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New on the Open Europe Blog Labour and ‘Europe’: substance or party politics? Open Europe Blog Some preliminary thoughts on the stress tests for Spanish banks: lots of optimistic assumptions... Open Europe Blog What keeps the folks in Brussels and Berlin awake at night? Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Reuters: Spain ready to request aid, but Berlin wants Madrid to hold off According to a senior European source quoted by Reuters, “The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid.” However, a senior German source said that the German government wants Spain to hold off so that decisions on Spain, Greece and Cyprus can be taken together. The WSJhas published new excerpts from last week’s interview with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, where he stresses that Spain wants to “know for certain that everyone will approve [a request for EFSF/ECB bond-buying], and I mean everyone.” Europa Press reports that Rajoy yesterday told a meeting of regional Presidents from his party that he will not make the request this weekend. Meanwhile, Moody’s has warned that Spanish banks will need between €70bn and €105bn “to maintain stability”, reports theTelegraph. Separately, Catalan President Artur Mas said in a TV interview, “We have to make sure that [independence] will be beneficial to the Catalan people. I mean, that we will stay in the euro, and in the EU.” Rajoy will today chair a meeting of Spanish regional Presidents in Madrid. El País El País 2 El País 3 El Mundo El Mundo 2 El Mundo 3 El Mundo 4 Expansión Expansión 2 Expansión 3Cinco Días El Economista Telegraph Telegraph 2 Reuters Reuters 2 Corriere della Sera Repubblica Sole 24 Ore Le Monde FT City AM WSJ Review & Outlook Irish Times WSJ Kathimerini reports that the EU/IMF/ECB troika has questioned the enforceability of up to €2bn in cuts to the health, defence and local authority funding in the latest Greek austerity package. The Greek government submitted its latest draft budget to the parliament yesterday, which forecast that Greek debt would be at 179% of GDP at the end of next year. Kathimerini Irish Independent FT CityAM WSJ Irish Times Guardian Le Monde FT Editorial FT: RachmanTelegraph: Warner Irish Times Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe was interviewed by Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique on MEPs Guy Verhofstadt and Daniel Cohn-Bendit's new book promoting a federal EU. He argued, “Challenges such as restoring competitiveness and resolving the problem of private debt in Spain can’t be solved through more centralisation of power, or fiscal transfers.” No link The FT reports that nearly all of the non-eurozone countries in the EU are concerned by the banking union proposals, particularly since it provides a testing ground for whether the EU single market can survive different levels of integration. FT Senior Labour figures suggest future EU referendum Shadow Cabinet Minister Jim Murphy yesterday suggested that Britain should stage an in/out referendum on EU membership once the future shape of the eurozone has become clear. Meanwhile, former Europe Minister Peter Hain said a referendum was inevitable. He told a Labour Party conference fringe event that Tony Blair had tried to resist calls for a referendum on the eventually abandoned European constitution and Labour should not “get on the wrong side of the democratic argument” again. Times Le Figaro reports that a number of senior MPs from French President François Hollande’s party have questioned the 2013 deficit target of 3% of GDP, with National Assembly speaker Claude Bartolone calling it “untenable”. Le Figaro Le Figaro 2 La Tribune Liberation An independent Scotland will have to apply to join the EU and negotiate its own opt-out from the euro, David Cameron’s most senior adviser on Scots law, Lord Wallace, will say today, theTelegraph reports. Open Europe blog FT PA Scotsman Telegraph In the Netherlands, the centre-right VVD and the social democrat PvdA have reached a deal on €2 billion in revisions to the 2013 budget resulting in a 2.7% budget deficit. De Volkskrant notes that this agreement paves the way for a more extensive coalition agreement between the two parties. Open Europe research Volkskrant Volkskrant 2 NRC Basel Committee highlights flaws in EU’s implementation of Basel III rules A team sent by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to assess the EU’s directive implementing the Basel III banking rules, found it to be “non-compliant” in two areas, because its definition of top quality capital is looser (in at least seven ways) and big banks will still be able to mark sovereign debt holdings as risk free due to a loophole. EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier rejected the criticisms, saying they “do not appear to be supported by rigorous evidence and a well-defined methodology. FT WSJ Die Welt reports that EU Internal Market Commissioner Michael Barnier is due to present a set of proposals tomorrow on further liberalisation of the single market, including opening up domestic rail franchises to service providers from other member states and making it easier to open basic bank accounts across the EU. Die Welt’s Brussels correspondent Florian Eder comments that the initiative is a way for the EU to build a bridge to non-eurozone members such as the UK and Sweden. Welt Welt: Eder FT Süddeutsche Zeit Following his official nomination as the Chancellor candidate of the SPD, former German finance minister Peer Steinbrück ruled out a potential coalition with the left-wing Die Linke party and/or the Pirate party. Welt Süddeutsche FAZ The governing AKEL party in Cyprus has rejected the EU/IMF/ECB troika conditions attached to a potential bailout because they were not focused enough on promoting economic growth. Kathimerini Hundreds of defects have been found throughout Europe’s nuclear reactors and mostly in France, according to an EU stress test report leaked to the German and French media. FTD DPA ARD EUobserver Nouvel Observateur Exit polls following last night’s parliamentary elections in Georgia suggest that Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party has won a majority over President Mikheil Saakashvili's ruling United National Movement party. FT Telegraph Guardian Spiegel FAZ Dominic Lawson writes in the Independent, “Just because golf fans from the UK cheer on a European side against the Americans [in the Ryder Cup], it does not follow that a single one of them would be the more likely to advocate joining the euro.” Independent: Lawson