Britannia Radio

Follow us on:	Home   About Us   €uro-Zone   Research   Media Centre   Make a Donation
New on the Open Europe Blog Perhaps the UK should join the banking union after all (here's why...) Open Europe Blog Berlusconi's farewell? Open Europe Blog How to make Cameron's EU veto threat actually count Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Spain's borrowing costs on the rise after new downgrade; New survey: 74.1% of Catalans in favour of referendum on independence Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded Spain’s credit rating to BBB-, only one notch above ‘junk’ status. Following the downgrade, the interest rate on Spain’s ten-year bonds has risen to almost 6% this morning. Separately, according to a new survey conducted by the Catalan government’s pollster CEO, 74.1% of Catalans are in favour of a referendum on independence. Expansión El País Cinco Días 2 City AM Telegraph Telegraph: Evans-Pritchard Welt FAZ WSJ El País 2Cinco Días Expansión 2 Les Echos La Tribune City AM 2 El País 3 El País 4 El Mundo Expansión Il Sole 24 Ore El Economista El Mundo 2 La Vanguardia IMF calls for Greece to be given more time as talks with Troika drag onIMF Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday that Greece should be given two more years to implement its fiscal consolidation plan. Kathimerini reports that the Greek government hopes to wrap up talks with the EU/IMF/ECB Troika on the latest austerity programme this week, although Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is still pushing for the level of austerity implemented next year to be limited to €7.8bn rather than €9bn – as the Troika is demanding. Meanwhile, the Greek government announced yesterday that it expects economic contraction this year to be greater than the 6.5% initially forecast. Kathimerini El País La Tribune Jornal de Negócios Le Monde Welt FAZ Kathimerini 2 Zeit: ReglingKathimerini 3 Kathimerini 4 Kathimerini 5 In the Spectator, Martin Vander Weyer cites Open Europe’s recent report, ‘Trading Places’, which noted that, while European Economic Area membership would free the UK from common European agriculture, fisheries, justice, asylum and defence policies, the EEA would still impose a burden of regulation and employment law over which the UK would no longer have voting rights. Open Europe research: Trading Places Spectator EU Commissioner warns Cameron over review of free movement laws European Social Affairs Commissioner László Andor has warned David Cameron that his decision to review EU free movement laws could harm British business. The Commission plans to take legal action against the UK, Mr Andor added, unless it revokes its ‘right to reside test’ that EU nationals must pass to qualify for benefits such as child care and state pension. Open Europe research FT Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson appeared on Sveriges Radio yesterday, discussing the UK’s role in Europe.Sveriges Radio: Persson Open Europe’s Vincenzo Scarpetta is quoted by Spanish business daily Expansión saying of plans to introduce an FTT in the eurozone via ‘enhanced cooperation’, “Regardless of the way the levy will be designed, it remains a bad idea for Spain and others to tax financial transactions in such a limited number of countries.”Expansión Bankwatch features an exchange of letters between Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki and Keti Medarova-Bergstrom of the European Institute for Environmental Policy, discussing how the next long-term EU budget ought to be reformed.Bankwatch Open Europe research: Reforming the EU budget In an interview with Spanish daily La Razón, Open Europe’s Christopher Howarth discusses the potential implications of Scotland’s independence for its future membership of the EU.La Razón: Howarth In the IHT, Dalibor Rohac of the Legatum Institute argues, “If applied consistently and with vigor, German ordoliberalism can save the euro and lay the foundations for economic prosperity on the Continent. But if Merkel misses this window of opportunity, Europe’s economic prospects will be bleak.”IHT: Rohac Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou yesterday said that Cyprus wants to conclude negotiations over its EU-IMF bailout as soon as possible, but first wants to seek the public’s backing for the austerity measures the island will likely be requested to implement in return for the loan, Reuters reports.Reuters Les Echos Andrea Enria, the Chairman of EU banking watchdog EBA, told MEPs yesterday that, following the establishment of a single banking supervisor for the eurozone, banks outside the ECB’s oversight may see nervous depositors shift their savings to a lender under the watch of the ECB.Open Europe blog Reuters Nederlands Dagblad reports that Dutch caretaker Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told Dutch MPs yesterday that he is opposed to the idea of creating a separate budget for the eurozone.Nederlands Dagblad Nu.nl German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner and her French counterpart Stéphane Le Foll said in a joint statement yesterday that their countries “support the Commission’s proposal to maintain the [CAP] budget to the nominal level of 2013 for the period 2014-2020.”Open Europe research Reuters Joint statement Aerospace giants BAE Systems and EADS have shelved their merger talks after the French, British and German governments failed to come to an agreement. The WSJ reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel called French President François Hollande yesterday to say that she could not support the deal. WSJ FT Reuters FT: Leader FT: zu Guttenberg Guardian Le Figaro Welt FAZ Telegraph Telegraph 2 In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said that he had not seen any “slippage” in the plans for the ESM, the eurozone’s new permanent bailout fund, to take the burden of the Irish bank bailout from the government. WSJ US officials have warned that proposed amendments to the EU’s Data Protection Directive, which is currently working its way through the European Parliament, could make it more difficult to issue international arrest warrants, such as those used by Interpol.Reuters Ahead of today’s meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Handelsblatt that his country “won’t make the mistake” of joining the euro. Handelsblatt Süddeutsche

---