Europe Cameron faces opposition to legal guarantee to exempt UK from future eurozone bailouts EU leaders are meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow to agree a change to the EU Treaties to create a permanent bailout fund for the eurozone, which would come into effect in 2013. The summit documents do not explicitly rule out using a clause in the Lisbon Treaty - article 122 - designed for assistance in case of a natural disaster as basis for eurozone bail-outs in future, as Britain had demanded. TheFT's Brussels blog suggests that David Cameron will instead settle for a statement of assurance from EU leaders that the fund will not be used once a permanent bailout mechanism has been created. The Telegraph quotes Open Europe's Mats Persson saying that the Government must secure language in the EU Treaties that Article 122 "can never again be used as a dishonest basis for eurozone bail-outs. Anything less would be democratically and legally unacceptable." An EU official is quoted saying, "Why rule out something that you might need on a rainy day?" Mats is also quoted by the Evening Standard. Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe appeared on CNBC arguing that, "Instead of trying to agree on how much more taxpayers' money they want to put on the table to save the euro, EU leaders should focus on more fundamental solutions to the common currency's problems." AFP quotes Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker saying that he will raise the issue if eurozone bonds "if the opportunity arises" at the summit. "I am convinced that one day we will have Eurobonds", he said according to Handelsblatt. EU leaders are also likely to discuss whether to increase their contributions to the ECB, following the bank's aggressive bank and government debt purchasing programme. The WSJ notes that Spain will today test the markets as it seeks to raise €3bn on the markets a day after the Moody's ratings agency threatened to downgrade the country's debt. The Irish parliament yesterday approved the country's EU/IMF bailout package by a narrow six-vote margin. According to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll, support for Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen (15%) and the government (8%) is at record lows. Telegraph FT FT: Brussels blog Irish Times WSJ Irish Independent Le Monde El Pais El Pais 2 El Pais 3 IHT Euractiv EUobserverEuropean Voice BBC Today: Hewitt Le Figaro Les Echos EUobserver 2 Guardian Le Monde Corriere della Sera WSJ 2 Mail IndependentFT 3 Irish Times 2 Handelsblatt Evening Standard Opposition leaders urge Merkel to deepen economic and political integration German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told German MPs ahead of the summit that no countries within the eurozone would be abandoned but said that the result would be "deeper political and, relating to the euro zone, economic integration." She added, "We will talk more about closer integration in the coming months." Opposition Social Democrat leader Frank Walter Steinmeier attacked Merkel for being indecisive and un-European. He said, "We won't solve these problems with small, technical measures...It's about tackling the debate where it is most blocked, particularly at fiscal integration." Merkel rejected Steinmeier's call for the introduction of Eurobonds, saying that, "We will not make the mistake of pooling risk, which would happen with eurobonds. It is not a solution." Jürgen Trittin, co-leader of the German Green party, said "We need a real economic union." However, the parliamentary leader of Merkel's CDU party Volker Kauder countered opposition leaders saying they should "show responsibility" and "not call into question the independence of our central bank." Telegraph FT Irish Times Die Welt RP-Online Die Zeit Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe was interviewed on Danish TV, DR, questioning why European Parliament political groups are organising expensive study trips in destinations outside of Europe. "They should take the same decisions as many ordinary people all over Europe who are struggling with the crisis, which is to cut the budget", he said. European Parliament approves 2011 budget with 2.9% increase The European Parliament adopted the 2011 EU budget yesterday agreeing on a 2.9% increase which raises the budget to €126.5bn in payments. MEPs and member states agreed that, should extra funds be needed to fulfill the EU's legal obligations, there will be amending budgets during 2011. MEPs also won a pledge by the Commission to have a formal proposal next summer on "own resources" which will include a proposal for EU taxes. The Express quote a Downing Street spokesman saying: "The Prime Minister wants to see restraint in the EU budget in the future." AFPquotes Budget Commissioner Lewandowski saying, "I know that the British government intended to call for a reduction" on the 2014-2020 multi-annual budget during this week's Summit, "but we need to be realistic. With less than 1% of EU GDP we can't manage all our policies. This is not feasible and is not serious as a vision for Europe." El Pais AFP FT Irish Times Express Der Standard Die Zeit AFP FAZ BBC Euractiv European Voice Irish Independent European Commission website Europarl press release Eurozone comment roundup In Die Welt, columnist Dorothea Siems argues, "The German bargaining position is weak Because both Merkel and Schäuble categorically reject every alternative to the unconditional defence of the common currency and even brand those thinking about it as traitors of the European idea...The Chancellor has to use this opportunity to make it clear to her European friends that she is not ready to ask the Germans - for whom orderly state finances are an invaluable quality - to make way for a "soft-currency-union". If the EU partners do not accept this last warning signal, then they are the ones who are not showing solidarity. The question for alternatives will then be inevitable." In Handelsblatt, financial expert and lecturer at the Tilburg University Harald Benink argues that "Weak members like Greece, Ireland, or Portugal take a 10 year leave from their membership in the eurozone", in which time they should "introduce structural reforms, lower their debts, and deficits, and this way prove that they can keep their exchange rate stable to the euro". In Portuguese daily Expresso, columnist Ricardo Costa argues "For months now, the principal [Portuguese] political decisions have passed via Brussels first...The true debate about Portuguese politics did not take place yesterday morning in São Bento [the Portuguese parliament]. The true debate about our future will take place in Brussels in the next two days. In these two days, the EU is finally going to take decisions about the eurozone...That's to say, it's going to decide about us". He concludes, "2010 has been the year in which Portuguese politics disappeared." In Le Figaro, Stéphane Cossé from the Europa Nova think tank calls for the creation of an economic policy council to coordinate the economic policies of eurozone members, and a European Treasury. A leader in El Pais argues, "It's clear that its [Moody's] December report is an answer to the convulsions of November's debt, that took Spanish risk premium to higher than 300 basic points...[but] it forgets that reports like this contribute to exacerbate these tensions. For this reason it is urgent and necessary to organise a European rating agency". Handelsblatt European Voice WSJ: Tupy WSJ Irish Independent: Keenan Le Figaro: Cossé Welt FT: El-Erian FT: Analysis Irish Times: Beesley Spectator: Coffee House blog John Redwood's diary FT Conservative Home: Baker Expresso: Costa El Pais: Vidal-Folch El Pais: leader El Pais: Nair Prospect: Gough US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks have reveled that the Lib Dems voted to abstain on whether to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty because they thought a referendum "would fail". Writing in European Voice, Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff looks at the Government's proposed European Union Bill and argues that "there is a delicious irony in seeing those parliamentarians most vexed by the ceding of parliamentary sovereignty to the EU institutions perfectly happy to hand sovereignty to the hapless electorate via binding referenda." European Voice: Duff Open Europe research Open Europe press release EU agrees on new carbon emission targets for automotive industry The EU yesterday agreed on new emission cuts targets to be met by the automotive industry by 2017. Meanwhile, UK Energy Secretary Chris Huhne will today announce new measures to promote green energy, aimed to increase the cost of emitting carbon, which the Mailnotes could double energy bills. The proposals will aim to increase the carbon price, which is currently set by the EU's emissions trading scheme and renewable energy targets. Euractiv reports that yesterday the European Parliament gave the green light to the European Citizens' Initiative. The first petitions will be accepted at the beginning of 2012. Polish daily Rzeczpospolita quotes Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe noting that the Commission previously ignored a petition for scrapping the two seats of the European Parliament, with more than 1 million signatures. Starting from yesterday, Albanian and Bosnian citizens are now allowed to travel to EU countries without a visa. Open Europe
Thursday, 16 December 2010
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