Friday, 10 August 2012


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Daily Press Summary

Youth unemployment in Greece reaches record 54.9%
New data published by Greece’s statistics office ELSTAT yesterday shows that unemployment in Greece reached a record 23.1% in May, with the rate of jobless in the 15-24 age group standing at 54.9%. Meanwhile Reuters reports that Germany's youth unemployment figures are the lowest in the whole EU at 7.9%. Separately, figures from the German Federal Employment Agency revealed that the number of Greeks working in Germany increased by 9.8% in one year, reports El País.

Kathimerini reports that the Greek government will today send to the EU-IMF-ECB troika a list of savings for 2013-14 worth only €6.5bn of the total €11.5bn requested, as Greece’s three coalition leaders are still split over whether the remaining €5bn savings should involve further public sector job cuts.
WSJ EUobserver Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Irish Times El Mundo El País Irish Times Reuters Economist: Leader Economist Economist 2  

Italian Education Minister Francesco Profumo yesterday told Bloomberg that the Italian government held “lengthy” discussions on a possible request for the eurozone’s temporary bailout fund, the EFSF, to start buying Italian bonds. Separately, La Repubblica reports that Goldman Sachs cut its holdings of Italian debt by 92% during the second quarter of the year.
Repubblica Bloomberg El País Il Sole 24 Ore

Nomura: Without renegotiation British EU exit looking “increasingly likely”
In a risk assessment issued to clients, Japanese investment bank Nomura has warned that a UK exit from the EU is looking “increasingly likely” due to a ‘perfect storm’ of fraught coalition relations, declining British influence in Europe, and moves towards closer EU integration. Analysts at the bank predicted that these risked forcing an “in or out” referendum before 2015 – causing the coalition government to fall. The report concluded that, without a repatriation of powers, it would be difficult to get Britons to vote to stay in Europe.

Open Europe Director Mats Persson is quoted on the front page of City AM as saying that the debate over Britain’s place in Europe “will be very vibrant in the City of London as it relates to the idea that London is an entry point into the European market. In order to guarantee the benefit of the single market there needs to be some change in the UK’s basic membership – renegotiation is not a threat.”
City AM Mail EUobserver Telegraph Blogs: Evans-Pritchard Open Europe Research: EU Trade

The French Constitutional Council yesterday ruled that France will not have to change its constitution to transpose the balanced budget rule laid down in the fiscal treaty. French Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici said that a draft bill authorising the ratification of the fiscal treaty will be submitted to the French parliament at the end of August, reports Les Echos.
French CC press release Le Figaro La Tribune Les Echos Les Echos 2 Times Irish Times  

Two trail referenda in the Greater Manchester constituencies of Cheadle and Hazel Grove organised by the People's Pledge campaign group saw 90% of voters voting in favour of holding a referendum on the UK’s EU membership, on a combined turnout of 35%.
Conservative Home

In an interview with Finnish magazine Talouselämä, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen suggested that European banks should set up a crisis fund to recapitalise troubled banks.
Talouselämä: Katainen EUobserver

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva wrote on his Facebook page, “Why doesn’t the ECB now start applying the orientation announced by its President to the public debt securities of Portugal and Ireland?” – effectively calling on the ECB to start buying Portuguese and Irish bonds.
Jornal de Negócios EUobserver La Tribune

Handelsblatt reports that Otto Kentzler, President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), has written a position paper warning that "the stabilisation of the monetary union is not an end in itself, it cannot and may not be pursued regardless of all the related costs.”
Handelsblatt

The Economist features a fictional ‘Merkel memorandum’ outlining what Germany’s ‘Plan B’ involving several peripheral eurozone countries leaving the single currency might look like.
Economist: Briefing

Der Spiegel International argues that “what is particularly absurd is the fact that, for the past two weeks, the ECB has no longer been accepting Greek government bonds as collateral for its refinancing operations. But the Greek central bank…is still allowed to accept them.”
Spiegel

EUobserver reports that former Austrian MEP and interior minister Ernst Strasser has been charged with corruption by prosecutors in Vienna. Strasser – who continues to deny any wrongdoing - was one of three MEPs secretly filmed by the Sunday Times in March last year accepting a bribe in exchange for influencing European Parliament legislation.
EUobserver


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