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MEPs vow to give more powers to new EU financial regulator
MEPs are pushing to give more powers to three new EU financial watchdogs under a proposal currently being considered by the European Parliament and national ministers, Reuters reports. The proposal would see the creation of three new EU authorities with binding powers over national regulators such as the FSA. When ministers considered the proposal in December, it was agreed that member states could veto a decision taken by the EU authorities, if such a decision would impact on member states' fiscal authority. However, most decisions in the new authorities would be taken by majority voting, meaning that the UK could be outvoted.
Controversially, the four MEPs in charge of drafting the EP's version of the proposal have vowed to scrap that veto. "The veto on fiscal grounds is basically a get-out-of-jail-free card for any country that disagrees with anything the new watchdogs say," said Sven Giegold, a German Green MEP and one of the four parliamentarians. "In parliament, I think most people are unhappy about the wording of this clause. We want strong supervisors that have the powers to do their job. This veto - at least as the countries have defined it - has to go," he said.
Reuters Open Europe press release
Trade unions in Denmark have reacted strongly to suggestions that the Commission could demand pay-cuts in Greece, Danish paper Politiken reports. The FOA, a Danish trade union which represents most of the country's public sector workers, has warned that the Commission's demands could force the union to recommend a No vote in a future Danish referendum on euro membership. "That the EU intervenes in setting [national] wages is completely unacceptable", Dennis Kristensen, head of the FOA, is quoted saying. The FOA has previously stayed neutral in referenda questions.
The Telegraph quotes EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia saying the Greek targets will be enforced vigorously: "Every time we see or perceive slippages, we will ask for additional measures to correct these slippages. Never before have we established so detailed and tough a system of surveillance".
The Guardian looks at the possibility of a Greek bail-out and quotes a senior official in Brussels saying, "For political reasons there can be no bailout, but the eurogroup can act with the Greeks to reform. We have a monetary union, a system for supporting the currency, interdependence."
Die Welt reports on a study by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, which favours IMF intervention as a solution for Greece, with a researcher quoted saying that "one could question whether EMU institutions have the necessary powers to persist and sanction budgetary discipline", adding "it's better that the IMF imposes disciplines on the indebted countries than that Eurozone countries fight amongst each other and political tensions emerge."
Meanwhile, the FT reports that eurozone governments have borrowed a record €110bn from the markets so far this year, forcing up borrowing costs for those countries with the weakest public finances.
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Lib Dem MEP: "There's a lot more to be done before we have public confidence in the European Arrest Warrant"
The BBC reports that the European Court of Human Rights is to consider later today whether or not UK citizen Gary Mann should be extradited to Portugal under the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), after Mr Mann did not serve his sentence in the UK after deportation. One of the police officers who witness the original trial in Portugal told the BBC Today programme that Mr Mann had not had a fair trial.
The Chief Executive of Fair Trials International Jago Russell said: "We've seen cases where people are being extradited to the other side of Europe for the most minor offences. We've seen cases where people are being extradited many years after an alleged offence took place, and Gary Mann's case demonstrates that the arrest warrant is also being used to extradite people to serve sentences which have resulted from a grossly unfair trial."
Lib Dem MEP Graham Watson, who steered the legislation through the EP, said on the programme: "I think that the criticisms are absolutely fair. I think we need a set of minimum guarantees for people who are defendants in cases like this. He added that it is only since the Swedish EU Presidency took up the issue in October 2009 that everyone now has the right to an interpreter under the EAW. Mr Watson added, "There's a lot more that needs to be done before we have public confidence in this system of justice."
Obama's decision to snub EU summit reveals Lisbon Treaty's flaws
There is further coverage of US President Barack Obama's decision not to attend an annual EU-US summit in Madrid in May. The White House said it had never committed to, nor planned for, an EU meeting, but European officials said Spain had expected Mr. Obama to attend.
Previous reports suggested that the newly created EU President under the Lisbon Treaty, Herman Van Rompuy, and Spanish PM Jose Luis Zapatero, who holds the six month rotating presidency, were engaged in a tug-of-war over who would take the lead at the summit and this confusion appears to have contributed to Obama's decision to pull out.
The WSJ carries the headline "EU's Top-Down Crisis" and notes that, following Obama's decision, Mr. Van Rompuy's spokesman distanced himself from the entire gathering. The ill-fated May meeting "was prepared by the Spanish," said Dirk De Backer. "The permanent presidency has never been involved."
Orf.at notes that the European Commission did not know about Mr. Obama's decision until after it had been announced to the press and, when asked by reporters, a Commission spokeswoman said, "I don't know anything about that".
The Telegraph reports that many national and EU diplomats are dismayed at the institutional infighting that has followed the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty. "The Spanish are behaving badly. They've made a mess of the summit but Van Rompuy and the post-Lisbon EU institutions will carry the can in the long term. The squabbling has damaged the EU in the eyes of the most powerful nation in the world," said a senior source.
On his FT blog, Gideon Rachman notes that "One European foreign minister who I encountered in Davos told me that the Americans were about to pull out of the US-EU summit and added, with a smirk that suggested a worrying lack of EU solidarity - 'When the Spanish hear, it will be like a nuclear bomb has gone off in Madrid.'"
Die Presse argues that Obama's decision not to attend is a "painful blow for the prestige of the newly reformed post Lisbon Treaty European foreign policy", while Le Figaro describes it as a "slap in the face" for the Spanish.
On his FT blog, Tony Barber writes "the Obama decision is about more than US-EU relations. It is about the EU's obsolete practice of holding regular summits with third parties - Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, the US and so on - that are usually almost completely empty of substance."
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Outgoing EU Agriculture Commissioner: "I feel privileged I did not have to cope with the European Parliament"
The IHT features an interview with outgoing EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, quoting her saying: "It's always easier to make reforms in economic good times...[it] will be much more difficult to cut significantly the agricultural budget for the period after 2013 in the present economic situation in which agriculture finds itself: very low prices with very low income." As well as recent protests by farmers demanding more subsidies, Ms Fischer Boel added that the European Parliament having new powers of co-decision on agriculture under the Lisbon Treaty may be a lethal combination for reforming EU agriculture policy, calling the Parliament "the paradise of lobbyists."
She added, "I feel extremely privileged because I did not have to cope with the European Parliament. I went there, I listened, I discussed. But there was no co-decision from the EP at that stage, and I think it would have been more difficult if there would have been."
UK and Spanish EU Presidency move closer together on AIFM Directive
The Guardian reports that UK City Minister Lord Myners has said, following meetings with Spain's Economy Minister Elena Salgado, "the positions are not that different" on the EU's Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive to regulate hedge funds and private equity firms. He added, "Spain is also very keen to open up the country to opportunities in private equity. We're confident that we will continue to make good progress during the Spanish presidency. We have a similar agenda."
Treasury Minister expresses disappointment that errors in EU budget are going backwards
In a House of Commons debate looking back at the 2008 EU budget, Conservative MP David Gauke cited Open Europe's research which showed that the EU spent €2.4bn in 2008 on promoting itself and its central aim of "ever closer union".
In the debate Ian Pearson, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, admitted that within the EU budget "serious problems persist with payments' legality and regularity", noting that "there are doubts over the correct spend of more than £3.5 billion" from the EU's Structural and Cohesion funds. He added that "we are also disappointed that spending free from material error on economic and financial affairs has slipped backwards from last year's report."
Catholic Church and Church of England join forces to fight the Government and European Commission on Equality Bill
There is widespread coverage of Pope Benedict XVI's attack on the Government for pursuing "unjust" equality laws. His intervention refers to the Government's Equality Bill and amendments tabled in the House of Lords last week, which the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England fear will make them admit homosexuals to the priesthood or face prosecution for discriminating against them.
The Government suffered defeats in the House of Lords on the controversial amendments to the Bill that would have brought it into line with EU legislation. The Times reports that the Church of England and Catholic bishops of England and Wales will now join forces to fight any intervention by the European Commission to win back the ground lost by the Government on the legislation.
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European Parliament Committee considers plan to extend maternity leave
El Mundo reports that the EP Committee on Women's Rights is working on a proposal to extend the minimum length of maternity leave to 20 weeks. In all likelihood, the Committee will also ask for the introduction of a compulsory two weeks of paternity leave, on the basis of equal treatment. A similar document was adopted in a previous term, but was sent back to Committee after the text was considered "not clear enough". Should the proposals be adopted again by the Committee, the EP could vote on it in March.
The BBC reports on the vote by MEPs on the European Parliament's Budget Committee to award themselves an additional €1,500 a month in their allowance to hire assistants. It notes that an EP official has said that the allowance increase would not be new money, but would come from another part of the budget.
Commission considers rules to restrict online retailers
Writing in the WSJ Amazon Europe Vice-Chairman Greg Greeley notes that the EU Commission is meeting today to discuss plans to allow manufacturers to require retailers wanting to sell their goods to maintain brick and mortar stores, and to sell at least a certain amount of their products in these stores. He argues that such "discrimination" against online-only retailers could "significantly restrict European consumers' choice of how and where they shop."
The Express reports on the £260,000 spent to send EU officials and their families skiing in the Italian Alps, along with a number of other holiday camps.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has criticised Nicolas Sarkozy in an interview adding: "a European Union which doesn't include Turkey would not be complete".
Charlemagne: Ashton should stamp her authority on Spain over calls to end arms embargo on China
The Economist's Charlemagne blog argues that EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton should "slap the Spanish down" after it called for an end to the EU arms embargo on China. The blog concludes: "given that half the diplomats in Brussels are waiting to see Lady Ashton stamp her authority on someone, anyone, why not start with [Spanish Foreign Minister] Mr Moratinos on China?"
Economist: Charlemagne notebook
The Express reports that some backbench MPs are expected to vote tomorrow against Government support for EU expansion to the east. The paper suggests that a number of Labour MPs are considering voting against the Government as well.
Writing in the Irish Times Irish Labour MP Joe Costello argues that, despite the number of "thorny issues to be resolved" before the Citizens' Initiative introduced by the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, "there has been precious little public debate on the initiative to date."
EUobserver reports that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said he is in favour of Israel joining the EU, while on a trip to the country, describing it as his "greatest dream".
The FT reports that the European Roundtable of Industrialists - made up of chief executives and chairmen of the EU's leading businesses - will today call for more unified EU action on trade and economic issues.
Euractiv reports that the European Commission is arguing for the creation of a new EU body to carry out controls and inspections in member states to enforce compliance of national waste laws with EU legislation.
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