Britannia Radio

Debt-ology
By Steven
Does the UK still have a blocking minority under EU voting rules to stop a blitz of directives that could shut down half the activities of the City – or the ‘Casino’ as they say in Brussels? I doubt it. ...
S. De Klerck - http://www.sdeklerck.be/ 

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This so-called "European Vision" is mostly blather to cover up strong 
differences between the various countries.  In general Britain, 
Holland and Germany opposed the French view which was highly 
corporate and very regulatory.  But through it all one sees that the 
goal of the EU remains not the solution to the economic crisis but 
the use of that crisis to build an "ever closer" and more unified 
Europe.  It is a naked power play.

Note the old stager, Juncker, at the end says Britain will be in the 
Euro before 10 years is up.  Mmmmm?

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EU OBSERVER   8.11.08
Europe unveils its vision for global financial reform
LUCIA KUBOSOVA

  BRUSSELS - EU leaders have agreed on a set of principles that 
should guide future talks on the reform of the global financial 
architecture, urging for more regulation and transparency in the 
sector that has delivered the world's biggest economic crisis since 
the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"No financial institution, no market segmentation and no jurisdiction 
must escape proportionate and adequate regulation or at least 
oversight," states the document adopted at an extraordinary summit on 
Friday (7 November).
The list of desired measures will be presented at the G20 summit of 
industrialised and emerging economies on 15 November in Washington.
The measures includes a call for transparency of financial 
transactions through revised accounting standards, an early warning 
system to tackle risks and a central role for the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF) "in a more efficient financial architecture."
"We don't want to move from the total lack of regulation to too much 
regulation," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose country 
currently holds the six-month presidency of the 27-strong Union.
He admitted that the three-hour debate with his EU counterparts was 
"pretty intense" but it did amount to a "united message" that they 
will send to other world powers next week.
"We will be defending a common position, a vision for restructuring 
our financial system," said the French leader.
Both Sweden and Britain reportedly expressed some unease about too 
much pro-regulation activism on France's part. German Chancellor 
Angela Merkel said that the EU agreed there would be no place for 
protectionism in the global talks next week.
The EU's scenario also included a chapter about the need to overhaul 
pay policy for company executives. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown 
said that the issue of executive remuneration is "important and 
should be linked to long-term performance," although he did not 
endorse Belgian plans to limit executive pay-outs to a maximum of 12 
months' salary.
"We are not for interventionism, we are for a good performance of the 
markets, we are for a social economy of the markets," commented 
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Great expectations
Mr Sarkozy said that he had spoken to both outgoing US President 
George W Bush and his successor, Barack Obama, about next week's 
meeting in Washington.
The document endorsed by all EU leaders states that within 100 days 
of the top-level global talks, measures to implement the principles 
desired by Europe should be drawn up.
"It has to be a real historic meeting," said Mr Barroso.
The French leader argued that additional countries, such as Spain and 
the Netherlands, should be invited to the G20 meeting, adding that 
Paris, which as both a G7 member and current chair of the six-month 
rotating EU presidency temporarily has two seats at such meetings, 
will offer one of its two places to Madrid.

Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's premier and finance 
minister as well as president of the Eurogroup, said he requested on 
Friday a single seat for the eurozone countries within the 
international financial institutions, with non-euro countries 
represented separately.

But he admitted that his idea was "too difficult for prime ministers 
to cope with", yet maintained confidence that this would happen 
eventually, as most of the EU countries, including the UK, will be 
part of the eurozone in 10 years.

He said he was "not offended" for not having been invited to the G20 
meeting on 15 November - a day he would instead spend "between his 
bedsheets." Still, he criticised the fact that the EU has the 
tendency to be "over-represented" in the financial institutions, 
noting that the European Commission was not a G20 member, but will 
still take part in the global talks.