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Europe
Open Europe publishes league table of all 785 MEPs;
£373,000 available to MEPs in expenses every year
Open Europe yesterday published a league table of all 785 MEPs, ranking them according to 20 different criteria, including how they voted on proposals to increase transparency and reduce the waste of taxpayers' money, attendance, whether they opt into the controversial second pension fund, whether they voted to clear the EU's controversial accounts, and whether they voted to respect the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Overall, UK MEPs ranked fourth out of 25 EU countries (Romania and Bulgaria were excluded as they joined the EU in 2007).
The ranking was covered on the front page of Monday's FT, in Monday's Sun, in the Mail today, on EUobserver, on the Conservative Home website, and in several regional newspapers, including the Kilmarnock Standard, and the Galloway Gazette. It also received coverage around Europe, appearing in Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad Standaard, Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet and several other papers including in the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
Open Europe's Lorraine Mullally appeared on BBC Radio 4's the World at One yesterday to discuss the rankings, and Mats Persson was interviewed on Irish station Shannonside FM. Swedish MEP Jens Holm, also speaking on the World at One, told how he was shocked when he became an MEP and discovered he was able to claim thousands of pounds worth of expenses with no requirement to produce receipts.
Meanwhile, the FT and the front page of the Sun run stories on the generous expenses available to MEPs, which Open Europe has calculated amounts to €400,000 or £363,000 a year, on top of a generous salary, pension and transitional payments. The FT quoted Lorraine Mullally saying, "There's no obligation on MEPs to produce receipts for any of the money they claim [apart from travel], so it's impossible for us to see if they are spending public money in an acceptable way. The new rules coming into force after the elections do not address this fundamental shortcoming."
The FT also reported that Gordon Brown has ordered all Labour candidates for the European elections to agree to publish all receipts for claims made for office allowances, worth more than €50,000 or £44,000 a year. Labour MEPs will also join the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in publishing details of travel costs and the number of times they have claimed the €298 daily attendance allowance. However, there is no mention of producing receipts for these.
Comment: Labour's move to keep and publish receipts for all office expenses is welcome and should be immediately followed by pledges from all the other parties. It should also be written into their manifesto for the upcoming European elections, which currently makes no reference to reforming the system. However, while welcome, the proposals are only a first step, as they refer only to office costs, meaning MEPs won't be producing receipts for the other €350,000 available to them each year. As noted by the FT yesterday, Open Europe's league table shows that most British MEPs, including more than three-quarters of Labour and Conservative representatives, voted against a proposal to disclose expenses as recently as April this year.
Open Europe Ranking Open Europe press release FT FT 2 Sun Sun 2 EUobserver Kilmarnock Standard Conservative Home NRC Handelsblad Standaard STA Galloway Gazette PA Denik Mail Svenska Dagbladet FT Trumpet ADN RP Newsdesk.se Folket OE blog
Swedish MEP: EP Secretariat "doesn't care" what trips cost
Aftonbladet reports that Swedish MEP Jens Holm says that a 20 000 SEK travel allowance per week dramatically surpasses any MEP's travel needs, and can allow them to "become millionaires" in a 5-year term in the EP. He adds, "It is practically impossible to find a 20 000 SEK plane ticket" he said, and argues that "the secretariat of the parliament just doesn't care about what the trips cost". The paper reports that Holm has accumulated large sums of money during his mandate, and is prepared to donate the excess revenues to charity.
The article also cites Open Europe's findings that Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström will receive a £1.8 million pension when she leaves the Commission.
Aftonbladet Open Europe press release
Swedish paper Varlden Idag cited Open Europe's research on '100 examples of EU fraud and waste".
The Observer reported that, in a debate with former Europe Minister Denis MacShane, UKIP leader Nigel Farage admitted having received as much as £2 million in non-salary allowances and expenses since becoming an MEP in 1999.
EU approves Blue Card for highly skilled migrants
Le Monde reports that the EU has adopted a 'Blue Card' to attract highly skilled immigrants to Europe and compete with the American 'Green Card'. The new legislation will be implemented in two years and will also involve sanctions for EU employers of illegal migrant workers. The UK has opted out of this legislation as it already operates a points system to attract highly qualified immigrants to the UK.
PA reports that, under the new sanction rules, firms that use subcontractors can be held liable if their direct subcontractor infringes the legislation. A Commission spokesman is quoted saying, "This chain liability is further extended to the full chain of subcontractors if the firm knew about the illegal employment."
McKenna threatens to sue over Commission's use of taxpayer money
Expressen reports that Irish MEP candidate Patricia McKenna has criticised Commission Vice-President Margot Wallström's €1.6 million deal with a Brussels-based consultancy in an attempt to 'sell' Europe to the Irish before the second Lisbon Treaty referendum, saying that "no organ such as the commission has the right to spend tax-payers' money in blending into the democratic process".
Commission backtracks on CAP reform
The Times reports that dairy farmers protested yesterday in Germany and Brussels, and blocked cheese factories in France in a campaign for a return to fixed prices, regulation and subsidies. Farmers want the dairy industry to guarantee a minimum milk price of €300 a tonne -- against €210 this month.
Following a meeting of EU farm ministers, EU Agricultural Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel announced that the EU would pay out 70 percent of the next annual direct payments to dairy farmers by 16 October, two months earlier than normal, but rejected a return to milk quotas, which are due to be phased out by 2015.
Times European Voice EurActiv El Mundo Le Monde
Declan Ganley, leader of Libertas, has said that he will not run a campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in the upcoming second Irish referendum if he does not win a seat in the European Parliament elections.
Irish Times
Swedish Foreign Minister: "Europe's prosperity was not created through protectionism but through opening markets"
In an interview with Le Figaro, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt says that one of the priorities of the Swedish EU Presidency will be "to manage the transition of the European Parliament and Commission, without knowing which treaty will apply, whether it is Nice or Lisbon". When asked about the appointment of the Commission President, Bildt says that "the majority of governments and Parliament are favourable to a June nomination, but we will not know the size of the Commission until we know if the Lisbon treaty has been ratified".
Responding to whether he is in favour of a "protective Europe" (The UMP's campaign slogan) during the economic crisis, Bildt argues "Europe's prosperity was not created through protectionism but through opening markets", adding "My vision of Europe is not as defensive as what I observe in some states". Bildt also says that he thinks that the "Swedish economy would resist the [economic] crisis better if we were members of the monetary union".
Former Polish President Lech Walesa urges Irish to vote 'Yes' to Lisbon Treaty
The Irish Independent reports that former Polish President Lech Walesa has said that he wants Irish voters to support the Lisbon Treaty. Despite having spoken at recent Libertas events, Walesa said "I don't agree with Libertas. I'm just giving them my point of view", adding that "I'm ready to go to Ireland, speaking out alone or alongside Ganley, to say 'My dear Irish people, back this treaty'."
Irish Times Irish Times 2 Irish Independent Irish Independent 2 Irish Times 3
EU Ministers meet to reform Common Fisheries Policy
The Telegraph reports that EU Ministers are considering scrapping current regulations in the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, in favour of a more decentralised system which gives more power to member states and the fishing industry. The reforms address a recent EU report which shows over 80 percent of Europe's fish stocks are overfished and that 30 percent of species do not have any chance of recuperating. According to European Voice, Joe Borg, EU Fisheries Commissioner has also emphasised the need to end the "wasteful practice" of discarding unwanted healthy fish, arguing that it is "one of the biggest problems facing European fisheries".
Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that the EU is considering the Danish proposal of installing surveillance cameras on fishing boats to tackle overfishing.
Telegraph European Voice BBC El Mundo WSJ
Head of CDU think tank: "bail out of eurozone member would mean beginning of end of stability of the euro"
In a comment piece in FAZ, Hans D. Barbier, Head of the CDU affiliated Ludwig-Erhard Stiftung think-tank, criticises the lax interpretation of the no-bailout clause of article 103 of the EC Treaty. He writes that this clause means that "bailing out is the beginning of the end of the stability of the euro", and adds that "it should be clear for all members that nobody should count on help, when one has endangered stability in one's national economic policy".
Iceland's government submitted a proposal to its parliament yesterday, to ask for authorisation to begin negotiations for EU membership. EurActiv reports that, if the proposal receives a majority backing, an application could be submitted as early as July.
Yesterday's Telegraph reported that the Ministry of Defence is to carry out a review on women serving on the front line. The paper reported that the EU's Equal Treatment Directive requires the review every eight years.
Carl Mortishead in the Times writes that California is on the verge of bankruptcy and the US government is considering a financial rescue package. He suggests that the EU should consider similar "tailspin scenarios" for its member states in precarious financial positions.
On his Telegraph blog, Dan Hannan MEP looks at the 18 'ghost' MEPs who will be elected to the next European Parliament in preparation for the number of MEPs to be expanded if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, and describes them as "an almost perfect metaphor for the entire Euro-system - they will be paid without having any function."
Saturday's Telegraph reported that from September 2010 light bulbs will be labelled in lumens rather than watts, under new EU rules that critics have said will lead to a "complete mess and consumer confusion."
Telegraph Mail Mail 2
Writing in the Observer, Will Hutton argued that one of the problems with the European Parliament is that it is too "unideological" and that there is no "cut and thrust" between parties committed to very different visions of Europe. He also suggests that Britain leaving the EU might be the only likely way to convince the British majority that it would be a disaster to do so.
Saturday's Telegraph reported that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has attacked the EU for trying to forge closer relations with former Soviet states. He said a new EU partnership with six former Soviet states was anti-Russian in its makeup.
No link
The Weekend FT reported that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev closed the EU-Russia summit by urging the EU to join Russia in forming a syndicate to help Ukraine pay for its supplies of Russian gas, while also saying he had "no intention" of ratifying the European Energy Charter.
FT Le Monde
German President Horst Köhler has won a second five-year term, giving a symbolic lift to Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of forming a centre-right government after this year's national elections.
WSJ Süddeutsche Welt Zeit Spiegel Focus
In response to several websites depicting MEP voting and attendance records, the EP has promised to publish its own comprehensive statistics including committee activity before the June elections, EUdebate reports.
EUdebate Coulisses de Bruxelles Parlorama
In an interview with Le Monde John Monks, General Secretary of the European TUC, argues that "The European Commission lacks credibility to regulate the market. It has encouraged flexibility and mobility of workers at the expense of security and quality of work".
UK
Cameron calls for massive decentralisation of power
Writing in the Guardian, Conservative leader David Cameron has pledged to shift power away from Downing Street, saying "I believe the central objective of the new politics we need should be a massive, sweeping, radical redistribution of power. From the state to citizens; from the government to parliament; from Whitehall to communities. From the EU to Britain; from judges to the people; from bureaucracy to democracy. Through decentralisation, transparency and accountability we must take power away from the political elite and hand it to the man and woman in the street."
The FT reports that Mr Cameron's proposals include fixed-term parliaments, and promises to give MPs free votes on bills at committee stage, to let MPs choose chairmen and members of committees and to publish expenses claims of all senior public servants.
Guardian Guardian: Cameron FT Telegraph Independent BBC
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