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Daily Press Summary Ed Miliband: Britain “sleepwalking” towards EU exit In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Labour leader Ed Miliband said Britain is in danger of “sleepwalking towards the exit” of the EU. He added, "What I would say is never shrink from being open about the problems of the European Union." He singled out the EU budget and state aid rules as areas in need of reform, adding that it was right to have “maximum transitional controls for new accession countries” to the EU in order to limit immigration. A new approach should be based on "building alliances for change," he will tell the CBI conference today. David Davis MP, the former Europe Minister and Conservative backbencher, has called for a double referendum – one to approve a list of powers for the UK to seek to repatriate and then an “in/out” public vote once they had been negotiated. The first referendum should be held within a year, he said. Meanwhile, Austrian daily Die Presse cites Open Europe’s ‘Trading Paces’ report, which assessed the alternatives to EU membership and concluded that Britain should seek to negotiate a 'pick-and-mix approach' to EU policy areas in addition to membership of the Single Market. Open Europe Research Director Stephen Booth is quoted by AFP as saying, “A British exit is no longer a complete taboo. It is something that is a possibility if there is no new deal.” Open Europe’s Christopher Howarth is quoted in Swiss Daily Le Temps arguing that the UK needs new EU membership terms. Separately, an Observer/Opinium poll found that 56% of people would probably or definitely vote for the UK to leave the EU in a referendum. It found that 44% of Labour voters would probably choose to leave, against 39% who would back staying in. Sunday Telegraph Sunday Telegraph: Miliband interview Mail on Sunday: Forsyth Observer Observer: EU poll Observer: Editorial Independent Guardian Independent: Editorial FT CityAM Irish times BBCConservative Home Sun Mail Mail: Leader Express AFP Le Temps Die Presse Open Europe research: Trading Places European diplomat: Trying to pass EU budget by circumventing UK veto would be a “technical nightmare” The FT reports that EU officials and national diplomats have been “studying the legal and technical feasibility” of constructing an EU budget that could circumvent a potential UK veto. The alternative plan would be to pass annual budgets by qualified majority voting, meaning that the UK could be outvoted as the veto only applies to the EU’s long term budgetary framework. However, the paper cites a European diplomat as saying that such a scenario would be a “technical nightmare”. In the Telegraph, London Mayor Boris Johnson writes that he has “absolutely no doubt” that David Cameron will veto demands for an EU budget increase. Writing in the Guardian, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski argues that in the event of a deal not being reached, “under annual budgets, payments for agriculture would increase – hardly a boost to innovation or better spending”. He warns that “We need more British common sense in the EU, but Britain also needs friends. An important test of our friendship is coming up.” Ahead of the EU leaders’ budget summit later this week, both Austria and France reiterated their demands; a rebate and preserving CAP spending respectively, while Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned that European Council President Herman Van Rompuy’s proposal to cut the proposed seven-year budget by €75bn was “not acceptable”. Open Europe’s Vincenzo Scarpetta is quoted in German daily Deutsche Mittelstands Nachrichtendiscussing Van Rompuy proposal to cut the UK rebate and Cameron’s potential veto, while Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki is quoted by Reuters as saying that it is easier to ensure accountability over public spending at the national level than at the EU level. FT Bloomberg ORF El Mundo Expansión EUObserver Telegraph: Johnson Guardian: Sikorski DMN ReutersSunday Telegraph Prof. Dr. Michael Wohlgemuth: Europe à la carte is a better alternative to ineffective standardisation In a FAZ comment piece, Prof. Dr. Michael Wohlgemuth, Director of Open Europe’s German partner organisation – Open Europe Berlin – argues that standardised solutions towards further European integration are often inefficient while a “Europe à la carte” would be a better alternative, stressing that “Although it might be regrettable from a geo-political perspective, limiting the further mutualisation of policies to those who are willing and able is surely to be welcomed from a micro, macro, and politico-economic perspective.” No link German ECB board member says Greece will need more than two years of funding; More meetings on Greece needed as Eurozone and IMF still at loggerheads ECB Executive Board member Jörg Asmussen said in an interview with ZDF over the weekend that he doesn’t “really expect [Greece] to have access to markets in 2015 and 2016”, meaning even if a deal is agreed this week to give Greece more funding for two years, it will probably still need more funds. Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen once again rejected providing further funding for Greece in an interview with YLE Radio Suomi. Kathimerini reports that given on-going divisions between the EU and IMF, tomorrow’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers is unlikely to be the last with another meeting being lined up for the end of the month. Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Deutsche Welle Irish Independent Welt CityAM Kathimerini 3 Telegraph: Evans-Pritchard EUobserver Saturday’s Telegraph YLE Reuters Standard Euractiv New poll: 62% of Italians opposed to second mandate for Mario Monti According to a new SWG poll, 62% of Italians are against a second mandate for Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. The poll also found that the level of trust in Monti is now at 36% – down from 71% when he entered office in November 2011, Italian news agency ANSA reports. Meanwhile, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has suggested Italian general elections could be brought forward to 10 March. Reuters Italia ANSA FT Rai News 24 The FT reports that Cyprus will run out of cash within the next month, increasing pressure on the government to finalise a deal with the EU/IMF/ECB Troika over a eurozone bailout programme. Some progress was made over the weekend as the Cypriot Central Bank agreed a plan for reforming the financial sector with the Troika. FT EUobserver Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel is quoted by Rzeczpospolita discussing the EU’s proposals for increasing bank capital requirements (CRD IV). Rzeczpospolita Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel is quoted by the Associated Press and the Washington Postdiscussing the increasing public debt burden of struggling eurozone countries. AP Washington Post Two separate opinion polls published over the weekend confirmed that Catalan President Artur Mas’s nationalist CiU party is heading for a large victory in the Catalan elections on 25 November, but should fail to secure an absolute majority on its own. El País El País 2 La Vanguardia During a radio interview with Europe 1, French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said that Germany “should raise its salaries” to drive growth, and also asked Germany “to provide social security worthy of its name in a number of sectors”. La Tribune El País reports that the European Commission has written to the Spanish government urging it to invest a larger portion of EU funds in jobs creation and support for SMEs, rather than new infrastructures. Open Europe research El País Expansión El Mundo The FT reports on draft EU plans to tackle tax avoidance including the adoption of a common definition of a tax haven. FT Both Jean-Francois Copé and ex-PM Francois Fillon have claimed victory in the election to be the new leader of France’s centre-right UMP party. The election caused by the defeat of former President Nicolas Sarkozy has been marred by allegations of vote-rigging. BBC Le Monde Reuters Telegraph The Ministry of Justice will publish a draft Bill on Thursday which will outline a “series of options” concerning the ECHR’s ruling on prisoners’ votes for MPs to vote on, according to the Sunday Telegraph. One of these options will be to keep the present system which sees virtually all prisoners prevented from voting. Sunday Telegraph Sun