Europe
New Open Europe report: it is "wrong for the Commission to micro-manage national energy planning"
Open Europe's new report on the EU's climate change and energy package, expected to cost £9bn a year and push one million more people into fuel poverty, is covered in the Telegraph and on carbon industry website Point Carbon. Open Europe's Hugo Robinson is quoted arguing that "we will pay far more than necessary in fighting climate change; or put another way, we could spend the same amount of money and reduce emissions by a lot more...it is wrong for the Commission to micro-manage national energy planning by setting binding targets for renewables and biofuels. This will artificially drive investment towards very high-cost methods of cutting carbon."
Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said the UK would stick to the targets. He said: "Now is not the time to scale back our ambitions in tackling climate change." Tom Picken, climate change campaigner at Friends of the Earth, claimed the package "will help tackle fuel poverty, end our dependency on damaging fossil fuels and provide the bedrock for a green revolution that could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs."
Telegraph Shropshire Star Point Carbon Open Europe press release
European Commission publishes 'rulebook' to regulate European banking rescue
Following the unprecedented series of bank rescues by European governments, the EC has proposed new guidelines on state aid. Reuters reports that the guidelines declare that aid should be limited in scope and time, shareholders must not reap unfair benefits and the private sector should contribute to the programmes. The guidelines instruct governments to ensure that "measures taken do not give rise to disproportionate distortions of competition, for example by discriminating against financial institutions based in other Member States". Deutsche Welle notes that EU competition chief Neelie Kroes has said the latest round of bank bailouts could signify an overall trend towards more EU-wide regulation.
In the FT, Tony Barber notes that the current solution has marked a "turning point" in the 50-year history of the EU and that it has taken a crisis to bring out the best in EU leaders. In the Guardian, Simon Tilford and Philip Whyte of the Centre for European Reform look at the euro, arguing that "The credit crunch should test conclusively whether it is sustainable for countries to share a single currency outside a political union." They note, "It is possible to make a powerful case for Britain joining the eurozone. But the case for joining now, just when the viability of the euro is set to be severely tested, is weak."
Times BBC Irish Times Euractiv FT European Voice Telegraph Telegraph 2 Reuters
Irish Independent-Baker FT Guardian European Voice FT Irish Independent Mail FT Guardian Le Monde IHT Deutsche Welle EUobserver EUobserver2 AFP AFP2 FT Guardian Volkskrant
EU grants 100,000 euro for Danish ski slope; "I had never thought that the EU experts would have been ready to support such a mad project" says developer
Ole Harild, a Danish businessman, has managed to obtain 100,000 euros in subsidies from the EU by building a ski slope on Bornholm island in the Baltic Sea. The island is well known for its sunny climate and mild winters, enjoying very low rates of snowfall and lacking any mountains, only a couple of hills.
Harild is quoted as saying: "I had never thought that the EU experts would have been ready to support such a mad project. When it was surprisingly granted, there was no reason not to go on with it." Mr. Harild has used the money to buy a snow machine, 80 pairs of ski's and ski shoes, in order to rent them out later. However the slope could only be used once last winter.
Irish councils encouraged to appoint officials to work solely on pending EU legislation;
"70% of policies and legislation coming from Brussels has a direct or indirect impact on local authorities"
According to an Irish representative to the EU's Committee of the Regions, Paul O'Donoghue, county councils are not paying enough attention to pending EU policy and legislation and should designate an official to deal with European matters.
Mr O'Donoghue said these structures are needed to reflect the influence the EU has on local authorities: "Seventy per cent of policies and legislation coming from Brussels has a direct or indirect impact on local authorities, so we in Ireland should be much more aware of what is coming upstream."
Margot Wallström: Commission can "help" pro-treaty side in second Irish referendum
In an interview in the Irish Times, EU Commissioner Margot Wallström has said that, "The Irish should not be forced or pushed or pressed into taking a decision that they don't feel they are ready for". She added that plans on the part of some politicians for the EU to move ahead on its own without Ireland were "unrealistic".
However, Wallström also suggested that there is little prospect that other states will agree to abandon the Lisbon Treaty after investing seven years in negotiations on how to reform the EU.
Wallström wants the Commission and other Europeans to play a leading role in any second referendum campaign that may happen in the Republic saying, "I think maybe they [the Irish government] would open up to more people coming to help from abroad...these debates benefit from having a bit of controversy - one shouldn't be afraid of controversy. A more lively debate would be in the interests of the government."
Mandelson urged to turn down £1m goodbye from EU
Peter Mandelson took his seat in the House of Lords today amid calls for him to turn down a £1million "golden goodbye" payoff from the European Commission, the Evening Standard reports. Mark Francois, the Conservative spokesman on Europe, said the details of the ex-commissioner's "golden goodbye" would anger voters.
The European Commission is considering lowering sound limits for mp3 players, in a bid to save youth from "mass deafness".
EU leaders remain split over Russia talks
EU leaders remain divided over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia. Some EU foreign ministers, headed by David Miliband, have said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties.
EU foreign ministers have decided to suspend the travel ban imposed on Belarus' President Alyaksandr Lukashenka for six months, and ease up sanctions.
FT European Voice Touteleurope
Historian Richard Evans, writing in the Times, asks whether recession in Europe could strengthen the far-right.
The conservative opposition party the Homeland Union has won the Lithuanian elections, setting the stage for a centre-right coalition government.
UK
House of Lords forces terror plan climbdown
The House of Lords rejected controversial plans to extend detention of terrorist suspects without charge to 42 days from the current level of 28 days last night, reports the FT. Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, said the counter-terrorism bill would now continue its way through Parliament without its most divisive measure, but a separate bill containing the 42 day extension will be published and held in reserve in the case of a terrorist emergency, according to the Guardian.
Financial crisis dents Scottish independence hopes
The Telegraph reports that the nationalisation of RBS and HBOS has dealt a blow to proponents of Scottish independence - "Without financial independence, Scotland could not have political separation from the rest of the United Kingdom". It notes that "Some analysts have gone so far as to suggest that if Scotland had gone into the financial crisis as a stand-alone country, it would now bear an uncanny resemblance to Iceland, facing bankruptcy after the collapse of a 'financial miracle' built largely on debt."
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