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Europe
Commission eyes corporate tax harmonisation
The Irish Independent reports that the Commission is planning to table a proposal for a common corporate tax base in the EU. The Irish Times quotes a draft Commission document, which reads: "The Commission will take steps to improve the co-ordination of national tax policies, notably by proposing a directive introducing the common consolidated corporate tax base". The article notes that the proposal would introduce a common European formula for the calculation of tax on the profits of firms operating in more than one member state. The Irish Independent notes that VAT is also mentioned as an area to be studied. "The VAT system as currently designed has limitations in a number of areas, leading in particular to a disproportionate administrative burden for companies", the Commission states.
Czech Economy Minister: the UK withdrew objections to new EU financial supervision at last minute leaving the Czech government alone
Prague Daily Monitor reported earlier in the week that the Czech government has complained that it was left alone objecting to the new EU financial supervision architecture, as the UK eventually withdrew its objections. The paper quotes Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, saying: "Great Britain shared our view until yesterday [Monday] and thus has offered an extraordinary show of pragmatism". He added that the compromise agreed by EU finance ministers last Tuesday may, in the future, cause a number of problems. "I have a reason to fear that problems may occur sometime in five-six years. One of these [pan-European] agencies will make a wrong decision and will cause harm. This can lead to very complicated discussions about who will pay for it", he warned.
Meanwhile, Open Europe's briefing on the new pan-European financial supervisors is cited by EU Chronicle.
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Greece still hasn't revealed extent of deals to conceal its debt;
ECB steps up intervention in bond markets
Bloomberg reports that four months after the €110 billion bailout for Greece, the nation still hasn't disclosed the full details of secret financial transactions it used to conceal its debt. "We have not seen the real documents", Walter Radermacher, head of the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat, said. Eurostat first requested the contracts in February. The fiscal crisis turned attention to currency swaps arranged by Goldman Sachs that helped Greece hide the extent of its debt. "There are more, or even many, of this kind of swap operation, which we have to clarify", added Radermacher. "The Goldman Sachs case was the beginning".
Meanwhile, the FT notes that the ECB has stepped in to shore up the eurozone government bond markets in its biggest such intervention since early July. The ECB has bought between €100 million and €300 million of Greek, Irish and Portuguese bonds so far this week, traders said yesterday.
Slovakian business daily Hospodarske Noviny features an interview with Open Europe's Director Mats Persson, discussing Slovakia's refusal to take part in the eurozone bailout of Greece. Mats argued that the Slovakian government acted in a fully reasonable manner, given that unlike Greece, the country went through tough reforms to qualify for euro membership.
El Pais notes that a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has revealed that Spain's competitiveness has fallen to the same level as Puerto Rico and Barbados - rated at 42 out of 139 countries. Divergences between eurozone countries remain large, with Germany and France rated at 5 and 15 respectively, while Portugal and Italy are rated at 46 and 48. La Repubblica notes that the IMF has revised the Italian growth forecast down to 1 percent in 2010, due to the country's weak competitiveness.
Die Welt reports that a new survey conducted by MRB Hellas has shown that 76 percent of Greeks think that the country's economy will not improve substantially, while 69 percent of respondents doubt that austerity measures implemented by the Greek government will lead the country back to growth.
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Government announces review of European Arrest Warrant
The Guardian reports that Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday announced a review of the UK's extradition arrangements, which include the application of the European Arrest Warrant. Open Europe's Stephen Booth was quoted saying that "the European Arrest Warrant needs to be comprehensively renegotiated, or at the very least much stronger safeguards need to be put in place to ensure that British citizens can count on their elected government to review their case before shipping them off to foreign prisons". Stephen is also quoted by the Independent.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that campaigners are urging the UK Government to bring forward the date of the review on the European Arrest Warrant, as the planned schedule would take too long, putting citizens at risk. A separate comment piece in the Telegraph argues that "there should be few illusions that any changes will result [...] As the European Arrest Warrant is now part of EU law, amending it would require pan-European consent. So while Mrs May's intentions are commendable, she will need to fight hard to reassert Britain's sovereignty in an area where the last Labour government compromised traditional liberties, often for reasons of short-term political expediency".
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French Europe Minister: Reconsidering the UK rebate is "logical"
AFP reports that French Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche has said that the reconsideration of the UK rebate during the negotiations over the next EU financial framework (2014-2020) is "logical", arguing that it would constitute "a normal evolution towards greater fairness and readability among member states on the financing of the EU budget".
Handelsblatt: "Commissioner Barnier wants to punish banks hard"
Handelsblatt reports that in a draft proposal circulating in Brussels, the European Commission wants to double the amount of capital that financial institutions would be required to hold, despite criticism from banks that such a move would be untenable. The article notes that "Commissioner Barnier wants to punish banks hard."
In an interview with the paper, Barnier says: "Banks have been conducting themselves irresponsibly, immorally and unethically". He added that "we will need more stress tests", noting that "we must wait first until EU financial supervisors start working in January. The EU banking supervisor will then decide how often and in which way we will test in the future". Meanwhile, the FT Deutschland reports that ECB Chief Economist Jurgen Stark has told the leadership of the CDU faction in the German Bundestag that German banks are undercapitalised.
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EP vote on the AIFM Directive postponed to October
Reuters France reports that the European Parliament has decided to delay its voting on the AIFM directive to October due to disagreements with member states. A new round of talks between the EP, the Commission and the Belgian EU Presidency - negotiating on behalf of member states - will be held on 15 September. Discussion is still open about the terms of the passport for funds based in third countries. The Belgian Presidency has proposed to retain the passport, but to ask that some kind of local presence is ensured, for example through the creation of local offices within the EU, reports Belga.
UK, France and Germany united in opposition to EU bonds
Handelsblatt reports that the governments of Germany, France and the UK have rejected Commission President José Manuel Barroso's proposal of EU bonds being created to finance major infrastructure projects. Of the big EU member states, only Italy is supportive of the idea. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble is quoted saying that the Commission should not continuously make proposals which are "not of this world".
The article also notes that French Budget Minister François Baroin is seeking allies between big EU member states against the budget increases proposed by the European Commission. To this end, he met his German counterpart in Berlin last month and will soon travel to London to hold talks with Chancellor George Osborne.
El Mundo reports that yesterday German Chancellor Angela Merkel also voiced her opposition to both the introduction of an EU-wide tax and EU bonds.
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MEPs want EU funding for journalists to be put "high on the list" of Commission's priorities
In a resolution adopted on Tuesday, MEPs lamented that EU funding for journalist training has been cut for 2011 and called for the commission to "put it high on the list of priorities" when negotiating the next multi-annual EU budget starting in 2014. EUobserver notes that EuroparlTV, the online TV outlet costing €9.5 million a year, will also come under review.
Meanwhile, the Parliament cites Open Europe's research revealing that €8 million was spent in 2009 on entertaining, training and 'informing' journalists. Marta Andreasen MEP criticises this expenditure and the EP's report on her El Mundo blog, arguing that this initiative is another attempt by the EU to "use the money of those who contribute to sell itself", which is "far from getting the EU closer to the citizens".
EUobserver EurActiv The Parliament ABC El Mundo: Andreasen
The Telegraph reports that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has criticised the EU's Working Time Directive warning that junior doctors in the UK are sacrificing daytime training in order to cover the wards at night.
Government drops plan for food waste recycling designed to meet EU targets
The Telegraph reports that the Government has shelved plans to force all households to start collecting food waste separately, designed to ban certain materials going to landfill, like food, paper and metals, in order to meet strict EU targets.
AFP quotes Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves expressing his concerns on the marginalisation of new EU member states in the formation of the European External Action Service. "A situation in which you have two persons coming from Eastern Europe - where 100 million people live - and ten people coming from Belgium, which has 10 million inhabitants, it is not the best to make people think that the EU's foreign policy bodies work in their interest", he argued.
In an interview with El Pais, EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso defended his 'state of the union' address, which had been criticised for not explicitly condemning the repatriation of the Roma people by France. "It is a mistake to say that freedom of movement is absolute. This is what creates many Le Pens", he argued.
EUobserver reports that the EU and Serbia have agreed on a draft resolution on Kosovo's status. The resolution will be voted on by the United Nations General Assembly today.
EurActiv reports that a forum of experts of EU-China economic relations have questioned EU plans to open "SME centres" in third countries, instead arguing in favour of re-organising and re-branding the existing business centres run by EU member states. A €5 million EU SME centre is due to open in Beijing by the end of the year.
The WSJ notes that German workers unions are pressing for annual wage increases as high as 4 percent to 6 percent. If their bargaining is successful, Germany and the euro zone could see inflation rates move higher and eventually above the European Central Bank's target, economists warn.
Writing in FAZ, German Professor Dieter Grimm looks at the German Constitutional Court's rulings on power distribution between member states and the EU and how the judges have changed their doctrine with the Mangold ruling - only one year after the verdict on the Lisbon Treaty. He argues that the "big shift in power distribution [from member states to the EU] should be blamed on the Constitutional Court itself. Whether it will be able to stop structural shifts coming from the EU, for which it was so concerned in its Lisbon ruling, remains doubtful".
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Writing in the FT, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb argue that the economic and security case for Turkish membership of the EU is "stronger than ever".
The BBC reports that the EU has agreed on new rules aimed at reducing the number of animals used in lab experiments and tightening controls over such procedures.
EUobserver reports that the European Court of Justice has ruled that Germany's current state monopoly on gambling is "unjustifiable" and in breach of EU law.
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