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Daily Press Summary Greek coalition leaders to meet as deep splits over public broadcaster closure remainKathimerini reports that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will meet the leaders of his coalition partners PASOK and Democratic Left this evening in an attempt to find a compromise on the closure of state broadcaster ERT. In a speech over the weekend, Samaras suggested he did not want snap elections although he also lashed out at his coalition partners, implying that they were obstructing his reform programme. PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos hit back saying, “Moves aimed to impress, in violation of basic principles of parliamentary majority, are not reforms.” An offer by Samaras to keep ERT open over the summer with a minimal staff and programming seems likely to fall short of the demands of his coalition partners. A Kapa Research survey for To Vima showed yesterday that 64% of Greeks see the shutdown of ERT as negative or probably negative. The poll also showed 57% of Greeks do not want snap elections, while 40% do. Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Kathimerini 3 Kathimerini 4 WSJ IHT Les Echos Irish Times Euractiv Kathimerini 5Süddeutsche FAZ French President’s party adopts watered-down European election manifestoFrench President François Hollande’s Socialist Party has adopted its manifesto for next year’s European elections. The text has been watered down from its previous draft – which Open Europe published on its blog – but still criticises the “alliance of circumstance between the British Conservatives, who only conceive a Europe on the cheap and à la carte, and the liberal intransigence of the German right.” The manifesto does not bind the French government. Open Europe blog Le Figaro Reuters EurActiv France FT FT 2 The Times reports that London mayor Boris Johnson has ordered a review of the impact Britain’s withdrawal from the EU might have on the City.Open Europe research Times City AM The Express reports that Prime Minister David Cameron has agreed to change the wording of the question in the Conservative party’s draft referendum legislation which is being put forward as a Private Member’s Bill by James Wharton MP. Following concerns over the neutrality of the original question, voters will now be asked if the UK should “be” in the EU, rather than “remain” in the EU.Express On Friday, EU trade ministers reached an agreement which will see the audio-visual sector excluded from EU-US free trade talks – as demanded by France – allowing a mandate to be passed on to the European Commission to begin negotiations. The European Commission can request that the audio-visual sector be included in talks at a later stage, but that would need unanimous approval from EU member states.Open Europe blog France 24 FT FAZ European Voice Euractiv The Italian government has adopted a package of measures aimed at restarting the country’s economy, including a €3bn investment in infrastructure projects and a €5bn credit line at lower rates for SMEs to help them buy new machinery. The government is also expected to unveil new labour market measures later this week.FT WSJ La Stampa German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said that he hopes that in the longer term the IMF will disengage from its role in the eurozone crisis, claiming that the IMF was not established “to extend a helping hand to Europe in perpetuity.”Süddeutsche Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas is to resign today after his chief of staff Jana Nagyova was charged with corruption and abuse of power. Necas’s ruling coalition will now try to form a new government to avoid snap elections. Ceske Noviny Ceske Noviny 2 IHT WSJ European Voice Euractiv BBC The FT reports that proposals to cap the volume of trades given pre-trade transparency waivers included within the EU’s revision of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR II) Directive could bolster high-frequency trading companies on public stock exchanges at the expense of pension funds which currently trade off market at better rates.Open Europe research FT Scotland on Sunday reported that some MEPs have questioned how an independent Scotland could negotiate EU issues such as a budget rebate, opt-outs of the euro and the Schengen free travel area.Scotland on Sunday Open Europe blog