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New on the Open Europe Blog The Balance of Competences may not set pulses racing but EU's impact on NHS is a crucial issue  Open Europe Blog Beyond appearances, the recent political crisis has changed things in Portugal Open Europe Blog Double majority: the way to avoid the EU becoming a political extention of the euro?  Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Government review finds EU rules pushing up costs in the NHS but balance of power ‘broadly appropriate’  The Government yesterday published the first six reports in its review of EU competences. The FTquotes a senior government official as saying, “In none of these areas did the balance of evidence suggest the balance of competences was not broadly appropriate.” However, the reports did point out a number of areas where EU legislation was harming UK interests. The report into health found that EU rules are limiting the number of clinical trials, the Working Time Directive is raising the NHS wage bill, and the Energy Efficiency Directive increases costs of building stock. Meanwhile, the review of development aid found that parallel policy making in the UK and the EU had “the potential to result in conflicting policies.” The Times cites Open Europe as saying, “This review is a worthwhile project but unless it is now complemented by a political strategy to reduce the EU’s creep into areas such as the NHS, it risks having limited impact.” Open Europe’s Chris Howarth is also quoted by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Reutersnotes William Hague’s speech at an Open Europe dinner n which he called on the EU to reform and decentralise power to national governments and parliaments.  Open Europe blog Times Bloomberg Reuters Open Europe events EUobserver Reuters 2 TelegraphEuropean Voice BBC FT Mail  Bundesbank again calls for treaty change to support banking union  In its July report published yesterday, the Bundesbank welcomed the steps to create a eurozone banking union but warned it “cannot solve the current crisis, but can bring a valuable contribution to making future crises less probable.” The bank also raised concerns over the separation of powers at the ECB, saying, "An effective separation of monetary policy tasks and supervisory tasks is not possible without changes to the institutional framework of the ECB, as enshrined in the EU treaties,” according toEUobserver. Separately, FAZ reports that the Bundesbank has raised concerns over the quality of the assets which the ECB and other eurozone central banks accept as collateral. Bundesbank press release Bundesbank July report EUobserver FAZ Handelsblatt  Spanish PM to face parliamentary questioning over slush fund allegations  Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has agreed to be grilled by parliament over the recent slush fund allegations against him and other senior members of Spain’s ruling Partido Popular. The hearing will take place on 1 August. The opposition Socialist Party will call for Rajoy to resign and be replaced by someone else from his party. Meanwhile, Spain’s GDP contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter of the year – according to new estimates published by the Bank of Spain this morning. Separately, El Paísreports that the Spanish government has taken a further €1bn from its social security reserve fund to help with extra summer pension payments. The government had already turned to the fund for €3.5bn on 1 July.  El Mundo El Mundo 2 El Mundo 3 El País El País 2 El País 3 Cinco Días FT Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe appeared on Polskie Radio discussing how the power granted to the European Court of Justice in the Lisbon Treaty may endanger the British Government’s newly-proposed safeguards to deal with problems surrounding the European Arrest Warrant.  Open Europe Research According to Diário Económico, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho will present his plan for a cabinet reshuffle to President Aníbal Cavaco Silva today. Open Europe’s blog post arguing that the immediate political crisis has passed, but tensions over future austerity will remain within Portugal’s ruling coalition, featured on the Guardian’s live blog.  Open Europe Blog FT WSJ WSJ 2 Diário Económico Público Guardian: Live blog Data released by Eurostat yesterday showed that debt in the eurozone reached a record high of 92.2% of GDP at the end of the first quarter of this year. Germany and Estonia were the only countries to see their debt levels fall, while five countries now have debt over 100% of GDP. Eurostat press release FAZ FAZ: Plickert Süddeutsche DWN Telegraph Telegraph: Evans-PritchardReuters Guardian Welt Irish Independent  A new INSA poll for Bild has Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU in the lead on 38%, followed by the SPD on 26%, the Greens on 15%, Die Linke on 7%, the FDP on 5%, while the anti-euro party Alternative für Deutschland has seen its support increase from 3% to 4%. No link  Writing in the FT, German economist Hans-Werner Sinn argues that it is wrong to say Germany has hugely benefited from the euro and recommends that rather than debt mutualisation the eurozone should follow a format similar to that of the old Bretton Woods system.  FT: Sinn FT: Barber Open Europe Video: Sinn  The Times notes that the Treasury is trying to find ways to stop EU migrants who have paid little or no tax in the UK from benefiting from the new ‘Help to Buy’ initiative, due to be launched next year.  Times  Both the Irish government and the IMF have rejected claims by the former IMF mission chief in Ireland, Ashoka Mody, that the austerity approach in Ireland is “self-defeating”.  FT  Political parties in Cyprus have rejected the idea of splitting the Bank of Cyprus into two.  Cyprus Mail  After months of British and Dutch lobbying, the EU yesterday put the military wing of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Muslim movement, on its blacklist of terrorist organisations.  Reuters Handlesblatt Times Irish Times European Voice Euractiv BBC Welt  Die Welt reports that Germany has experienced a 90% increase in asylum seekers since last year, with 23.1% originally from Russia.  Welt