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New on the Open Europe Blog And who are you again? Beppe Grillo's MPs and Senators meet each other for the first time Open Europe Blog Could the UK be asked to contribute to a Cypriot bailout? Open Europe Blog The triple challenge behind EU move to cap banker bonuses Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Osborne to fight bank bonus cap in Brussels today; Legal advice suggests banks could challenge plans in court Chancellor George Osborne will oppose EU plans to cap bankers' bonuses today at the first formal negotiations on the plan between EU finance ministers. A UK Government official is quoted by PA as saying, “In terms of the majority of member states taking a final view on this (at today's meeting), that is many months down the track.” EU officials are speculating that the UK may try to invoke the so-called “Luxembourg Compromise”, a little-used informal “national interest” defence to block a majority agreement. But Osborne is more likely to seek to stretch out negotiations and seek compromises on how the rules apply to non-EU banks and to bankers working for European banks outside the EU. The FT reports that legal advice for one bank, seen by the paper, argues that the proposed ban on bonuses “contravenes European law” because of an EU treaty provision that prohibits regulating pay. The advice from law firm Shearman & Sterling concludes the proposals “may also violate the constitutions of certain member states, such as Austria, Germany and Poland.” MEPs and the European Commission argue that the bonus ratio does not regulate total pay and is justified as a prudential financial measure, rather than as social policy. Writing in the FT, Andrea Leadsom MP, co-founder of the Fresh Start Group, argues for the introduction of an “emergency brake” for financial services regulation, under which any member state could refer a potentially harmful proposal to the European Council, where unanimity would be required. FT FT Brussels Blog Reuters BBC IHT Expansión FT: Leadsom FT: Jenkins City AM: Rudd Open Europe research: Financial Regulation Top member of Bersani’s party: If Grillo refuses to back next government, we’ll have to vote againStefano Fassina, economic spokesman for Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic Party, told Canale 5 this morning, “We’re not willing to form a government with [Silvio Berlusconi’s] PdL party, and if Beppe Grillo is not willing to back the [next] government, we will have to face a new round of elections, even if this is not what is needed now.” Meanwhile, Vito Crimi – designated as faction leader of Grillo’s Five-Star Movement in the Italian Senate – told the press yesterday, “If we were proposed a technocratic government, we would consider it.” However, Crimi said this morning, “I never spoke of support for a technocratic government. The only solution we propose is a government led by the Five-Star Movement.” Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe discusses Italy’s political and economic situation in a piece for Dutch news site De Dagelijkse Standaard. De Dagelijkse Standaard: Cleppe Il Sole 24 Ore ASCA Repubblica Repubblica 2 Corriere della Sera La Stampa La Stampa 2 FT Open Europe blog Agreement on external money laundering audit moves Cyprus closer to bailoutAt yesterday’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers, Cyprus agreed to an independent external audit of its anti-money laundering policies, which the eurozone had placed as a precondition for a Cypriot bailout. Eurogroup Head Jeroen Dijsselbloem suggested the audit would be conducted by a private sector firm, however, Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris reiterated his desire to see Moneyval, an intergovernmental committee of experts which monitors money laundering, and the Cypriot Central Bank lead the assessment. Kathimerini FT WSJ Reuters BBC Irish Times Euractiv European Voice  EUobserver Le Figaro FAZSüddeutsche ECB considers pulling out of the troikaSeveral German newspapers report that, due to concerns over the ECB’s independence, some members of the ECB’s Governing Council want to see the ECB exit from its role in the EU/IMF/ECB Troika, which monitors eurozone bailout programmes. Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that the Bundesbank is among those urging an exit. However Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup Head Jeroen Dijsselbloem yesterday rejected the reports. FAZ Süddeutsche Welt Welt: Jost MNI Fox DPA In the Times, Dominic Raab MP writes that UK Government attempts to limit ‘welfare tourism’ should follow the German approach, which “relies more than Britain on a system based on contributions for unemployment and incapacity support and less on automatic or means-tested benefits. As well as limiting the total bill, that model is less vulnerable to legal challenge in Brussels.”Times: Leader Times: Raab Mail Mail: Heffer Telegraph Evening Standard Express Express 2 A YouGov poll for the Sun has Labour in the lead on 40% followed by the Conservatives on 31% and the Liberal Democrats tied with UKIP on 12%. The poll also revealed that 38% of respondents, including 43% of Tory voters, said they would “consider” voting for UKIP.Sun YouGov Conservative Home Kathimerini reports that the spending cuts in Greece from 2009 to 2014 will total €40bn. Separately, To Vima reported over the weekend that Greece had to secretly fly in euro banknotes from other countries to meet extra demand for cash at the start of the crisis.Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Reuters Bild The European Commission will send a mission to Madrid to verify the accuracy of the Spanish government’s deficit figures for 2012, reports Expansión. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed people in Spain reached above 5 million last month, an all-time record.Expansión Expansión 2 El País Le Figaro According to a new TNS Sofres poll for Le Figaro, trust in French President François Hollande fell from 55% to 30% during his first ten months in office.Le Figaro The Austrian Constitutional Court will today consider a complaint against the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) issued by the regional government of Kärnten. Yesterday the court rejected an individual complaint against the ESM Treaty filed by leader of the right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) Heinz-Christian Strache. Die Presse Latvia has formally launched its bid to join the euro in January 2014, despite recent polls suggesting that up to two thirds of the population are against the move.FT EUobserver Süddeutsche Rzeczpospolita EU finance ministers will today discuss the prospect of allowing Ireland and Portugal more time to repay their bailout loans. The Irish Independent reports that, according to unnamed sources, the Irish government is optimistic that at least part of the bailout loans could be extended by up to 15 years.Irish Independent Irish Times FAZ reports that the main German political parties including Angela Merkel’s CDU and the opposition SPD have no plans to engage with the new anti-euro Alternative for Germany party due to launched next month.FAZ Following German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich’s threat to veto Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to the border-free Schengen area, his Romanian counterpart Radu Stroe complained that Germany “had missed an opportunity to keep its mouth shut”, reports FAZ.FAZ Adevarul A Dutch citizens’ campaign to make it mandatory to hold a referendum on any new transfer of powers to the EU is on the verge of reaching the 40,000 signatures necessary to force a debate in the Dutch Parliament on the issue. A new Maurice de Hond poll shows that 64% of respondents back the objective of the campaign.Burgerforum-eu.nl Maurice de Hond poll   Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has become the first EU Foreign Minister to explicitly warn against Scottish independence. BBC The Czech Senate has voted to charge outgoing President Vaclav Klaus with treason for granting an amnesty to 6,000 of the country's 23,000 prisoners.BBC WSJ AP Euobserver Ceske Noviny The European Commission has decided to release papers on the negotiations surrounding the legal position of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the UK following a five year campaign by the European Citizen Action Service taken up by the European Ombudsmen.EUobserver European Commission press release Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reports that the European Commission advises its employees to hide the fact that they are working for the EU when sent on business trips to Greece.DWN Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that the European commission will submit a proposal in June to ensure that all EU citizens have the right to a current bank account.Süddeutsche Spiegel