Europe
Giscard d'Estaing: Coordinated EU response to crisis "not realistic"
According an interview with La Tribune cited by Toute L'Europe, Former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has said of the financial crisis, "the idea that the 27 nations can find common solutions does not seem realistic".
De Standaard and the EUobserver report that European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso yesterday rejected accusations that the Commission had failed to act quickly to the ongoing global financial turmoil, saying it was in fact member states that had resisted stronger regulatory integration at the EU level. Barrosso said, in a Friends of the Earth seminar, "The truth is not that the Commission has remained too passive, but rather that member states don't want any EU measures. And in the European Parliament the divisions are great."
EUobserver quotes Barroso as saying, "We all know that before this crisis, there was no chance of introducing more European regulation. Some of the most relevant member states in the economic and financial dimension would never have accepted it." However, Czech Prime Minister Topalek, who will preside over the EU from January, has criticised the way the EU has handled the financial crisis as "too interventionist", announcing that at the 15 October European Summit he will veto all measures deemed "not in line with common sense".
Former Commissioner Mario Monti is quoted in De Standaard saying that, as a consequence of the crisis, the EU will have to face the choice: further integration or disintegration.
Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that the IMF is preparing a 200bn dollar fund to shore up stricken states. It writes that the British Chancellor, Alistair Darling, will urge the G7 to consider emulating his emergency bail-out for banks, as talks on global action begin in Washington to tackle the financial crisis.
Yet the FT reports that doubts remain over the commitment of the world's richest nations to work together to tackle the financial crisis, as France and Germany voiced concern about a key part of the British plan. Paris said it would not follow London in offering guarantees on as much as £250bn of new bank debt to kick-start the money markets, which have ground to a standstill as institutions refuse to lend. While German officials did not reject the suggestion outright, they said there was no need to endorse it for now.
The FT also reports that Ireland has broadened its guarantee on bank deposits to include foreign-owned banks, in response to European Commission concerns.
Steve Scherer argues in a news feature on Bloomberg, "It took the European Union almost three decades to agree on what could legitimately be called chocolate. That doesn't bode well for its handling of the worst financial crisis in its history. The club of 27 governments has been relegated to bit-player status in the drama as global central banks coordinate rate cuts and individual European nations move unilaterally to fortify their own banking systems."
In a summary of the week's developments of the financial crisis in Europe, the Economist notes that the crisis has "cruelly exposed the institutional and political limits of the European project", and argues that there was a lack of "political will" to coordinate efforts for a rescue plan.
Economist Bloomberg Sherer De Tijd Standaard EUobserver Telegraph leader AP Washington Post Reuters BBC Guardian IHT Guardian AFPFT IHT-Reuters Le Monde IHT Touteleurope FT1 FT2
Commission proposes "rebuttal" mechanism in member states to counter criticism of Lisbon Treaty and EU
The Irish Times has published a letter from Communications Commissioner Margot Wallström, sent in mid-July to her fellow Commissioners, titled "Communication Policy and the Irish Referendum - Lessons Learned and the Way Ahead". In the letter, Wallström sets out a number of proposals on "how best to inform the public and gain their confidence and support" for the Lisbon Treaty and the EU.
She says that lessons from the Irish referendum campaign include: "The more emotive No campaign worked better than the more factual Yes; not enough was done by the Yes campaign to reach out to young people and women; the internet was almost exclusively used by No campaigners; there was no effective rebuttal of misinformation about the Treaty".
In order to address these "problems", Wallström calls for "misinformation" to be targeted "by activating a rebuttal function in the member states and/or directly from Brussels". She also says the Commission needs to address wider audiences, through TV, radio and internet, which would involve the acceleration of strategies to develop a new TV network, the overhaul of its website, development of the EU Tube services, modelled on YouTube, and greater use of blogs. She states, "This Commission has taken the decisions to modernise and change the Commission's approach to communication that can be summed up by: Two-way communications (listening as much as talking; responding to citizens' interests and concerns)..."
Irish Times Irish Times Wallstrom letter
European Parliament embraces EU symbols
European Voice reports that the European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved a motion to formalise the use of EU symbols in the Parliament - symbols included in the failed Constitutional Treaty which EU leaders dropped from the Lisbon Treaty. The motion will see the EU flag displayed in all EP meeting rooms and at official events. The EU's anthem will be performed at the Parliament's formal sittings and all of the Parliament's official documents will have the EU motto "united in diversity" printed on them. The motion is restricted to the use of EU symbols by the Parliament itself. Carlos Carnero González, a Spanish Socialist MEP, said during the debate that the decision was "a political message to our citizens: the symbols of the union are alive in the institution that represents 500 million inhabitants".
Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally was quoted on PA arguing that ""In order to push the Treaty through Parliament and avoid holding the promised referendum, supporters of the Lisbon Treaty - including the UK Government - claimed the removal of references to the symbols proved that the Treaty was substantially different from the original Constitution...but this vote clearly shows that the changes mean absolutely nothing in reality."
European Voice IHT-AP Euractiv Le Figaro-No link Euronews PA De Tijd OE Blog
Jeffrey Sachs: EU emissions trading not enough to cut CO2
A US economist working for the UN has said that the so-called 'Cap and trade' system, as adopted by the EU, is not the most effective way of cutting emissions globally, unless combined with carbon taxing. Jeffrey Sachs, a Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, said that taxing energy production would be "simpler and cheaper" than restricting thousands of businesses individually, Reuters reports.
The emissions trading system is under more scrutiny as the preparations to develop a successor to the Kyoto climate change agreements progress. Sachs criticised one of the key problems of carbon trading that has developed in the European Union. Under the Kyoto Protocol the Clean Development Mechanism allows rich countries to offset their carbon 'footprint' by trading permits issued via the EU, and the UN climate chief Yvo de Boer told the panel he doubted voters in the United States and other countries would accept new taxes.
Mardell: Libertas to expand to whole of Europe; Ganley not a conventional Eurosceptic
On his BBC blog, Mardell also looks at the calls from the European Parliament for the Irish authorities to investigate the funding and motives of Libertas, the Irish anti-Lisbon group. Mardell notes that several senior MEPs have accused Libertas' Chairman Declan Ganley of being "a stooge of the American military industrial complex, doing the bidding of the right-wing neo-cons in the CIA and Pentagon, hell-bent on smashing the rise of a political Europe." Mardell quotes a senior MEP saying, "You can do a lot with textual analysis - he [Ganley] says 'European elites' a lot. It's not an expression that springs to the lips of a boy from an Irish village - it's neo-con language". But, Mardell says, "In fact, [Ganley] is not mysterious, but open and accessible...I am not quite sure if the American defence establishment, rather than some intellectuals, are particularly bothered about the Lisbon Treaty...a significant number would love the EU to do more foreign policy, spend more on bombs and bullets and take care of its own borders."
Boisserie: Czech EU Presidency will be very different to French
Etienne Boisserie argues in Liberation that the Czech EU Presidency under Vaclav Klaus, beginning next January, will be a clear break with that of Nicolas Sarkozy. He notes that neither the Czech government nor the European Central Bank see any reasons to intervene in the financial crisis, and criticised the EU for adopting artificial solutions instead of rational ones. Eurointelligence
Sarkozy: we need laxer state aid rules to meet EU green targets
EUobserver reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to propose a revision of EU state aid rules to encourage car makers to produce greener cars, as well as an EU aid plan which would allow European car producers to get loans at preferential rates. Paris believes that such a move will be necessary if France is to meet emissions reduction targets under the EU's climate and energy package, which proposes to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to boost the use of renewable energy by 20 percent by the year 2020.
Sarkozy will propose "to the European Commission and to our European partners a revision of the common framework on state aid ... so that it can be harmonised with the goals we are pursuing in the context of the climate-energy package."
Hannan: Britain is treating Iceland "disgracefully"
Dan Hannan argues on his Telegraph blog that Britain is treating Iceland "disgracefully". He writes "Are we supposed to be impressed? Gordon Brown gets nasty with Iceland, a nation with half the population of Wiltshire. He seizes the assets of an Icelandic bank, effectively closing it down. He uses anti-terrorist legislation against a friendly country".
Poland wants subsidies and energy sharing guarantees to stave off Russian threat
FT Deutschland reports on a letter from Polish PM Donald Tusk asking EC President Jose Manuel Barroso to give Poland subsidies to become less dependent on Russian energy. Poland also wants other member states to help when gas imports coming from a "third country" are at risk in a member state for a minimum of 4 weeks. Although France seems willing to consider the plans, Germany is sceptical, as German energy concerns have paid billions for emergency gas stocks, making them unwilling to share this for an EU mutual help mechanism.
EU study: Financial loss from de-forestation worse than banking crisis
Despite the current financial shocks reverberating around the world economy (with current estimated costs at some $1 - $1.5 trillion), the BBC reports that initial findings of an EU-commissioned study puts the worldwide economic impact of deforestation in the region of $2-$5 trillion every year.
Economist: Mandelson's European redemption
While Peter Mandelson's return to British politics has caused some controversy this week, the Economist writes that his time as EU Trade Commissioner earned him both respect and redemption; the report states, '"He was not a Brussels luncher", instead regarded as "clever and serious." His time as Trade Commissioner was also marked by public "spats" with both Robert Zoellick, US Trade Representative, and President Sarkozy, who at one time complained to other European leaders that Mandelson was "giving too much away" during trade negotiations in the Doha round of trade talks, and who "he also blamed for the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty."
EU mission in Kosovo is struggling
A report in European Voice cites diplomats who suggest the EU's mission to Kosovo (Eulex) is currently behind schedule. Full deployment of staff was intended to be achieved by the end of the autumn, instead they now believe this will not happen until December.
World
In a comment piece in the Telegraph, Con Coughlin suggests that the global financial crisis could have a devastating impact in Pakistan, undermining both the pro-Western government and with it any chance of defeating militants based along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Posts
