Cameron calls on European Commission to introduce “one in, one out” approach to regulation German inflation figures highest in over two years; Meanwhile, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat confirmed yesterday that debts raised by the €440bn eurozone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), will have to be recorded in the accounts of participating national governments, potentially adding billions to national balance sheets. At the World Economic Forum in Davos yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: “The euro is Europe. And Europe spells 60 years of peace. Therefore we will never let the euro go or be destroyed […] To those who bet against the euro, watch out for your money because we are fully determined to defend the euro.” Greek PM George Papandreou yesterday said he expected the EU-IMF rescue loans to Greece to be stretched out and the interest rate reduced, however he continued to rule out a default on or restructuring of debt, reports Reuters. The FT reports that a senior member of the ECB has dismissed Irish suggestions that it can renegotiate a cut in the interest rate on its €85bn bail-out package. Expansión reports on IMF data indicating that Spain will not meet deficit targets set by the IMF. In a letter to the IHT, former US Ambassador to the EU, Alfred Kingon, argues: “A real look at European debt, which is far greater than the narrowly reported official deficits, bodes badly. Bailouts are being affected by the imposition of rising and unsustainable interest rates […] Will the EU survive? Of course it will. It has succeeded in quelling thousands of years of internal warfare. But the euro and current EU structure – well, that’s another matter”. Internal wrangling over new head of the ECR group In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann notes: “In the EU we have specific targets on debt levels. But we would also need some benchmarks on productivity and social norms”, arguing in favour of introducing a European minimum wage or EU-wide rules to combat wage dumping. FSA warns against EU blanket rules on retail finance Le Monde: Ashton’s lack of visibility irritates some member states Meanwhile, in the WSJ, columnist David Cottle writes:“Last week saw [US and Chinese] Presidents Obama and Hu greeting each other as equals in Washington […] Neither president gave the impression they'd be clearing anything afterward with Brussels.” The FT reports that the European Commission has ruled that a German initiative aimed at giving tax breaks to ailing companies represents illegal state aid and ordered the government to recover any assistance given. Spot trading in the EU carbon market is likely to remain suspended until at least next week, according to the WSJ. It was expected to reopen on 26 January. In the WSJ, Foreign Secretary William Hague and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle write: “At the upcoming European Union Foreign Affairs Council we will call for the EU to reinstate a harsh package of sanctions against Belarus and to consider further measures against Alexander Lukashenko's regime.” EU leaders meeting in Brussels next week are set to call for greater efforts to achieve a 20% increase in energy efficiency across the EU by 2020, EUobserver reports. An editorial in the WSJ welcomes Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's proposal to revive the Services Directive and create a free-trade block within the EU. The article argues: “If Tallinn or London, or Stockholm or Riga or Vilnius, are nervous that Mr. Rutte's idea would meet resistance from Paris and Berlin, they might have a point. But Mr. Rutte's suggestion is a welcome chance for Europe's free traders to take the lead. If the Continent's protectionists want to be left behind, it would be their loss.” The UK is at stage two of a six-stage infringement process, which could result in large fines, over pollution levels in Greater London and Gibraltar, EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik said yesterday. The Commission has opened infringement proceedings against 20 of the EU’s 27 member states under the EU’s Air Quality Directive. EUobserver reports that the Commission is planning new rules to regulate the collection of royalties on behalf of musicians. The Express notes that the European Aviation Safety Agency is planning to increase the duty hours of British pilots by between two and four hours. Launching the “Wake up. Pilot fatigue risks lives” campaign, British Airline Pilots’ Association Secretary-General Jim McAuslan said: “British passengers, who have enjoyed the safest flying in the world, are now to be put at risk. It is as stark as that.” An article in Die Welt notes that yesterday in Davos French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he hopes to use the current rounds of the G8 and G20 to reform global financial and monetary system, in spite of EU leaders currently being unable to tackle the ongoing crisis in the European financial and monetary markets. Latest on EU ‘referendum lock’: MPs could learn a thing or two from MEPs Former US Ambassador to the EU Alfred Kingon on the future of the euro: Eurotrashed Open Europe is an independent think tank campaigning for radical reform of the EU. For information on our research, events and other activities, please visit our website:openeurope.org.uk, follow us on twitter @OpenEurope or call us on +44 (0) 207 1972333 (London) and +32 (0) 2 5408625 (Brussels).Open Europe Europe
PA reports that in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, David Cameron called for an “aggressive, pan-continental drive to unleash enterprise”, and argued that the European Commission should introduce a “one-in, one-out” rule for new regulations. He also said that there needs to be an end to “restrictive rules” if there is to be a “genuine single market” and achieving this would add €180bn to Europe's economy.
Higher interest rates could threaten recovery for weaker eurozone economies
According to figures from the German government, inflation figures in Germany have reached 2%, the highest level since October 2008, pushing the eurozone average above ECB targets. This has prompted fears that the ECB may raise interest rates, undermining the recovery of peripheral eurozone countries, notes the FT. Die Welt quotes ECB Chief Economist Jürgen Stark saying: “We won’t allow higher inflation in order to let the real level of debt of states decrease.”
FT FT 2 FT 4 El Pais 2 New Europe FT 5 FT 7 El Pais El Pais 3 El Pais 4 Jornal de NegociosExpansion El Pais IHT Le Figaro WSJ WSJ BBC EUobserver Irish Times Independent GuardianTelegraph Irish Times Irish Independent FT Brussels blog Eurostat FT Reuters Reuters 2 FT Deutschland Handelsblatt Welt WSJ Times
Polish Law and Justice MEP Ryszard Czarnecki has put forward his party colleague Ryszard Legutko as a replacement for Michal Kaminski, the outgoing head of the European Conservatives and Reformists delegation in the European Parliament, amidst speculation he had been “hounded out” by his former party. Gazeta Wyborcza reports the relations between the two factions are very bitter, since Zbigniew Ziobro, leader of the Law and Justice parliamentary faction, sent an e-mail to all other ECR MEPs criticising Kaminski. The Telegraph notes that, according to a senior Conservative MEP Kaminski is now likely to join the European People’s Party Group.
Gazeta Wyborcza Wprost24 Guardian Telegraph
Süddeutsche: Faymann AFP
In a speech to the Danish parliament, director of conduct policy at the FSA Shiela Nicoll urged the EU not to impose unnecessarily harmonised rules on Europe’s diverse retail finance markets. She argued: “EU regulations allow the least flexibility to take account of particular circumstances and we would be concerned if these were used any more frequently than in the most justified of circumstances […] We do not think that consumers are well-served if there is maximum harmonising legislation that in some way equates the mortgage market in Slovenia to the Dutch market to our own.”
Citywire
Le Monde has a feature on the first year of Baroness Catherine Ashton as EU Foreign Minister carrying the headline: “Ashton, mission impossible.” The article notes that “for many, the impression is that, one year after her appointment, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs remains sort of absent. And this lack of visibility is starting to exasperate certain European capitals – at least those which believed that the creation of the post of High Representative would instill a bit more dynamism into the domain of [the EU’s] foreign and security policy.”
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Friday, 28 January 2011
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