Europe NHS waiting lists rise as a result of EU's 48-hour week The Telegraph reports that the Royal College of Surgeons has carried out an analysis of the effect of the EU's 48-hour week on NHS waiting lists. The analysis shows that thousands more patients are now waiting longer than 18 weeks for surgery. Waiting times had been dropping since the 1990s but the EU Working Time Directive's rules limiting junior doctors to a 48-hour week, which were implemented last August, has reversed the trend. The proportion of NHS patients having to wait longer than the 18-week target for non-emergency surgery such as hip replacements had almost doubled from 1.5 percent 18 months ago to nearly three percent in March this year. Royal College of Surgeons President John Black said, "If you have the same number of patients, no more doctors and ask them to work less then it is inevitable that the time available for elective procedures will reduce and waiting lists grow." A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "On the European Working Time Directive, the Health Secretary will support the Business Secretary in future negotiations on its revision, including maintenance of the opt-out." Telegraph Express Mail Open Europe research Sarkozy tightens grip on state-subsidised firms in effort to keep jobs in France The FT reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has appointed a senior business figure, Jean-Dominique Comolli, Deputy Chairman of Imperial Tobacco, to run an agency responsible for ensuring that a sufficient share of manufacturing is retained in France by companies in which the Government has shares. FCO: "We understand that so many of you feel jaded and sceptical about the EU". The UK Government's public consultation, where members of the public were invited to make suggestions as to how to tackle the problems facing Britain, "was deluged with suggestions that Britain should leave the EU", according to the Mail. In response, a statement was posted on the FCO website noting that: "We understand that so many of you feel jaded and sceptical about the EU. Speaking about the EU in Parliament, the Foreign Secretary said he knows there is 'a profound disconnection between the British people and what has been done in their name by British Governments'. We want to deal with this." Commission accused of 'criminalising' wide range of business practices by extending competition rules Writing in the WSJ, Frank Fine, Director of EC Competition Law Advocates, argues that the European Commission is seeking to drastically expand its power to fine companies for their participation in so-called "information exchanges," a form of cartel under EU competition law involving the communication of sensitive business information between competitors. He adds that, "These changes would criminalise a wide range of currently legal, and in some cases innocuous, conduct." New report: EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) unsustainable A new report by the New Economics Foundation calls for the UK to push for a new, sustainable policy when negotiating the upcoming reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), as 72 percent of European fish stocks are currently over-fished. According to PA, a Defra spokesman claims that: "As Richard Benyon [UK Fisheries Minister] said after attending his first Fisheries Council in June, we must reduce the burden of over-centralised regulations on industry, allow businesses to plan for growth and end the disgrace of discards." Handelsblatt: EU triumphs over speculators An article in Handelsblatt argues that the EU has triumphed over financial speculators. It argues that the "strong recovery of the common currency shows: The bets against the euro did not pay off, many investors have made loses with them." The article quotes figures from Société Générale which show that bets against the euro have declined to 24 000 from a high of 100 000 in May. In a second article it claims that the energetic response of the EU was successful in reassuring markets. Meanwhile, in a commentary in FT Deutschland, Daniel Gros, the Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, writes that the experiences of the financial crisis have shown that the euro zone does not collapse that easily. Nonetheless, to stabilise Europe permanently an institution for a common fiscal policy will be necessary. The Nouvel Observateur reports that a Marseille-based association has been condemned by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for the mismanagement of subsidies received in 2002 through the European Social Fund (ESF). The association was chaired by Xavier Giocanti - French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde's current partner - from 2003 to 2005, and will now have to reimburse €1 million to the European Commission. Berlusconi could call an early election Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is ready to call an early election if his coalition in the lower house of the Italian Parliament falls short of achieving a majority in today's no-confidence vote on Justice Undersecretary Giacomo Caliendo. Meanwhile, the lower house's speaker Gianfranco Fini - Berlusconi's former ally and co-founder of the People of Liberty party - has said that at least 33 MPs will follow his instructions and will abstain from voting on the confidence motion. UK Prime Minister David Cameron will today travel to Rome for bilateral talks with Mr Berlusconi. Corriere della Sera La Stampa Berlingske Tidende Telegraph FT Apcom AFP reports that the European External Borders Agency (FRONTEX) will open its first regional centre for the surveillance of the EU's South-Eastern borders. The centre will be based in the Greek port of Piraeus and will be operational from 1 October. An article in the IHT notes that Germany's recent economic upswing is a significant point of contention with leaders in France and other countries who believe that some of it comes at their expense. Erik Boel: Denmark should drop its 2012 EU Presidency An op-ed by Erik Boel in Danish daily Politiken argues that Denmark should not take up the EU Presidency in 2012 as planned, because as a non eurozone member it is not involved in a substantial amount of meetings: "All in all, the [euro exemption] paints the image of a country which is placed on the sideline of the EU cooperation, as a sort of B-member. In practice, this means that we cannot overtake the presidency in a worthy and serious way". Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva criticised France at a Mercosur Summit yesterday over EU-Mercosur free trade negotiations. Mercosur has long asked for EU agricultural subsidies to be reduced, however France continues to refuse to negotiate the issue, reports AFP. The European Commission's annual Eurodac study reports that the number of asylum applications increased by 8 percent in 2009. The number of asylum seekers making multiple claims, which is illegal, also increased from 18 to 23 percent of total requests. Dow Jones reports that the European Commission has said it will send another €1.2 billion in emergency loans to Romania, as budget cuts and other reforms are proceeding as expected. An article in FT Deutschland nominates Lene Espersen from Denmark as the EU's clumsiest Foreign Minister. According to the article she stumbles from one faux pas to the next and has already missed 13 official meetings. A poll has shown that 66 percent of Swedish MPs will be prepared to cooperate with the opposite political bloc in a joint effort to prevent the right-wing Swedish Democrats from gaining influence, if the party fulfils expectations and enters the Swedish Parliament following September's national elections. Dagens Nyheter Svenska Dagbladet Open Europe
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
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