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Anti-euro True Finns party expected to achieve massive gains in Finnish elections
In the latest opinion poll from Finland, two days before the country’s national election, support for the anti-euro True Finns has dropped to 15.4% from 17.2% a month ago. However, this still marks a massive increase in support for the party compared to the last national elections when the party received just over 4%. The National Coalition Party extends its lead to 21.2% in the latest poll, with the Centre Party as the second largest party at 18.6%. The Social Democrats, which alongside the True Finns oppose a Portuguese bail-out, are at 18%.

Meanwhile, the FT reports that senior European officials are drawing up contingency plans over growing fears that Finland could block the Portuguese bailout, following the formation of a new government.
Yle FT Comment is Free: Tiilikainen Economist

Greek restructuring fears send shockwaves across European financial markets
The Greek cost of borrowing reached record highs yesterday and the euro weakened significantly following German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble’s acceptance that Greece may need a debt restructuring in the near future. In an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi said that a debt restructuring would result in the “failure of a large part of Greece's banking system”, and that consequently the Greek economy would be “on its knees, with devastating effects on social cohesion and the resistance of the country’s democratic system.”

Handelsblatt reports that Cyprus might be dragged into the eurozone's debt crisis, because of the dependence of its banks on the Greek market and their high exposure to Greece’s government bonds – up to 37% of Cyprus’s GDP.

The Irish government agreed a revised version of its bailout conditions last night. The new version is reported to include an increase in the minimum wage as well as reductions in employer insurance and VAT in low paid sectors. However, it is also expected to impose further job cuts. Michael Noonan, Irish Finance Minister, suggested that the deal showed that the EU/IMF were willing to negotiate on “unpopular” areas of the bailout agreement. Meanwhile, this morning Moody’s has downgraded Ireland by two notches, leaving its credit rating one notch above junk, and put it on a negative outlook.
EUobserver Irish Times Telegraph FT FT 2 FT 3 FT 4 WSJ WSJ 2 Guardian CityAM Times BBC: Today Le Monde Les Echos DN WSJ 3 CityAM 2 Irish Times 2Irish Times 3 FT 5 WSJ 4 WSJ 5 CityAM 3 FT 6 FT:Mallaby Jornal de Negócios Diario Económico Express: Forsyth Economist Economist 2 Economist 3 FT 7WSJ: Cottle EUobserver 2 Il Sole 24 Ore Handelsblatt Handelsblatt 2 Handelsblatt: Solms Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung MNI

French Prime Minister calls for expenditure freeze in EU budget for 2014-2020
AFP reports that yesterday, speaking after a meeting with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels, French Prime Minister François Fillon called for a freeze of expenditure in the next EU long-term budget, due to start in 2014. “We demand for the European budget the same effort which is being imposed on national budgets: the stability of expenditure,” he said. However, he added that France “will be very vigilant on the CAP budget” during the upcoming negotiations. Fillon also told reporters: "I don't think there will be any question of having a European VAT. But France is not closed on this idea of own resources for the European budget."

Meanwhile, the Express reports that the European Commission is expected to propose a £7bn increase in next year’s EU budget. Open Europe’s Stephen Booth is quoted saying: “The Commission, along with MEPs, will push for a huge budget increase for 2012, as they did last year. It will then be up to the UK to find allies across Europe to limit or freeze the budget. The Brussels institutions seem incapable of understanding that the tough economic climate means that national governments have less money to send to Brussels each year.”
Coulisses de Bruxelles EurActiv France AFP EUobserver Express Express: Comment

PA reports that British MPs have warned that planned reforms to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy will tie up farmers in more red-tape and do little to incentivise production. The Commission changes will see new penalties for farmers who fail to meet stringent criteria when it comes to the size of their business, and direct payments to farmers from 2013 will be replaced by a new “single-tiered” payment which will need a new computer system.
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Il Corriere della Sera reports that the leader of France’s Front National Marine Le Pen has said that, if she wins next year’s presidential elections, she may call an in/out referendum on France’s membership of the EU.
ANSA Corriere della Sera

The EU has lifted sanctions on the former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, after he defected from the Libyan regime. The decision could allow Mr. Koussa to travel freely in Europe and access financial assets held by European banks. Writing in the Times, David Cameron, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy argue that “the bombing continues until Gaddafi goes”.
BBC EUobserver Telegraph EUobserver 2 BBC: Hewitt Irish Independent: Taheri Le Figaro Times: Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy Times: Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy FT

President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick yesterday called for the relaxation of laws requiring crops to be blended into petrol, so-called biofuels, on the basis that they are contributing to higher global food prices. The EU’s 2009 Renewable Energy Directive sets a target of 10% biofuel usefor the transport sector by 2020.
Times

Sueddeutsche Zeitung estimates that switching to renewable energy and phasing out nuclear plants will cost the German government €3bn a year. However, in an interview with Deutschlandfunk, German Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle dismissed the estimates as “speculative”, suggesting a figure of €1bn to €2bn.
Deutschlandfunk FTD FocusSueddeutsche

In a speech yesterday, David Cameron outlined his plans to reduce immigration. On the Spectator’s Coffee House blog, journalist David Blackburn notes that Britain “should be able to join with other European governments to force the EU to tackle immigration more effectively.” “First the sovereign debt crisis and now the Schengen fiasco: rarely can the European integration project have been more doubted by its chief proponents,” he adds.
Spectator: Coffee House blog Economist Times: Rifkin

FAZ reports that EU Competition Commissioner Joaquín Almunia has proposed making EU cartel fines more transparent. Last year fines of up to €3bn were issued to 69 companies.
FAZ: LeaderBloomberg

EUobserver reports that the European Commission appears reluctant to put in place rules requiring European companies to disclose whether they source raw materials from conflict areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
EUobserver

EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton has announced she is to visit Bahrain next week to “investigate” the recent violent clampdown on pro-democracy protestors, reports the Guardian.
Guardian

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has complained that support for EU enlargement has never been lower, citing a slowdown in Croatia’s accession process and the dispute over Macedonia’s name – which he described as the “the embodiment of absurdity.”
Irish Times IHT EurActiv