German Constitutional Court rejects one of the bailout complaints without giving a motivation Barroso agrees to consider temporary re-introduction of internal border controls in the Schengen area Monday’s Mail reported that a study by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research has concluded that the wave of immigration from new EU member states between 2004 and 2009 increased Britain’s overall economic output by £5bn, equivalent to 0.38% over this period. Greek Finance Minister: Greece would look to reschedule bailout loans rather than restructuring its debt Spanish unemployment hit record highs in the first quarter of the year, reaching 21.3%. Separately, Reuters reports that, after failing to reach their deficit target, the Portuguese government along with the EU/IMF may decide to push back its ambitious programme for deficit cutting. The FT reports that Jens Weidmann took office yesterday as the new President of Germany’s Bundesbank. In his inaugural speech, he called for a return to a “normal” monetary policy in the eurozone and vowed to carry on the rigorous anti-inflation philosophy of Axel Weber, his predecessor. True Finns strengthen their opposition to the Portuguese bailout Meanwhile, an opinion poll shows that 38% of Finnish citizens support Finland participating in a Portuguese bailout, 36% are against while 25% say they don’t know, reports Yle. A new government is expected to be in place by May 19, but EU officials hope to complete the negotiations on the Portuguese bailout by May 16. Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson participated last week in a discussion hosted by the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, outlining the lessons the US can draw from the eurozone’s debt crisis. Commission to investigate banks’ alleged collusion in CDS market Commission report: EU-Mercosur trade deal could cost farmers €3bn a year EU to spend millions on promoting Anglo-French ‘Arc Manche’ region The Telegraph reports that the proposal to create an additional 25 MEPs, elected from a pan-European list in order to ‘cultivate an EU identity’ and boost voter turnout at European elections, would cost at an additional £50m per year, £6m of which would have to be covered by British taxpayers. Saturday’s Independent reported that the EU is set to impose an arms embargo on Syria and will consider further sanctions, including the suspension of aid worth €130m and of negotiations on a EU-Syria “association agreement”. In an interview with the Guardian, EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has said that she is seeking to extend the EU’s renewable targets another ten years to 2030, although she declined to put a figure on what the targets should be beyond 2020. HLN reports that Belgium’s biggest political party N-VA is opposed to direct EU taxes because democracy at the EU level is “insufficient”, according to N-VA MP Steven Vandeput. The BBC reports that from now on only traditional herbal remedies which have been assessed by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be allowed to go on sale in the UK, after new EU rules on herbal medicines entered into force last week. The Sunday Times reported that the National Grid asked wind farm operators in Scotland to turn off their turbines for one night in order to reduce the amount of electricity entering the system, however had to pay £900,000 to compensate for the loss of subsidies and income. A joint statement issued by the European Council and Commission notes that Osama Bin Laden’s death “makes the world a safer place.” What the eurozone debt crisis can teach the US: Lessons from Europe From pasta with tomato sauce to honorary German: Bild backs Mario Draghi for ECB President Open Europe Europe
Euractiv Deutschland reports that the German Constitutional Court has rejected one of the complaints against the eurozone’s temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), without giving a motivation. The Court is still due to rule on other complaints, including one by Professor Wilhelm Nölling, who is quoted expressing his concerns over the "iron silence" of the judges. The Court is also due to issue its verdict in 2011 on a lawsuit filed by German Professor Markus Kerber, whose group of 50 prominent activists has now also obtained support from two former German Social-Democrat MPs, Gunter Weißgerber and Rainer Fornahl.
Euractiv Deutschland
In a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that the temporary re-instatement of border controls within the Schengen area to tackle a wave of immigration from northern Africa was a "possibility". The Commission is preparing to release a document outlining a series of measures to ramp up the bloc's migration policy tomorrow. Meanwhile, MEPs dealing with justice and home affairs yesterday backed Bulgaria and Romania's bid to enter the border-free Schengen area, delayed due to French and German reluctance.
Sunday's FTFT Brussels Blog Monday's GuardianEUobserver EUobserver 2 EurActivEuropean Voice Sunday TelegraphMonday's Mail BBCBBC 2 EUobserver EurActiv
Following the rumours of a Greek debt restructuring, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said yesterday: "It would be better for us to extend once again the timing of repayment of the €110bn that we're borrowing from our partners and that we further reduce the interest rate", suggesting he would seek a rescheduling of the bailout debt before a restructuring. Nout Wellink, President of the Dutch Central Bank, also suggested that a rescheduling of Greek debt may be necessary, something which no other member of the European Central Bank’s governing board has admitted. Wellink added that he did not agree with the current structure of the eurozone’s post-2013 permanent rescue fund, the European Stabilisation Mechanism, as it creates “moral hazard” by suggesting that stronger states will permanently support weaker ones.
FT WSJ FT 2 Ta Nea Reuters Le Figaro Coulisses de Bruxelles Reuters 2 EUobserver El Pais Monday's FT FT 3 Saturday’s TimesSaturday’s FT Times Reuters 3 FT: Coelho FT 4 FT 5 FT 6 Telegraph WSJ Real Time Brussels WSJ: Hannon FT: Marsh Irish Times Irish Independent Irish Independent 2 Irish Independent 3 Telegraph: Winter Telegraph Guardian Saturday’s Independent Saturday’s TelegraphSaturday’s FT 2 FT 7 WSJ El Pais
The True Finns released a policy statement yesterday reiterating their hard line stance against Finnish contributions to a Portuguese bailout. In an interview with Finnish television last week, True Finns leader Timo Soini seemed to suggest that his party was ready to soften its approach. However, the statement issued last night read: “We cannot with good conscience support Portugal’s [rescue] package or the creation of a permanent bailout mechanism.” It added: “Neither do we approve the hike of Finland’s guarantees in the temporary stability mechanism.” Finland’s second-largest party, the Social Democrats, hinted that they may support the Portuguese bailout, saying: “International agreements processed by the parliament must be respected and everyone should commit to them”, referring to Finnish participation in the eurozone bailout fund.
FT Reuters Yle Yle2 Privata Affärer Bloomberg
Open Europe blog
The European Commission is to launch two antitrust investigations relating to the Credit Default Swaps (CDS) market. The first case is to be brought against Markit, the leading provider of financial information in the CDS market, and 16 leading investment banks – including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Barclays – alleging that they colluded and abused their dominant position to control information on the CDS market. The second case, against nine of the banks and ICE Clear Europe, the leading clearing house for CDS, will investigate whether ICE gave these banks preferential rates and treatment, to the detriment of their competitors.
Saturday’s Guardian FT Weekend Saturday’s Independent FT Alphaville WSJ EurActiv European Voice
A report by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, seen by Reuters, claims that European farmers could lose more than €3bn in annual revenue by 2020 and up to 33,000 farm jobs if the draft EU-Mercosur trade deal is approved. The report notes that Ireland, France and the UK would be the most affected. The last round of negotiations will conclude on 8 July.
Reuters EurActiv
The Mail on Sunday reported that EU officials are planning to raise the profile of ‘Arc Manche’, an area covering southern England and northern France, launched formally six years ago to forge closer links between local councils in the two regions as part of the EU’s £1bn inter-regional cross-border initiative. Projects include a new “transnational emblem” for the area, and a £7.6m network of ‘cross-Channel’ cycle lanes which will necessitate the harmonisation of road markings and signage.
Mail on Sunday Monday's Express Monday's Express: Comment
Telegraph
Friday’s Telegraph reported that broadband providers have voiced alarm over EU plans to create a “Great Firewall of Europe” protecting European cyberspace from “illicit” web material. The article noted that anti-censorship campaigners have compared the proposal to China’s system for controlling access to blogs, news websites and social networks.
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Tuesday, 3 May 2011
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