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Juncker: Some EU governments are “torturing” Ireland over corporate tax;
Le Figaro: The next logical step is the harmonisation of corporate taxes
Reuters reports that Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker has criticised the pressure being exerted on Ireland by its eurozone partners to raise its corporate tax rate in exchange for a discount on the interest rate charged on its bail-out loan. "I'm not happy with the idea that some governments obviously find some pleasure in torturing Ireland in the meetings and outside. I don't like this way of dealing with serious problems," he argued.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is due to unveil its proposals for a common corporate tax base today. An article in Le Figaro notes: “It could take years for the proposed system to make headway, if it needs to go through enhanced cooperation among interested countries instead of moving forward at 27. But it’s clear that, in a system sharing a single currency and a single tax base, the next logical step would be the harmonisation of rates.”
The WSJ reports that an Ernst & Young study showed that almost 24,000 groups of taxpayers would face higher corporate income taxes under the proposal, including agriculture, mining, financial services, real estate and transportation industries.
WSJ Le Figaro Reuters Irish Independent
Trichet: New eurozone budget rules are “insufficient”
Portugal’s credit rating was downgraded two notches and given a negative outlook by Moody’s yesterday. Moody’s also warned that a bailout may not be sufficient to reduce the Portuguese government’s borrowing costs, suggesting that more drastic action, such as a debt restructuring, may need to be taken.
Meanwhile, yesterday EU finance ministers agreed on a new set of proposals to strengthen budgetary surveillance in the EU and the eurozone. Under the proposed rules, if a eurozone country fails to close the gap between its debt level and the EU limit of 60% of GDP, by 5% per year, it will be subject to a fine of 0.2% of its GDP. The fine would be automatic, unless a majority of the council opposed it. The agreement does also allow pension reforms to be offset in national accounts and private indebtedness taken into consideration before a country is fined.
Furthermore, it was agreed that countries must not spend more per year than their medium term economic growth rate. However, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, called the measures “insufficient”. The proposals still have to be approved by the European Parliament, which is expected to try to increase the punishments.
The UK won an opt-out from a proposal which would have included new powers for the European Commission to set rules on public accounting systems, statistics, forecasting practices and other issues relating to deciding the budget.
The WSJ reports that Greek Finance Minister, George Papaconstantinou, announced during yesterday’s meeting that his country might need more assistance on top of last year's bailout. Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Germany will need to contribute €18bn - €25bn in paid up cash to the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, as opposed to just guarantees. This could result in a massive increase in German borrowing and hamper the efforts to consolidate the German budget.
FT FT 2 FT Alphaville EUobserver Telegraph Jornal de Negocios Expresso FT Editorial FT 3 WSJ EurActiv European Voice FT Alphaville 2 Irish Independent Irish Times Irish Independent: Oliver Irish Times 2 Irish Independent 2 Irish Independent 3 EU Council press release Reuters Le Monde Reuters 2 Sueddeutsche Welt Euractiv Handelsblatt Handelsblatt 2 Independent
The UK, France and Lebanon have tabled a UN resolution which proposes a no-fly zone on Libya and stricter monitoring of sanctions. On his blog, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé writes that “several Arab countries have assured us that they would participate” in targeted strikes against Libya.
EUobserver Independent: Leader BBC: Robinson Le Monde: Editorial Reuters Italia Alain Juppé’s blog AFP Guardian: Watt Guardian: Tisdall IHT
No agreement on tighter EU rules on short-selling
Il Sole 24 Ore reports that yesterday EU finance ministers failed to agree on tighter rules to restrict short-selling of shares and sovereign debt and require investors to disclose their short positions above a certain threshold to national regulators. The proposed rules faced opposition from the UK, Italy and eight other member states over concerns that they could reduce liquidity in the sovereign debt markets, making it harder for governments to finance themselves.
Il Sole 24 Ore WSJ
Le Figaro reports that France has said it will take the European Parliament to the ECJ after MEPs voted last week to hold two plenary sessions in Strasbourg in the same week in October in 2012 and 2013. The Telegraph quotes French Europe Minister Laurent Wauquiez, saying: “The [French] government will not accept the knife-attack on the contract which is in the [EU] treaties.”
Le Figaro European Voice FT Brussels Blog EurActiv Telegraph
Assange case highlights European Arrest Warrant flaws
The Council of Europe’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, has claimed that the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition from the UK to Sweden highlights the dangers posed by the European Arrest Warrant. Intended as a fast-track extradition scheme for persons suspected or convicted of serious crimes, according to Hammarberg there are now on average over a thousand requests per month, “the overwhelming majority of which relate to minor crimes”.
EUobserver
The Express notes that the “People’s Pledge” campaign demanding an “in or out” referendum on Britain’s EU membership attracted more than 20,000 supporters on its first day.
Express Telegraph: Seddon
EUobserver reports that EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said yesterday that EU member states have agreed to a series of ‘stress tests’ to assess the safety of all 143 nuclear power plants across Europe. Meanwhile, the IHT reports that Germany yesterday became the first European country to shut nuclear plants in the wake of the crisis in Japan.
EUobserver Independent IHT Guardian Guardian 2 Telegraph Telegraph 2 El Mundo FT FT 2 WSJ WSJ 2 EurActiv European Voice
The Mail reports that the number of nurses from other EU states working in the NHS has almost doubled since strict checks on their competence, including language skills, were scrapped five months ago because they breached EU rules.
Mail
The front page of Correio da Manhã reports that a police investigation has been launched into the handing of agricultural subsidies by the Agricultural Ministry in the Portuguese district of Braga following allegations that subsidies may have been falsely claimed by up to 900 people from 2007 to 2010. The list of suspect claimants includes local Councillor Alexandra Marinheiro, who is reported to have received €7,874 over three years, despite not owning any agricultural land.
Correio da Manhã
Handelsblatt reports that the Croatian public is displaying signs of “growing EU-fatigue”, with EU supporters holding a 7% poll advantage over their opponents – a substantially reduced lead compared to last year.
Handelsblatt
EUobserver reports that the European Commission's Deputy Director for Trade João Aguiar Machado has said trade talks between the EU and the Latin American trading bloc Mercosur will be largely unaffected by concerns raised by MEPs over the negative impact that a free trade agreement might have on the EU's agricultural sector.
EUobserver
The Guardian reports that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Spain must pay Basque separatist leader Arnaldo Otegi €23,000 in compensation for breaching his right to freedom of expression. Otegi was sentenced to jail for insulting Spain’s King Juan Carlos.
Guardian
World
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said yesterday that, for the moment, 20 EU member states are willing to take part in the rescue operations in the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, reports AFP.
AFP
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