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New on the Open Europe Blog Westerwelle's journey into fantasy world Open Europe Blog UK Government to announce repatriation of EU crime and policing laws (as recomended by Open Europe) Open Europe Blog Anti-bailout sentiments go local as (True) Finns make gains in Finnish local elections Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Süddeutsche: Greek funding gap could be as large as €30bnSüddeutsche reports that according to senior EU officials, Greece will require an additional two years and additional funding of €30bn in order to meet the conditions of its second bailout package. As a result, the paper notes that it is completely unclear if and when the country will receive its next tranche from the package. The article also suggests Greece will struggle to fund itself beyond 2015 once the current programme expires. Kathimerini reports that IMF Director Christine Lagarde has admitted Greece has a larger than expected funding gap but would not put a figure on it. Kathimerini reports that up to a third of businesses in Athens’ commercial district have had to close down due to the crisis. Separately, Bloomberg quotes CDU Finance spokesman Michael Meister as saying, the Bundestag “would not go with” a write down of German loans to Greece. Süddeutsche Kathimerini IHT La Tribune Expansión Kathimerini 2 FT Kathimerini 3 Kathimerini 4 MailSpiegel David Laws: Full discussion about UK/EU relationship will have to wait until eurozone crisis is settled; Danny Alexander: EU budget needs to reflect experience of European citizensSpeaking at a Lib Dem Conference fringe event co-organised by Open Europe, the Centre for European Reform and Business for New Europe, David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools and the Cabinet Office, said that eurozone countries were currently “preoccupied” with their own concerns and that a full discussion of the UK’s concerns about its relationship with the EU would have to wait until the crisis was over. Speaking at the conference, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander argued that: "There are some people who argue that we should leave the European Union altogether, which is totally potty”, but added that “I feel very strongly… that the European Union budget needs to follow the experience of member states if they are to show true solidarity with the experience of the citizens of Europe." Meanwhile, the Express reports that at a separate fringe event, former leader Paddy Ashdown noted that the UK was “irretrievably on the way” to an EU referendum. Open Europe events Express Bild reports that both the ECB and the Bundesbank have instructed lawyers to check the legality of the ECB’s announced OMT bond-buying programme in the event of the matter being referred to the European Court of Justice.Bild Welt Open Europe’s proposal to limit EU regional funding to the EU’s poorer member states – a move which would reduce the EU budget by around €150bn over seven years – is cited by Die Weltand Berliner Morgenpost.Open Europe research: EU Regional Policy Welt Berliner Morgenpost Open Europe Director Mats Persson is quoted in Austrian daily Die Presse as saying that the UK’s use of the ‘block opt-out’ from over 100 EU crime and policing laws is politically a very tricky issue, complicated by the UK having driven this agenda at the EU level in the past.Die Presse Open Europe research: EU crime and policing Open Europe Events The WSJ reports that Germany is encouraging Spain to delay its request for a sovereign bailout. A German official is quoted as saying, "We can't go to the Bundestag again and again. We have to bundle these questions", suggesting requests for a Spanish bailout could be combined with plans for a third Greek bailout and a Cypriot bailout. WSJ Bloomberg WSJ 2 WSJ 3 FTD Der Spiegel cites a senior EU diplomat as saying that the final report of the so-called ‘Future of Europe’ group – chaired by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle – was “unimportant for the future of Europe but very important for the future of Westerwelle".Spiegel Regional governors from Rajoy’s party unite against Catalonia’s demands for greater autonomy; Troika in Madrid to discuss results of independent audit of Spanish banksEl País reports that regional governors from Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s party have all ruled out opening discussions on changing Spain into a federal state. Meanwhile, the Catalan parliament will on Thursday vote on a non-binding resolution urging to “consult the will of the Catalan people” on independence. In an auction this morning, Spain sold almost €4bn of three and six-month Treasury bills, with solid demand but slightly higher interest rates than in the previous auction. Cinco Días reports that officials from the EU/IMF/ECB Troika are in Madrid to discuss the results of the independent audit of the Spanish banking sector – which should be available within the next few hours but will only be published on Friday. Separately, new anti-austerity protests are expected in the neighbourhood of the Spanish parliament building in Madrid today. FT El País El Mundo Expansión 2 El País 2 Expansión Expansión 3 Cinco Días Writing in the Times, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski argues that the UK should not expect Poland to help it “wreck or paralyse the EU”.Times: Sikorski In an article looking at the planned merger between aerospace giants EADS and BAE, Les Echosquotes Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson as saying, “It is a very sensitive issue and serious discussions are under way [in the UK], but a rebellion [of Conservative backbenchers] looks unlikely.”Les Echos Open Europe Research Director Stephen Booth appeared on BBC Wales radio yesterday arguing that the mismatch between the UK’s objectives for development aid and how UK taxpayers’ money is spent via EU aid programmes highlights a lack of democratic accountability.Open Europe research: EU aid French President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault ruled out Green ministers Cécile Duflot and Pascal Canfin having to step down after their party said that it will vote against the fiscal treaty in the French parliament. According to a new CSA/L’Humanité poll, 52% of French would vote ‘Yes’ in a referendum on the treaty.Le Figaro Les Echos La Tribune In its latest monthly report the Bundesbank warned that the “risks associated with financial aid by the IMF have substantially increased,” since the fund has weakened its standards and increased the concentration of its loans since the start of the crisis.Bloomberg Telegraph Ministers yesterday did not reach any agreement on the Cypriot EU presidency’s revised budget headings for the next seven-year EU budget. The UK wants €100 billion cut from the budget but several member states opposed any proposed cuts in the EU’s common agricultural policy, according to EUobserver.EUobserver El País The FT quotes Alex Stubb, Finland’s EU Minister, as saying of the True Finns: “They have had a considerable impact on the debate…In European elections we always used to talk about anything that Europe had nothing to do with like pensions and childcare. Now in local elections we are talking about Europe.”FT Open Europe blog Renata Polverini, the Governor of Italy’s Lazio region, resigned yesterday after members of the regional government from her party have been involved in a scandal over misspending of public funds to political parties.La Stampa Repubblica WSJ FT The European Court of Human Rights has rejected appeals from radical cleric Abu Hamza and four others, paving the way for their extradition to the US. The cleric had claimed that life in a US prison would have violated his human rights.BBC: Today Programme Independent Sun Express