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Open Europe

 

Europe

 

Handelsblatt: “Historic” German u-turn over French inspired economic government;

David Cameron: The UK won’t be drawn into new eurozone bail-outs

Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said yesterday “It would be a fully sensible objective to double the resources” of the €750bn eurozone rescue fund. AFP quotes French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde saying that the fund could be increased “if necessary”. She insisted that she was saying “exactly the same things” as her German counterpart Wolfgang Schäuble.

 

However, the WSJ reports that yesterday Schäuble told journalists in Berlin, “We have to discuss and think about whether to make sure that the €750bn is in fact available. But that’s not an expansion of the rescue fund”. He said a “comprehensive package” to tackle the eurozone debt crisis will be presented by March. El País reports that the European Commission is working on a proposal to pool the issuance of sovereign debt, guaranteed by the eurozone rescue fund.

 

Handelsblatt reports that a "historic" change of EU policy is underway in Berlin, with Germany no longer opposing eurozone economic government. According to the paper, the new plan envisages that eurozone countries will enhance coordination of their fiscal policies, social systems and labour markets. On taxation levels, wages of public officials and retirement age, eurozone countries would have to commit to binding common "bandwidths". FT Deutschland notes that Germany may lose its AAA credit rating.

 

Meanwhile, at a joint press conference in London with his French counterpart François Fillon, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "We want a strong eurozone and want it to sort out its problems, but we are not joining the eurozone and won't be drawn into fresh and new mechanisms for [bailing out the] eurozone". “When we talk of harmonisation and these sorts of questions they don't have to apply to Britain because we are not in the euro”, he added.

 

Cameron also met European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. During his visit to Downing Street, Van Rompuy warned that China’s decision to buy bonds issued by weaker eurozone countries could be driven by “political” motives. Following the meeting, Van Rompuy suggested that eurozone leaders should be able to meet separately, preferably on the sidelines of European Council summits.   

 

The Independent reports that yesterday Spain managed to sell €3bn of five-year bonds calming markets. However, the average yield was 4.542%, nearly one percentage point higher than in the last auction in November. El País notes that the Spanish government is planning a new recapitalisation of Spain’s savings banks, the cajas. Italy also managed to sell €6bn of five and 15-year bonds, but also experienced a rise in borrowing costs.

BBC La Tribune BBC 2 Independent BBC 3 EUobserver Euractiv Le Figaro Euractiv France European Voice European Voice 2 Le Monde Les Echos AFP Express Express 2 Express: Leader FT Telegraph WSJ FT Telegraph WSJ FT: Leader FT WSJ Economist Irish Times1 Irish Times2 Irish Times3 Guardian Guardian 2 IHT IHT 2 Times El Pais El Pais 2 CNBC Times 2 EurActiv.es EurActiv.es 2 Expansion Público Diário de Notícias Diário de Notícias 2 Jornal de Notícias Jornal de Notícias 2 Handelsblatt FT Deutschland Metro Bloomberg News.ch FT Deutschland Mail Elsevier WSJ

 

Le Figaro reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged the Irish government to raise its corporate tax rate. “I deeply respect the independence of our Irish friends and we have done everything to help them. But they cannot continue to ask us to come and help them while keeping a tax on company profits that is half [what other countries have]”, he argued.

Le Figaro

 

Eurozone comment round-up;

Peter Oborne: "EU will try to exploit short-term economic hardship in order to eliminate the powers of national governments"

In an article titled, “Euro crisis: The only way to save the euro is the destruction of its members”, the Telegraph’s Chief Political Commentator Peter Oborne argues, “So 2011 is the year of the ‘beneficial crisis’, when the EU will try to exploit short-term economic hardship in order to eliminate the powers of national governments and to create a new pan-European political structure".

 

Writing in FT Deutschland, Germany Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble argues that Europe’s monetary union is “neither intended to be a universal remedy for the problems of its members, nor a mechanism for the enrichment of financial speculators. It cannot in any circumstances become a means for redistributing wealth from richer European states to poorer ones”. A leader in the Times argues, “What is clear is that Germany has become increasingly ambivalent about the EU project”.

FT Deutschland: Schäuble Le Figaro: de Capèle Jornal de Notícias: Lourenço Times: leader IHT: Krugman Diário de Notícias: editorial Economist: Leader Telegraph: Oborne WSJ: Fidler Economist Economist

 

The Telegraph reports on the uncompleted European Parliament’s visitor centre which is already £4m over budget. Open Europe’s Stephen Booth is quoted saying, "The sorry history of this project highlights the culture of waste in the EU institutions. It smacks of gross incompetence and a complete disregard for public money."

Telegraph Open Europe blog

 

Promoting his new book “Europa?”, Czech President Vaclav Klaus strongly criticised Europe’s monetary union, saying the euro was a bad idea, and that his country was better off outside it, reports Die Welt.

Die Welt

 

A feature in Suddeutsche Zeitung examines the breakdown of the relationship between Angela Merkel and Jose Manuel Barroso concluding that Merkel has become the victim of her own previous power-politics, in that she originally engineered Barosso’s election as President of the Commission with the intention of keeping him on-side in the future.

Suddeutsche

 

European Voice reports that the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee will call for the President of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) to appear before them to discuss recent allegations that the ECA watered down criticism of member states.

European Voice

 

Euractiv reports that, on a visit to Azerbaijan yesterday, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso signed a gas deal in return for ‘visa facilitations’ for Azeri nationals.

Euractiv European Voice

 

EUobserver reports that yesterday Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu complained about EU leaders' "lack of vision" in blocking Turkey’s EU accession talks and described EU visa-free deals for Western Balkan countries as "unacceptable discrimination."

EUobserver

 

NOS reports that Dutch Europe Minister Ben Knapen has asked the Commission to explain why €5m was spent on 3m children’s calendars which omit to include dates of Christian holidays.

NOS

 

UK

 

Labour has won the Oldham and Saddleworth by-election, increasing its 103-vote majority over the Liberal Democrats to 3,558. The Conservative vote dropped by 13.6%.

Telegraph Conservative Home