Saturday, 10 April, 2010 21:29:46Fw:
The coming USE - How does all this bi-lateralism fit in with the idea of a European Union?
ITALY-FRANCE: TOGETHER TO RE-LAUNCH MED UNION
(ANSAmed) - PARIS, APRIL 9 - "France and Italy reaffirm their commitment to the Union for the Mediterranean" and "together with the EU's Spanish presidency they'll do whatever needed for the success of the head of state and government meeting that will take place in Barcelona on June 7 2010, in order to allow a quick re-launch of the area projects of common interest", says a joint statement released by Italian and French Foreign Ministers Franco Frattini and Bernard Kouchner during the intergovernment summit taking place today in Paris. The two countries are furthermore very satisfied with the institution of the Inframed fund, "a fund for environment-compatible infrastructures", which "represents one of the first initiatives of the Union for the Mediterranean to bring the two sides of the Mediterranean together in order to mobilise innovative financing." (ANSAmed)
2010-04-09 15:56
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.XAM15555.html
Saturday, April 10, 2010 12:49 PM Subject:
The coming USE - How does all this bi-lateralism fit in with the idea of a European Union?
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.XAM15102.html ITALY-FRANCE:SCAJOLA,PARIS MUST OPEN ENERGY AND RAIL SECTORS
(ANSAmed) - ROME, APRIL 9 - Italy "is at the cutting edge in the liberalisation" of the sectors of energy and rail and it expects European partners "to follow it" in opening up to competition, Italian Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola has said in an interview with daily paper Les Echos, whilst the bilateral summit between Italy and France is opening in Paris. In Scajolàs reasoning, "it is implicit," explains the newspaper, "that France has margins for improvement." With regard to the railway sector and the possibility that the Italian high speed rail could circulate in France, Scajola said that it was a matter "of a question to be addressed to the French Government. If the opportunity arises, I will talk about it with my French colleagues during the summit." With regard to the Turin-Lyon high speed rail link, "after slowdowns in recent years, PM Berlusconi has put it back on the list of priorities." The Minister, however, did not hide the fact that "its financing is still presenting problems" but he added that "I have good reason to believe that the works will be begin between now and 2013," given that there is the "further guarantee" of the election of Roberto Cota as President of the Piedmont Region. With regard to energy, Scajola spoke about nine agreements on nuclear energy which are being signed today in Paris, with which "the bases of a real bilateral industrial nuclear system will be set down." The Minister also announced that the nuclear agency will be set up in the "coming weeks". And finally, with regard to the problems of Edison-EDF and Gdf Suez in ACEA, Scajola stated that "the French must take the post-crisis reality into account. Italian firms must develop synergies on the local market and look for other partners to start new ones." (ANSAmed).
2010-04-09 11:40
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME02.XAM11404.html
ITALY-FRANCE: TOGETHER TO RE-LAUNCH MED UNION
(ANSAmed) - PARIS, APRIL 9 - "France and Italy reaffirm their commitment to the Union for the Mediterranean" and "together with the EU's Spanish presidency they'll do whatever needed for the success of the head of state and government meeting that will take place in Barcelona on June 7 2010, in order to allow a quick re-launch of the area projects of common interest", says a joint statement released by Italian and French Foreign Ministers Franco Frattini and Bernard Kouchner during the intergovernment summit taking place today in Paris. The two countries are furthermore very satisfied with the institution of the Inframed fund, "a fund for environment-compatible infrastructures", which "represents one of the first initiatives of the Union for the Mediterranean to bring the two sides of the Mediterranean together in order to mobilise innovative financing." (ANSAmed)
2010-04-09 15:56
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.XAM15555.html Back to top
Italo-French summit produces 20 accords Berlusconi and Sarkozy move to boost bilateral cooperation
09 April, 16:02
Guarda la foto1 di 1
(ANSA) - Paris, April 9 - Italy and France consolidated their bilateral cooperation on Friday with the signing of 20 accords, both on an inter-governmental level and between companies from the two countries, above all in the energy and nuclear sectors.
The accords were signed on the sidelines of a summit between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, which aside from nuclear cooperation focused on the Mideast and Iran's nuclear ambitions, with ample attention paid to the financial crisis in Greece.
While the two government chiefs were holding their talks, parallel bilateral meetings were held between the respective ministers for industry, defence, foreign affairs, transport, European Union affairs, internal affairs, the environment and culture.
Speaking at a joint press conference after their meeting, Berlusconi observed that the 20 accords were a demonstration of the "concrete collaboration" which existed between the two countries.
Italy abandoned nuclear power following a referendum held a year after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine and France has played a key role in its return to this energy source. At last year's Italo-Franco summit an accord was signed for the joint construction of four nuclear plants in Italy and five in France.
In opening their joint press conference, Sarkozy praised the "historic" decision by Berlusconi to return to nuclear power, a choice he said "brings France and Italy closer together".
Berlusconi replied that the decision was Italy's "duty" given that it pays 30% more for energy than its EU partners and this hurt the competitiveness of its goods and services.
"What we need to do now is convince citizens that nuclear power plants are absolutely safe and we are considering using TV to do this," he added.
The premier is also the owner of Italy's three main private TV networks.
One of the accords signed on Friday dealt with nuclear security and allows for a greater exchange of information in regard to the choice of sites to build new plants, their construction, operation, management of radioactive waste, research and health.
Turning his attention to Greece, which due to a budget shortfall risks defaulting on its debt, Berlusconi said that between Rome and Paris there was "a desire to work together" to help Athens.
"It is our duty to help Greece. and it is in our interest because otherwise there could be negative consequences for our common currency and our won economies According to the French president, the EU is ready to step in to help Greece financially "at any moment".
"Every time it has been faced with a crisis, the EU has always known how to intervene in time and at the right moment.
On this Italy and France have exactly the same position," Sarkozy added.
"Greek authorities have adopted courageous measures to correct public finances and a plan to support this effort has been approved by all members of the euro area," he observed.
The final decision on whether the EU will intervene to help Greece, Sarkozy said, "is up to Athens and the countries in the euro area, on recommendations from the European Central Bank and the European Commission," the EU executive.
Looking at how Italy weathered the global economic downturn and subsequent domestic recession, Berlusconi said "we are pulling out of it well. Our (financial) system, like that of France, is very solid and does not need help from the government. The outlook is good and we will meet our deficit and debt commitments".
According to Sarkozy, "Europe needs to protect itself through investing in innovation and fair competition. And protection is not the same as protectionism".
"We are in favor of a market economy, free trade, but we cannot be naive. Italy and France cannot accept this. We cannot impose quality controls on our farm products when others do not do the same. Protectionism may be the worst of all evils, but unfair competition is even worse," the French president said.
During the press conference, Berlusconi said that in his talks with Sarkozy he made it clear that Italy was ready to "intensely collaborate with France also in view of it taking the presidency (in 2011) of the Group of Eight (G8) and G20".
The French president responded by saying that France intended to "associate" Italy next year with its two presidencies "because we want to bring to the G8 and G20 the strength of Europe's third economy". Among the accords signed at the summit were those to create a joint brigade of 6,000 French and Italian mountain troops, to try and cooperate more than compete in the rail sector, to work to set up a special tribunal to combat Somali-based piracy, to help Somalia and Kenya to combat the phenomenon and create a marine park in the Bonifaccio Strait between Corsica and Sardinia.
http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2010/04/09/visualizza_new .html_1760785641.html
BOSNIA: EU; MORATINOS ANNOUNCES NO NEED FOR VISAS AFTER JUNE
(ANSAmed) - SARAJEVO, APRIL 8 - In June the European Union will be announcing that it is lifting visa requirements for Bosnian nationals, stated Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos yesterday in Sarajevo. Spain is the current holder of the EU presidency. The announcement - said Moratinos, who since Tuesday has been in Bosnia along with US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg - will be made during the EU-Balkans conference in Sarajevo at the beginning of June. "The time has come," said the Spanish minister, "for important decisions and the conditions for advancing Bosniàs bid for EU and NATO membership. The US and the EU came to Bosnia together to convey a message of support, solidarity, and hope, as well as one of responsibility." On Tuesday in Sarajevo, Moratinos and Steinberg met with the tripartite presidency and the High Representative for the International Community Valentin Inzko, while yesterday - in separate meetings - they visited the leaders of the seven main Bosnian parties. To the latter they again encouraged the speeding up of the reforms requested by the international community to give the country a better functioning structure. Local leaders, however, are not at the moment - six months before the general elections - willing to deal constitutional reforms, on which differences of opinion remain between Serbs, Croats and Muslims. The lifting of visa requirements for Schengen-area countries - a measure for which, according to Security Minister Sadik Ahmetovic, Bosnia has fulfilled all the conditions laid down by Brussels - is much awaited by the population, especially after last December when the measure was brought in for the citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.(ANSAmed).
2010-04-08 10:04
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.XAM10042.html
Telegraph Employment tribunals set to increase by 370,000 Businesses face 370,000 extra employment tribunals over the next three years, raking up an additional cost of around £2.6bn.
By Louise Armitstead, Chief City Correspondent Published: 6:45AM BST 07 Apr 2010
Research by Dickinson Dees, the law firm, found that if employment rules are enacted at the same rate, the number of tribunals will rise by 46pc over the next three years. James Wilders, an employment partner at Dickinson Dees, said: "Since 1998 there has been an almost inexorable rise in the number of employment tribunals, with an average of 20,000 more new cases each year than in the previous one."
He said that despite the laws originating from the EU, the "real problems come from the way they have been enacted in the UK, often with additional or ambiguous requirements added." On Tuesday, rules were enacted governing additional paternity leave, employee training and sick leave.
Tough checks on foreign GPs urged By Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News
Urgent changes must be made to the system of vetting foreign doctors offering out-of-hours GP care, MPs say.
The Health Committee warned NHS trusts "were not doing their jobs" by failing to check language and medical skills.
That meant patients risked being treated by doctors who were incompetent or were not fluent in English.
Lives were at risk due to a reliance on overseas doctors in weekend and night GP shifts, the MPs said. The government said improvements were being made.
Poor English
The MPs said ministers should push for changes to EU rules to allow checks by the General Medical Council.
European regulations which allow free movement of labour mean the GMC is unable to carry out clinical or language checks on doctors from EU countries as it does for those from elsewhere in the world.
As employers, NHS trusts can carry out their own tests, but the MPs said this was not always happening.
There are no exact figures for how many foreign doctors are employed for out-of-hours work, although ministers said in evidence to the committee that it was a "limited" problem. GP OUT-OF-HOUR CARE # GPs were allowed to opt out of providing weekend and night cover in
2004. Nine in 10 did so # Responsibility for the service then passed to NHS managers working for primary care trusts # They have mainly contracted out the service to firms or not-for-profit groups of doctors # These tend to employ locums, some overseas medics, to cover shifts
The MPs looked into the issue after a coroner criticised the system in February following the death of a patient, David Gray, in Cambridgeshire two years ago.
He was killed by German doctor Daniel Ubani who administered 10 times the normal dose of diamorphine on his first NHS shift.
Dr Ubani's poor English meant he was refused work by the NHS in Leeds, but he was later accepted in Cornwall, which then led to work in Cambridgeshire.
Committee chairman Kevin Barron said: "Everything must be done as soon as possible to ensure another life is not lost in this way."
The committee's report said the government should lobby Europe about changing the law - it is due to be reviewed in 2012 and ministers have already promised to bring up the issue in the coming years.
But the report also raised questions about the UK's interpretation of the rules - the GMC believes regulators in other parts of Europe are still carrying out language checks.
The MPs said the issue was particularly pressing as GPs in the UK tended to have much more responsibility than their European counterparts.
Dr Stuart Gray, the son of Mr Gray and a GP himself, said the changes proposed must be made "urgently".
'Urgent review'
Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, co-wrote a separate review of out-of-hours service for the government.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live that European rules prevented the GMC from assessing the language skills of GP coming from Europe, although that could be done at a local level within the UK.
Professor Field said: "Ministers have accepted all of our recommendations, and gone further, but there needs to be an urgent review of the European legislation to make sure doctors are assessed at a national level as well as locally."
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said checks should be allowed.
He added: "Labour has known for some time that the current safeguards in place are not working but has completely failed to take action."
And Conservative shadow health minister Mark Simmonds said the report had highlighted "significant failures".
But the Department of Health said it was already making changes to improve the regime.
A spokesman said it had recently reminded NHS trusts of their obligation to assess doctors they were putting on their employment lists.
And he added the organisations in charge of providing out-of-hours care - mainly firms and not-for-profit groups of doctors, both of which use overseas medics to do shifts - would be facing tougher regulation in the future.
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Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/8608010.stm
Published: 2010/04/08 07:12:33 GMT
Fortnightly Open Europe Bulletin: 8 April 2010
* New Open Europe research finds that EU regulation has cost UK economy £124 billion since 1998;
UK laws are on average around 2.5 times more cost effective than EU laws
* UK's top judge: Lisbon Treaty will have a "significant impact" on criminal cases in Britain
*
News in brief
* Open Europe in the news
Quote of the fortnight
"What do EU Commissioners want? They want to get into the picture with initiatives, smart or not...The only way to stop the stream of useless initiatives is to reduce the number of Commissioners to what is necessary to steer the EU. I think a Commission of twelve capable people is enough."
Former Dutch EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, writing in Belgian daily De Standaard, 30 March 2010
1. New Open Europe research finds that EU regulation has cost UK economy £124 billion since 1998;
UK laws are on average around 2.5 times more cost effective than EU laws
Open Europe last week published the most comprehensive study to date on the costs of regulation to the UK economy since 1998. Based on over 2,300 of the Government's own impact assessments, Open Europe has found that regulation has cost the UK economy £176 billion since 1998. Of this amount, £124 billion, or 71 percent, had its origin in EU legislation.
The cost of regulation in 2009 stands at £32.8 billion. Of this 59 percent, or £19.3 billion, stems from EU legislation. Since 2005, when the UK Government launched its 'better regulation' agenda, the cost of regulation has doubled - although both the Government and the EU Commission have taken some positive steps to address overly burdensome laws.
The research also estimates the average benefit/cost ratio of EU regulations at 1.02, and UK regulations at 2.35. In other words, for every £1 of cost, EU regulations introduced since 1998 have only delivered £1.02 of benefits, meaning that on average it is 2.5 times more cost effective to regulate nationally than it is to regulate via the EU.
Following the publication of Open Europe's report, some argued that the exercise was futile, because UK and EU laws are not comparable and Whitehall would have regulated some issues anyway in the absence of the EU. (Economist: Charlemagne blog, 31 March)
It is true that the EU often produces regulations, the benefits of which are hard to quantify, such as environmental or health and safety laws. It is also true that the EU and member states sometimes regulate different parts of the economy. However, importantly, there are also a huge number of areas where the EU and UK share power, and where laws are therefore comparable, to a lesser or greater extent.
What's more, the Lisbon Treaty codifies a new category of so-called 'shared competence', further blurring the line between national and EU power, for example in social policy, financial services (via internal market legislation), environment, energy, consumer protection and transport. In these areas, a comparison between UK and EU laws is not only appropriate, but also essential, as one of the central questions when discussing EU policy must always be: at what level of government is it most cost effective and most democratic to legislate?
Crucially, our research reveals that in areas of shared competence, such as environmental policy, financial services and agriculture, EU regulations tend to generate higher costs, relative to the benefits, than UK laws. A discrepancy is not surprising, given that EU laws are one-size-fits all solutions which, by definition, cannot fully account for member states' individual circumstances. In addition, since it is very difficult to change EU laws once they've been agreed - as it requires agreement amongst 27 member states and the European Parliament - these laws can continue to generate heavy and unnecessary costs year after year.
Our research therefore provides further evidence that, when feasible, it is better to legislative as close as possible to the citizen.
To read the report in full click here:
http://openeurope.org.uk/research/stilloutofcontrol.pdf
MEPs to vote to reopen Lisbon Treaty; UK Conservatives could block treaty change
European Voice reports that MEPs sitting on the EP's Constitutional Committee yesterday voted to re-open the Lisbon Treaty in order to allow an extra 18 MEPs, that were elected in the 2009 elections, to take their seats. MEPs sitting in plenary this May are expected to endorse the Constitutional Committee's decision, but any Treaty changes agreed at an Intergovernmental Conference would still need to be ratified in each of the EU's 27 member states, a process that could potentially take several years.
EUobserver notes that the reopening of the Treaty could trigger a referendum in the UK if the Conservatives were to win the General Election and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel might seek to implement her plans for an EU economic government.
EUobserver European Voice EU-Info.de
French Foreign Minister: A Conservative victory would maintain Anglo-Franco relations but change UK attitude to EU
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a French Parliamentary committee yesterday that he "would not want to bet" either way on a Conservative or Labour victory in the upcoming UK elections. If the Conservatives would win the election, Mr Kouchner said that, "With regard to Europe, having received and met with Mr. Cameron and Mr. Hague, who would become Foreign Minister, I think that the partnership between the two countries will be maintained, I know this, I am sure of this. But, the position vis-Ã -vis Europe, will not be the same".
He said, "It is quite clear, it will not be the same, and I can even tell you what Mr. Hague said to me during his visit; 'with you, we will do what you'd like, with Europe, by and large, we won't do much' and therefore if a peacekeeping operation was proposed, such as the operation we carried out in Chad, and I'd like to point out that the British didn't participate here, I asked him, would you have participated? He told me: with you, yes". However, it is understood that Mr. Kouchner was paraphrasing remarks by William Hague that related to defence cooperation only.
Meanwhile, writing in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash looks at the role of the EU in the election campaign and argues that the parties' differing views over Europe constitute "a big foreign policy choice in this election."
Assemblee Nationale AFP Guardian: Garton Ash
The Tories can't muzzle election talk of Europe
Speaking to the three would-be foreign secretaries you find plenty of common ground, except on the thing that matters most •Digg it •Buzz up •Share on facebook (4) •Tweet this (4) •Comments (52) •tga •Timothy Garton Ash •guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 April 2010 20.00 BST •Article history
'We should be committed to a stronger European voice in the world," he says. "It is the common will to act together that is decisive." But unfortunately "European unity is lacking on so many issues". Who is this speaking? Jacques Delors? Herman Van Rompuy? No, it is William Hague, the famously Eurosceptic shadow foreign secretary, sitting in his modern corner office with its bow-window view of Parliament Square and delivering a carefully calibrated message of reassurance to the Guardian and the world.
Why? For reasons of strategic realism and electoral guile. The realism is explicit. The Tories were against the Lisbon treaty but "we have to work with what's there". That includes the EU's new foreign service, into which, he assures me, he would despatch some of Britain's brightest and best diplomats. Yes, the Tories want the repatriation of some powers, but "we've taken a strategic decision that we're not starting in government [with] a confrontation with the EU". He had an "excellent meeting" with the German foreign minister the other day. And so on. Welcome the new, pro-European Monsieur Hague.
He does not acknowledge the electoral calculation, but it is transparent. The last thing the Conservatives want to do in this election is to talk about Europe, which cost them votes in earlier ones. Europe is the dog that must not bark on the night. Hence the muzzle of soft words.
David Miliband, by contrast, says: "I want to talk about Europe." Elongating his legs out of a red leather armchair in the foreign secretary's enormous Victorian office, he decries the Tories for allying themselves in the European parliament with "people they wouldn't be seen dead with in Britain". The Tories are "peddling a lot of fiction" about their proposed sovereignty bill. They would leave Britain "naked in the conference chamber". Indeed, "the worst case is that they put us on the slipway to exit".
Scrunched into a parliamentary office that seems to be about the size of the foreign secretary's desk, Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats' spokesman on foreign affairs, agrees with Miliband. The Tories, he says, are "potentially quite a threat to this country". "Not having a serious European policy means you haven't got much of a foreign policy."
But first let's deal with the rest of the world. That can be done in a few sentences, because they agree on almost all of it. Other than over Europe, all three struggle to articulate significant foreign policy differences between their parties. These are "of a different order", says Miliband. Hague talks of "a distinctive British foreign policy" and a better system of decision-making, symbolised by the Conservatives' proposed national security council. ("We believe in proper meetings ... not little chats on sofas.") Davey charges both larger parties with a lack of respect for international law.
But when you get into the substance, it feels like Tweedledum and Tweedledee – and the Lib Dem Tweedledoh. All three take climate change seriously. All want to increase Britain's spending on foreign aid to 0.7% of GDP. All say Britain is a country at war in Afghanistan. All support that war as it is currently being fought. Lib Dems don't want a like-for-like replacement of Trident, but none of the three will abandon it now.
All basically agree with the foreign affairs committee that Britain needs a "hard-headed" approach to its relationship with the US. All acknowledge that Europe is, as Hague puts it, "a shrinking part of the world". All see the importance of relations with emerging powers. When I ask his "greatest regret" from his time as foreign secretary, Miliband says "not having visited Brazil". None of them recoil from the label "liberal". "On many subjects," says Hague, "there is a good deal of ... do we call it consensus any more?" Well, call it or not, that's what it is.
Too much consensus, perhaps. Shouldn't we have a chance to vote for getting out of Afghanistan now? Or for drastically reducing our defence spending? Or for radically changing our relationship with Washington? Or for leaving the EU? That option is, of course, offered by the UK Independence party.
And here's the rub. Hague & Cameron's Finest Fudge cannot conceal the fact that many Conservative voters instinctively sympathise with the Ukip position. Their prejudices are reinforced every day by the Eurosceptic press. The new intake of Tory MPs will be even more Eurosceptic than the outgoing lot. Last summer, the conservativehome website surveyed Tory candidates in Conservative-held and top target seats. While only 5% wanted "wholesale withdrawal" from the EU, 38% sought "a fundamental renegotiation" and 47% the repatriation of some powers.
Yet our European partners are in no mood to renegotiate anything, let alone to do any favours to an incoming Conservative government – especially since the Conservatives pulled out of the European People's party (EPP) grouping in the European parliament, which linked them directly to ruling parties in Germany, France, Italy and Poland. On her recent trip to Britain, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, did not so much as meet Cameron.
So even if one accepts that Hague and Cameron are genuine in their professed desire to forge a constructive relationship with Britain's partners in the EU, they will soon find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Hague is a skilful politician, with impeccable Eurosceptic credentials to placate his backbenchers, but he cannot forever go on facing both ways: stout Yorkshire William at home, nice Monsieur 'ague abroad.
To be sure, there is no new Lisbon treaty in the offing, but there are hard choices coming down the track. Within the first weeks of a new government, Brussels will produce a directive on hedge funds. Britain's new leaders will need all the friends they have in Europe – or no longer have, in the case of the Tories and the EPP – to make that directive compatible with the vital interests of Britain, which is home to most of Europe's hedge funds.
By the end of this year, there will probably be something called the European investigation order, joining some 90 other agreements covering terrorism, serious crime and illegal immigration to which Britain has already "opted in". Will the Tories put their ideological hostility to "Europe" before doing what is needed to combat terrorists, murderers, paedophiles and illegal immigrants? Then there's a major EU budget negotiation; the future of the eurozone; European defence procurement – every one of them touching vital British interests. And anyone who has spent time in Washington knows that our heft in the United States today depends on the extent of our influence in Europe.
So for all the invisibility of foreign policy questions in the campaign launch, for all the consensus, for all the Conservative leadership's change of tone on Europe, there is a big foreign policy choice in this election. It is the one that has haunted Britain for 50 years. It affects everything, from the economy to the environment, from crime to our relationship with Washington, and it will determine our destiny. Ignore the Tories' muzzling at your peril. That dog will soon come back to bite them – and you.
Greece takes a pounding as doubts grow over rescue
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7089627.ece
George Papaconstantinou
George Papaconstantinou, the Finance Minister, denied that he was trying to renegotiate the terms of the rescue deal Carl Mortished, World Business Editor •34 Comments Recommend? (10)
A sudden sell-off in Greek sovereign bonds yesterday has pushed up the cost of borrowing for the embattled state to record levels, casting doubts on its ability to refinance up to €15 billion of debt over the next two months.
The surge in Greek bond yields, which reached 7.1 per cent, prompted the Finance Minister to warn that the present interest rate burden was unsustainable. The renewed fears about the Greek finances hit the euro, which fell against the dollar.
The rush to sell Greek debt was sparked by rumours that Athens was seeking to renegotiate a proposed rescue package involving loans from eurozone states and the IMF. At the same time, it emerged that Greece was trying to rebrand itself among investors as an emerging market bond issuer.
Eurozone states and the IMF have promised to provide rescue funds if Greece cannot borrow from the markets, but Germany is insisting that any such lending should be at commercial rates. George Papaconstantinou, the Finance Minister, denied that he was trying to renegotiate the terms, but his statement failed to prevent the market from pounding Greek bond prices. The sell-off widened the yield premium on Greek debt against benchmark German bunds from 3.6 to 4.08 percentage points a record risk premium for Greece. Credit default swaps on Greek debt, a form of bond insurance, also gained ground, raising the cost of insuring €10 million of Greek bonds from €344,000 to €400,000. New anxiety over the risk of a Greek default affected the euro, which fell 0.8 per cent against the dollar to 1.338.
The involvement of the IMF which is sending inspectors to Athens today suggests the conditions attached to any emergency loan would be punitive, including massive cuts in public spending. The markets also fear that a bailout would damage the euro’s credibility, a factor behind its recent weakness against the dollar.
Credit analysts said that soaring interest rates, if reflected in future fund-raisings, would have a material impact on the outlook for Greece’s budget. Indeed, Mr Papaconstantinou conceded yesterday: “Interest rates are very high and it’s clear we cannot continue like this for a long time.”
However, analysts said the real concern was the sudden nature of the sell-off, which raised the question whether the Government would find buyers for its debt. “The interest rate [of 7 per cent] is materially worse, but the greater concern is volatility. Greece needs to access capital markets to refinance maturing debt. It is harder to issue bonds when the market is volatile; investors get nervous,” Brian Coulton, a director of Fitch Ratings, said.
Greece needs to finance the repayment of some €23 billion of maturing bonds over the next month or two. Two recent bond issues raised €10 billion, suggesting another €10 billion in Greek paper will hit the market in coming weeks. However, the second issuance of €5 billion in seven-year notes last week provided a warning of diminishing investor appetite for Greek debt. The fund-raising was only just covered with €6.25 billion bid for the €5 billion in notes on offer.
The point was rammed home by the market last week when the Greek Government attempted to reopen an existing issue maturing in 2022 by offering a further €1 billion to the market. Only €340 million was raised.
In response Greece is planning to tap American bond market investors with a dollar bond issuance later this month. Athens will target American emerging market funds, which are more likely to be attracted by high yields and are less risk-averse. Typically, Greece sells its debt to European banks and investment institutions, but there are clear signs that these are becoming worried that Greece’s risk profile is too exotic for their portfolios.
Eastern Europe won't pay what it can't pay
By Michael Hudson, Financial Times, Thursday 7 April 2010
Greece is just the first in a series of European debt bombs about to go off. Mortgage debts in the post-communist economies and Iceland are more explosive. Although most of these countries are not in the eurozone, their debts are largely denominated in euros. Some 87 per cent of Latvia's debts are in euros or other foreign currencies, and are owed mainly to Swedish banks, while Hungary and Romania owe euro-debts mainly to Austrian banks. These governments have been borrowing not to finance a budget deficit, as in Greece, but to support their exchange rates and thereby prevent a private-sector default to foreign banks.
All these debts are unpayably high because most of these countries are running deepening trade deficits and are sinking into depression. Now that property prices are plunging, trade deficits are no longer financed by an inflow of foreign-currency mortgage lending. For the past year, these countries have supported their exchange rates by borrowing from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The terms of this borrowing are politically unsustainable: sharp public sector budget cuts, higher tax rates on already over-taxed labour, and austerity plans that shrink economies and drive more workers to emigrate.
Bankers in Sweden and Austria, Germany and Britain are about to discover that extending credit to nations that cannot (or will not) pay may be their problem, not that of their debtors. No one wants to accept the fact that debts that cannot be paid, will not be. Someone must bear the cost as debts go into default or are written down, to be paid in sharply depreciated currencies, and many legal experts find debt agreements calling for repayment in euros unenforceable. Every sovereign nation has the right to legislate its own debt terms, and the coming currency re-alignments and debt write-downs will be much more than mere "haircuts".
There is no point in devaluing, unless "to excess" - that is, by enough to actually change trade and production patterns. That is why Franklin Roosevelt devalued the US dollar by 75 per cent against gold in 1933, raising the metal's official price from $20 to $35 an ounce. To avoid raising the US debt burden proportionally, he annulled the "gold clause" indexing payment of bank loans to the price of gold. This is where the political fight will occur today - over the payment of debt in currencies that are devalued.
Another by-product of the Great Depression in the US and Canada was to free mortgage debtors from personal liability, making it possible to recover from bankruptcy. Foreclosing banks can take possession of collateral property, but do not have any further claim on the mortgagees. This practice - grounded in common law - shows how North America has freed itself from the legacy of feudal-style creditor power and the debtors' prisons that made earlier European debt laws so harsh.
The question is, who will bear the loss? Keeping debts denominated in euros would bankrupt much local business. Conversely, re-denominating these debts in local depreciated currency would wipe out the capital of many euro-based banks. But these banks are foreigners, after all - and in the end, governments must represent their own home electorates. Foreign banks do not vote.
There is growing recognition that the post-communist economies were structured from the start to benefit foreign interests, not local economies. For example, Latvian labour is taxed at more than 50 per cent (labour, employer, and social tax) - so high as to make it non-competitive, while property taxes are less than 1 per cent, providing an incentive towards speculation. This skewed tax philosophy made the "Baltic tigers" and central Europe prime loan markets for Swedish and Austrian banks, even as domestic labour struggled to find well-paying work. Nothing like this (or their abysmal workplace protection laws) is found in Western Europe or North America.
It seems unreasonable and unrealistic to expect that large sectors of the new European population can be made subject to salary garnishment throughout their lives, reducing them to a lifetime of debt peonage. Future relations between Old and New Europe will depend on the eurozone's willingness to redesign the post-communist economies on more solvent lines - with more productive credit and a less rentier-biased tax system that promotes employment rather than asset-price inflation. In addition to currency realignments to deal with unaffordable debt, the solution for these countries is a major shift of taxes from labour to land. There is no just alternative. Otherwise, the age-old conflict between creditors and debtors threatens to split Europe into opposing camps, with Iceland the dress rehearsal.
The writer is professor of economics at the University of Missouri and chief economic adviser to the Reform Task Force Latvia, an opposition think-tank.
SPAIN: EX PRESIDENT OF BALEARICS PAYS 3 MLN TO AVOID JAIL
(ANSAmed) - MADRID, APRIL 7 - The former President of the Balearic Islands and ex-Environment Minister for the Peoplés Party, Jaume Matas, has paid three million euros in bail to avoid a prison sentenced imposed by the magistrate investigating the "Palma Arenas" case, in which Matas was accused of 12 counts of corruption. The news was released by judiciary sources in a statement. Matas will provisionally remain free, but will have to appear on the first and fifteenth of every month at the public prosecutor's office and is banned from leaving Spanish soil. Charges against the PP politician include forgery, abuse of power, administration fraud, embezzlement, money-laundering and violation of electoral law. He also risks being sentenced to 24 years in prison in a case concerning the alleged misuse of public funds for the building of a velodrome. (ANSAmed).
2010-04-07 14:02
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME03.XAM14020.html
Subject: FW: UKIP Salisbury Meeting 15 April. Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 09:28:37 +0200 From: "HELMER Roger" To: "DARTMOUTH William" Cc: "Idris Francis"
William, I see you're speaking on the European Arrest Warrant. You may be interested in my experience of the "Derby Two" (see my blog below and much more on http://rogerhelmermep.wordpress.com)
Do remember that the Lib-Dems are proud of their achievement in setting up the EAW.
Note: Wrong in principle. However difficult an individual case may be the greater good is served by the retention of the right to jury trial for serious cases. It is worth noting that the jury is not widely used on the continent and as with everything else these days, any dramatic change in time-honoured British ways of doing things must raise the suspicion that the EU has some hand, direct or indirect in it. This could simply be a prelude to greatly diminishing jury trial in Britain general before the final federalist push to a single judicial system within the EU. RH
Telegraph Heathrow gang found guilty in first trial without a jury Four armed robbers were convicted of taking part in a £1.75 million heist at Heathrow Airport following the first criminal trial to be heard without a jury for almost 400 years.
By Martin Evans Published: 7:00AM BST 01 Apr 2010
The Menzies World Cargo warehouse at Heathrow Airpoirt in west London where armed robbers stole £1.75 million Photo: PA
Peter Blake (left) Barry Hibberd
Glenn Cameron (left) John Twomey John Twomey, Peter Blake, Barry Hibberd and Glenn Cameron were found guilty by a judge at the Old Bailey over the raid on a warehouse in February 2004. New laws allowed the historic trial to go ahead without a jury after three previous attempts to hear the case collapsed amid concerns of alleged jury tampering. Yesterday, at the end of the fourth trial, which began in January, Mr Justice Treacy found the four guilty. The total cost to the taxpayer of bringing the four men to justice has been estimated at around £25 million – more than 14 times the amount stolen. Centuries of tradition. guaranteeing a defendant's right to be judged by a jury of their peers in the most serious cases, were set aside by the Court of Appeal after it ruled there was a serious danger jury members could be nobbled. Campaigners warned that the decision set a dangerous precedent, but the trial went ahead in front of a judge after three previous hearings had to be aborted. The raid was described by Simon Russell Flint QC, prosecuting, as a "professionally-planned and professionally-executed armed robbery". It was organised with the help of insider Darren Brockwell, who later turned supergrass and gave evidence. Five of the robbers were armed with handguns and a sixth carried a Heckler & Koch 9mm firearm similar to those used by police. During the hold-up 16 members of staff were tied up and threatened while one, David Westwood, was shot at by Blake as he tried to escape and raise the alarm. The robbers made off with £1.05 million in sterling and the rest of the cash in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Australian currency, some of it exchanged at foreign exchange bureaus in central London in the following weeks. The lengthy attempts to bring members of the gang to justice began with an Old Bailey trial in March 2005 which saw Twomey in the dock alongside a number of other men, who cannot be named for legal reasons. The hearing was stopped when he took ill and was unable to continue. A second trial started in March 2007, when Twomey faced charges alongside Blake and Hibberd, who had been arrested since the start of the first trial. By the time the jury retired five months later they were down to 10 members but indicated they had reached a majority verdict on all defendants. The judge declined to accept a majority verdict at that stage and sent the jurors home for the Bank Holiday weekend. However following the short break one juror refused to return to court claiming he was too stressed. Down to nine members the jury were unable to reach unanimous verdicts and were eventually discharged. A third trial began in June 2008 with Cameron also facing charges. But in December that year the judge was forced to stop the trial explaining to the court: "Solid information came to my attention that an attempt has been made to nobble more than one of the jurors on this jury." It later emerged that there was evidence of approaches being made to two members of the panel. Mr Justice Treacy started the fourth and final trial in January at the Royal Courts of Justice, hearing evidence without the presence of a jury. Even that trial was beset with delays with Blake absconding at one point. He handed himself in a week later, claiming he had simply wanted to get some clothes. Blake was remanded back into custody and the case was switched to the Old Bailey. Twomey, Blake and Hibberd, described in court as "experienced career criminals", carried out the raid with Twomey's brother-in-law Cameron, and two other men who have yet to be brought to justice. Twomey, 62, of New Milton, Hampshire, Blake, 57, of Notting Hill, west London, Hibberd, 43, of Shepherds Bush, west London, and Cameron, 50, of New Milton, Hampshire, were all found guilty of robbery and having a firearm with intent to commit robbery. Blake was also found guilty of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Hibberd was found not guilty of 13 charges on unrelated firearms offences concerning a cache of weapons at a lock-up garage in Uxbridge, west London.
Corpus Juris What is Corpus Juris? In April 1997 a seminar was held in San Sebastian, Spain, to discuss a proposal for the 'Criminal protection of the financial ... www.silentmajority.co.uk/EUrorealist/corpus_juris.html - Cached - Similar Brits at their Best EU-Style Justice Corpus Juris Copyright 2008 ... Corpus Juris is the EU-wide system of criminal justice that you will be living under if the EU gets its way. The EU envisions the territory of the member ... www.britsattheirbest.com/freedom/f_eu_corpus_juris.htm - Cached - Similar Corpus Juris index Corpus Juris - the European Union proposal to abolish trials by jury. General. The Corpus Juris homepage Regularly updated and indexed resource page ... www.eurofaq.freeuk.com/cj_folder/cj_index.html - Cached - Similar Corpus juris: being a complete and systematic statement of the ... - Google Books Result William Mack, William Benjamin Hale, Donald J ... - 1922 - Law books.google.co.uk/books?id=7n0LAAAAYAAJ... Corpus Juris v Habeas Corpus That system is outlined in the document Corpus Juris. This document emerged out of a meeting which took place in San Sebastian, Spain in April 1997 to which ... www.caef.org.uk/cj44.htm - Cached
The Menace of the European Arrest Warrant March 29, 2010, 10:03 am Filed under: Uncategorized
Two Derby men, David Birkinshaw and Matthew Neale, have suffered a grave injustice, and the fault lies fair and square with the European Arrest Warrant, which is a major threat to our rights and freedoms under the law.
Readers will be familiar with the story, so I can summarise it briefly. It appears that some kind of incident took place in Riga, Latvia, early last year, during the course of a stag party. I have seen no evidence, however, that any assault was committed, nor any injury sustained. Nor is there any evidence that David and Matthew were involved in the alleged incident.
Nonetheless they were sent off to Riga to face trial, on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant. They were held in a Stalin-era jail, described by the Latvian President as "not fit for animals" - and they were held without either a trial date or a formal charge.
After nearly three months, they were tried, and acquitted for lack of evidence, so they returned home. We can imagine the sense of relief for them and their families when they got back. David and his partner Rachel Gee started to re-schedule their wedding, put on hold by these events. The men could have lost their jobs, but their employers very responsibly held them open.
We can also imagine the shock and disbelief when the men were later advised that the Latvian prosecutor was to appeal against the acquittal, and that they had to go back to Riga to face what amounts to a re-trial. The wedding was postponed again, and the hearing takes place in Riga on March 25th. I intend to be there to show my support for these two constituents.
British citizens should only be extradited when three conditions are fulfilled:
The offence should be serious enough to justify extradition. Manslaughter, Yes. Dropping litter, No. But in this case it is not clear that any offence took place at all, and if it did, it seems to have been no more than a minor scuffle. There should be credible prima facie evidence against the accused, sufficient to justify a trial. There appears to be none in this case. We should be confident that our citizens will be treated no worse than they might expect to be in the UK. Latvia fails abysmally. These two men were held in unacceptable conditions. They were denied the historic British right of Habeas Corpus. And they are facing what amounts to double jeopardy - a second trial on charges on which they have already been acquitted. Every one of us now faces the risk that we may be sent off to jail, like the Derby Two, in jurisdictions with much lower standards than our own, in obscure countries where we don't speak the language. This year Latvia, or Bulgaria. Next year, perhaps, Croatia. In a few years, maybe even Turkey. Shades of Midnight Express.
We could be sent to face trial for some action which is illegal over there, but perfectly legal over here. And under the European inquisitorial legal system, individual crusading magistrates in obscure towns may get a bee in their bonnets and pursue anyone in Europe that they happen to take against.
This is a scandal, and the Derby Two perfectly illustrate the injustice of it. I believe that an in-coming Conservative government will want to take a long, hard look at the European Arrest Warrant, and give us back the protections under the law that our grandparents took for granted.
MEPs call for law to make Sunday a day of rest
The News of the World reported that hundreds of MEPs have signed a declaration calling for Sunday to be made a legal day of rest, under a review of the EU's Working Time Directive, with only the likes of hospital staff, police and firemen allowed to work. Open Europe's Stephen Booth was quoted saying: "There is absolutely no need for the EU to be deciding what days people can work. This ludicrous proposal shows the extent to which MEPs are determined to interfere in the working practices of UK citizens".
NOTW Open Europe research
An analysis in the FT looks at Germany's changing attitude to the EU and quotes Ulrike Guérot, Berlin's representative of the European Council on Foreign Relations, saying: "The law community is the most important elite community in Germany. They have turned anti-European. The problem is not the general population. It's the elites who no longer carry the [European] project."
FT: Analysis European Voice: Wyles
Telegraph
EU spends £260,000 on hunters then bans products The European Union introduced a ban on seal products after spending more than £260,000 on promoting the seal hunting industry, including a cookbook with a recipe for "Seal Wellington".
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels Published: 9:30PM BST 08 Apr 2010
The cookbook with a recipe for a Seal Wellington Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian hunters who legally cull seals for conservation reasons are angry that they must now bury or burn the bodies because of an EU ban agreed last year. Under the EU ban all commercial trade in seal based products, ranging from valuable skins, meat and oil, which is used in Omega-3 capsules, is forbidden.
"Sweden, and the EU, has tried to ban people from smoking but it doesn't ban people from selling or buying tobacco," said Ake Granstrom, of the Swedish association for hunting and wildlife management. "Why can't we market what we are allowed to hunt? It is crazy. "We want to make use of the animals we kill. Otherwise it is a complete waste of a good resource." The ban means that an EU funded cookbook, compiled by Mr Granstrom and aimed at a pre-prohibition promotion of "modern, trendy seal cuisine", is useless to the taxpayers who paid for it. "Säl Hylje Sel", named after the three words for "seal" in Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian, is now to be published in Canada because its recipes are now effectively outlawed in Europe. Twelve renowned chefs were asked to come up with tasty recipe ideas, ranging from a haute cuisine Seal Wellington to an Asian dish of wok fried seal with jasmine rice and sweet and sour sauce. The cookbook was part of an EU project named 'Seal: A common resource', that received £262,000, between 2000 and 2007, to help hunters make the most of the animals they were allowed to cull. The EU ban has risked a world trade dispute with Canada, home to large seal-hunting Inuit communities. "The seal ban raises a question of principle. The Canadian hunt is sustainable, humane and well-monitored. The EU proceeded with a ban that has no basis in fact or science," Ross Hornby, Canada's Brussels ambassador, told the EUobserver. Canadian anger over the EU ban reached new heights three weeks ago when the northern territory of Nunavut, home to a large seal-hunting community, voted to remove EU made beer, wine and spirits from liquor stores in retaliation. “That was the whole intent of it, to get the message across that we’re not happy,” said Fred Schell, a member of the territory’s legislative assembly.
SPAIN: VICTIMS FRANCOIST CRIMES TURN TO ARGENTINEAN COURTS
(ANSAmed) - MADRID, APRIL 9 - Spanish associations for the victims of Francoist crimes will present a report to the Argentinean federal courts on Wednesday, to denounce "the genocide committed by General Francisco Franco in Spain between 1936 and 1977", between the start of the Civil war (1936-1939) and the end of the dictatorship. The report, quoted today by the Spanish press, appeals to the Argentinean constitution which recognises the principle of universal jurisdiction to judge those responsible for crimes against humanity. "If Spain refuses to investigates those crimes, a foreign judge will do so" the associations warned when the magistrate of the Audienca Nacional, Baltazar Garzon, was taken away from investigating the disappearances during the Civil War and the Francoist period. "The goal is to avoid letting these crime remain unpunished" explained Carlos Slepoy, the Argentinean lawyer of the associations of the victims of the 113,000 "desaparecidos" registered in Spain, quoted today by newspaper Publico. The accusation will start with the concrete case of Severino Rivas, the socialist mayor who was shot in 1936 in Lugo, to support the thesis that Francoism carried out a systematic plan that can be defined as "political, social and cultural genocide". Slepoy will ask the Argentinean court to demand evidence of these crimes from the Spanish government, including "the list of Ministers, officials of the armed forces and of the Guardia Civil who participated in these facts, who are still alive, because they will be called to make statements in court". If the case is prepared for trial, some former Ministers under Franco, like the president of honour of the Peoplés Party, Manuel Fraga, could be summoned in court. (ANSAmed).
2010-04-09 15:10
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