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Daily Press Summary
Corriere della Sera: France pressing Spain and Italy to apply for EFSF bond-buying;
Troika officials find Cypriot public finances “in a worse shape than expected”
Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports that French President François Hollande is pressuring Spain and Italy to request that the eurozone’s temporary bailout fund, the EFSF, start buying their bonds – due to fears that France may be at risk of contagion. The ECB did not buy any eurozone government bonds for the 21st consecutive week, notes Les Echos.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that officials from the EU-IMF-ECB troika found Cyprus’ public finances “in a worse shape than expected”, meaning that the island may need a bailout loan higher than the initially estimated €10bn. Separately, Kathimerini reports that Greece’s three coalition leaders have agreed on the first ten state assets to be sold as part of the country’s privatisation plan.
Corriere della Sera El Economista EUobserver Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 La Tribune Sole 24 OreRepubblica Irish Times Irish Independent Les Echos
Following SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel’s indication that his party could be prepared to accept eurozone debt pooling, the Greens’ chairwoman Claudia Roth told Frankfurter Rundschau, “It is welcome if in their deliberations the SPD is moving closer to the Green position…To save Europe, a consensus for an integrated, democratic and social Europe is necessary.”
Welt
German FM: Tone of debate on Europe “is very dangerous”
Following the widespread criticisms of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s remarks on the need for eurozone governments to allow themselves some “room for manoeuvre” from national parliaments, a spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “every government action also has to be democratically legitimised”. Monti yesterday clarified in a statement that he is in favour of cooperation between governments and parliaments. Separately, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned that “the tone of the debate is very dangerous. We have to be careful that we do not denigrate Europe.”
FAZ FAZ 2 Bild Welt Welt 2 Sole 24 Ore La Stampa Telegraph Repubblica 2 Sole 24 Ore Corriere della Sera 2 WSJ Repubblica 3
An EU official said yesterday that the European Commission plans to unveil its proposal for a single eurozone banking supervisor by 11 September, reports the WSJ.
WSJ EUobserver La Tribune
Reviewing Conservative MEP Dan Hannan’s recent book ‘A Doomed Marriage: Britain and Europe’ in the Telegraph, former editor Charles Moore argues, “The downfall of the EU, in its present form, is deserved, but it is also, unless there is something to replace it, to be feared.”
Telegraph: Moore
According to a new survey by the Centre for Sociological Investigation, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s party remains the most popular in Spain, but is polling at only 36.6% – 8% less than the 44.6% the party obtained at the general elections last November.
Expansión
Le Figaro reports that France’s Constitutional Council is due to issue a verdict on Thursday on whether the transposition of the balanced budget rule laid down in the fiscal treaty requires changing the French constitution.
Le Figaro Le Figaro 2
The Czech Court of Auditors has announced that around €7m in EU regional subsidies has been misspent in the country. In several Czech regions, up to 20% of the subsidies should not have been paid out, reports Dutch daily Trouw.
Trouw
In a letter to the FT, Michel Barnier, the EU’s Internal Market and Services Commissioner, responds to yesterday’s op-ed by former Labour Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is which he argued that the EU’s Solvency II pension reforms would be “a disaster for Britain”.
FT Letters: Barnier FT: Hutton Open Europe Research: EU Financial Regulation
The Serbian parliament has adopted new legislation potentially putting the independence of its central bank at risk. The move has been seen as a sign that EU membership may no longer be a priority for the new government, led by President Tomislav Nikolic, reports La Tribune.
La Tribune
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