Ministers to declare, on the front of every Bill and regulation, whether it is the result of an EU decision. The idea of the EU (Transparency) Bill was to make the legislative process and the role of the EU in it more transparent and accountable to the public. However the Bill was voted down, with the Government whipping its MPs to oppose it and, in an unusual practice, even Government Ministers were told to oppose the Bill. Mr Harper said: "The aim of my Bill was simple: to improve openness and transparency in the way our laws are made. It is extraordinary that the Government are opposed to openness and transparency. It makes you wonder what they have got to hide."
Leading opposition to the Bill was former Europe Minister Denis MacShane. He said the Bill should be opposed because, "If we think honestly about what takes up our time in the House, what worries our constituents and what fills the front pages of our newspapers, we find that very little is connected with the EU."
MacShane also wrongly claimed that one German estimate of the percentage of national law originating in Brussels, mentioned in passing by Mark Harper, was a "lie". He said, "The BBC and others have been trying to find this German Government source--is it Goethe, Schiller, or Mrs. Merkel?--and find that they cannot. It really is not good enough to come to the House and quote anonymous Germans, whoever they may be, in defence of the preposterous position that 80 per cent of all our laws come from the European Union."
In fact the estimate was made by Former German President Roman Herzog in an article in Welt Am Sonntag on 14 February 2005. Herzog calculated the figure using information provided by State Parliamentary Undersecretary Alfred Hartenbach, who in April 2005 gave details of the number of acts passed by the German Parliament between 1998 and 2004, and the number of EU regulations and directives passed. This information is available in the German Parliamentary Journal of 6 May 2005.
OE blog Hansard Welt am Sonntag German Parliamentary Journal
EU spin doctors say British newspapers publish "lies"
NRC Handelsblad reports on how the European Union employs public servants to monitor so-called "fantastic stories" about the EU that are alleged to be told especially bythe British press. Antonia Mochan, employed by the European Commission in London to pubish a list of stories on the internet, is quoted as saying his job is "frustrating". "Especially tabloids publish a lot of rubbish", says Mochan. "While The Sun and The Mirror often publish funny stories, so-called quality papers as The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and The Times publish lies as research journalism".
The European Commision spokesman in Brussels , Joe Hennon, complains in the article about never being called by these journalists for verification. However George Pascoe-Watson of the Sun is quoted as saying: "Since when do journalists have to rely on spokesmen?"
NRC
UK joins Poland in calling on EU to alter policy in light of financial crisis
There has been widespread coverage of the reaction of politicians and carmakers to the announcement yesterday of the EU's new climate targets. The AFP reports Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying, "The international financial crisis makes it necessary to revise the energy and climate package to take into account the new circumstances."
Neil Winton in the WSJ writes that, "just when Western European car sales are dropping off a cliff and balance sheets face a flood of red ink, the European Union wants to force its car manufacturers to raise their already impressive fuel economy, at crippling expense, in the name of saving the planet." GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster described market conditions as "grim" and called for EU-level action to stimulate the economy, relieve the credit crunch and restore consumer confidence. But in particular he demanded clarity about proposed EU legislation to further curb emissions of carbon dioxide. "We need action on a reasonable, results-focused, pan-European CO2 policy."
AFP Reuters WSJ-editorial Guardians
Top German judge: "EU should become closer to the citizen and more modest"
Abendblatt reports that the President of the German Consitutional Court Hans-Jürgen Papier has pleaded in a speech in Hamburg for an enforcement of the principles of subsidiarity and democracy in the EU. He is quoted as saying that "enthusiasm is lacking for EU integration. Instead it is faced with growing scepticism." He said that the EU should cope with this through becoming "closer to the citizen and more modest".
No link
Lucas: Europe must not be complacent about new 'Cold War' with Russia
Edward Lucas writes in the Financial Times that Russia should not be allowed to 'Finlandise' Europe. With reference to the recent Georgian conflict, Lucas argues that despite a strained relationship of "mistrust and mutual disdain", European powers have been reluctant to challenge Russian military adventures beyond 'token protest'. Meanwhile, Le Figaro reports that a rethink of European defense, a 'Sarkozy-Medvedev understanding', is due to take place before the end of 2009, and UPI and Wiener Zeitung report that Russian President Medvedev has called for a Russian missile shield.
FT UPI Wiener Zeitung Le Figaro (no link)
UN refers Kosovar declaration of independence to ICJ
Most EU countries abstained from a UN vote that referred the Kosavar declaration of independence to the International Court of Justice, which will offer a non-biding advisory judgment. The EU broadly welcomed the declaration but Serbia, backed by Russia, saw the move by the breakaway state as illegal, and Moscow used the example of Kosovo to justify Russia's recent manoeuvres in Georgia.
German President says he approves Lisbon Treaty but awaits Constitutional Court's verdict to formally sign
German President Horst Köhler has declared he will approve the Lisbon Treaty. According to his spokesman, Köhler has found "that document raises no significant constitutional concerns." However, he has not formally signed off the act that would finalise German ratification. Koehler said he would await German Federal Court rulings on cases brought by Germans who oppose the treaty.
Ukraine's pro-western President has dissolved parliament, with snap elections set for December.
BBC Times Independent Deutsche Welle Washington Post AFP
The Belarusian opposition has backed EU efforts to continue dialogue with the authoritarian regime following the disputed elections, but insists that international pressure, including continuing Visa restrictions for diplomats, should be stepped up.
A Georgian official yesterday said that Russian troops have completed a pullback from buffer zones next to breakaway Georgian regions; BBC's Mardell suggests that Georgia is not necessarily looking to Europe
Posts
