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New on the Open Europe Blog Great speeches, Prime Minister, but now make EU reform happen  Open Europe Blog ECB gears up for German Constitutional Court scrutiny  Open Europe Blog Open Europe publishes Commission regulation which seeks to move Libor oversight to Paris  Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary 48% of Germans hope the Constitutional Court stops the ECB’s bond buying programme;  Draghi: We will not intervene to “ensure the solvency of a country”  Ahead of Tuesday and Wednesday’s hearings on the ECB’s crisis policies at the German Constitutional Court (GCC), ECB President Mario Draghi looked to stress the limits of ECB action saying, “We will not intervene to generally ensure the solvency of a country,” in an interview with German TV channel ZDF. Meanwhile, a Forsa poll for Handelsblatt shows that 48% of Germans hope that the GCC will stop the ECB’s OMT – its bond buying programme – while 31% think that the legal complaint is not justified. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble will declare in today’s public hearing that “the ECB acts within its mandate”, reports FAZ. In the leader on its front page, the paper also declares the case as one of the “most important” in the court’s history. Meanwhile, Handelsblatt reports that there is an internal limit which means the ECB cannot own more than 50% of a given market, suggesting that this limits the OMT’s size to €260bn.  Open Europe’s flash analysis on the hearing was cited by the Guardian live blog and the WSJ Seib & Wessel blog. Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel appeared on Sky News discussing the issue. Open Europe Berlin Director Michael Wohlgemuth was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, “[There is a] trade-off that has to be made somehow — appease the Constitutional Court without getting financial markets in a panic.’’  Handelsblatt Handelsblatt 2 FAZ FAZ 2 FAZ 3 FAZ: Mueller Süddeutsche Süddeutsche 2 Süddeutsche 3Irish Times Euractiv FT FT Q&A FT Editorial FT: Fratzscher CityAM WSJ Review & Outlook IndependentGuardian Le Figaro Le Monde La Tribune Repubblica Il Sole 24 Ore Reuters Welt Guardian live blog Seib & Wessel blog AP MPs welcome Cameron’s EU reform agenda but warn against demands for ‘special treatment’; Stephen Booth: British voters will look to exit unless there is progress on reform  In a new report, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has welcomed Prime Minister David Cameron's “ambitious agenda for EU reform” if he wins the 2015 general election. It also warns that “we are clear that UK proposals for pan-EU reforms are likely to find a more favourable reception than requests for further ‘special treatment’ for the UK.” The report extensively cites Open Europe Mats Persson's evidence to the Committee. Following the Prime Minister’s speech on Britain’s role in the world and the EU yesterday, Open Europe Research Director Stephen Booth writes in City AM that there are “compelling reasons” for remaining within a reformed EU. “However, unless the drift towards greater political and economic integration in the Eurozone can be accompanied by a looser and more flexible relationship for countries such as the UK, the British electorate will increasingly look to the exit.” The Government needs to “press ahead” with safeguards for non-euro countries and greater powers for national parliaments, he concludes.  Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that almost two thirds of the 1,600 companies surveyed by BNI, a small business networking organisation, said staying in the EU would be better for business.  Open Europe blog City AM: Booth HoC Foreign Affairs Committee report FT City AM IndependentTelegraph Times: Sylvester  Speaking at a debate organised by the EUDemocrats in the parliament of the autonomous Finnish Åland islands, Open Europe Director Mats Persson is quoted by Ålandstiddningen as saying the eurozone crisis “is actually four crises: a debt crisis, a banking crisis, a competitiveness crisis and a political crisis.” Mats was also interviewed by Radio Åland.  Alandstindningen Radio Aland  Setback for Greek privatisation as state gas-company fails to attract a single bid  The Greek privatisation programme suffered another setback yesterday as it failed to attract a single bidder for its natural-gas monopoly Depa, after Russia’s Gazprom withdrew on the final day of bidding. Greek government officials believe the EU is to blame for the move, with EU officials reportedly warning Gazprom against bidding for Depa due to growing concerns over Russia’s influence over the European gas market. The Athens stock exchange was hit by the failure, falling 4.7% yesterday. The bidding process for Depa will be restarted later this year.  Kathimerini FT FT 2 CityAM WSJ WSJ 2 Kathimerini 2 Guardian  Cyprus Mail reports that Cypriot MPs are considering launching a legal case against the ECB and/or ECB President Mario Draghi for deciding to continue providing Laiki Bank with Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) despite it likely being insolvent – in breach of ECB rules.  Cyprus Mail  The Dutch Central Bank revealed yesterday that 1.3 million Dutch households are in negative equity as a result of falling house prices. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Olli Rehn is today visiting the Hague, in the midst of disagreement between the Commission and the Dutch government on whether the Netherlands has promised to achieve a 2.8% or 3% budget deficit next year.  AD DNB Volkskrant Powned  The FT reports that UK options to restructure RBS are set to be constrained by new EU rules on bank bailouts due to kick in from 1 August, which require shareholders and junior bondholders to take losses as a pre-condition to EU approval for state support to a bank.  FT  A new draft of the European Commission’s mandate for EU-US trade negotiations, seen by theFT, includes for the first time cast-iron guarantees that the audio-visual industry will be excluded from a potential trade deal – an issue of particular concern to France.  FT  EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said she will press US officials in Dublin on Friday on the question of whether EU citizens’ privacy is at risk from US data monitoring programmes following the recent revelations about PRISM. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also raise the issue directly with US President Barack Obama when the two meet in Berlin next week.  Guardian AP Handelsblatt Spiegel  In an interview with TVP2 last night, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk ended speculation that he would put his name forward to replace Jose Manuel Barroso as European Commission President in 2014 by saying that he would only focus on domestic affairs until the next parliamentary elections in 2015.  Polskie Radio

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