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Roger Cole: The second Lisbon Treaty referendum is a European battle for democracy fought on Irish soil
In the Irish Times, Roger Cole, Chair of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance in Ireland, argues that the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty "is not an Irish battle. It is a European battle fought on Irish soil, a battle between the peoples of Europe that support democracy and the elite of Europe."
He adds, "The EU political elite, having had their EU constitution defeated by the French and the Dutch, just renamed it the Lisbon Treaty, made sure the other peoples of the EU could not vote, and simply expected the Irish people to roll over and die last year...Undeterred by Irish democracy, the elite are simply forcing us to vote again on exactly the same treaty."
ABI says EU Solvency II rules are "regulatory overkill"
The FT Adviser supplement reports that the Association of British Insurers has said that the EU's Solvency II rules on insurance are "regulatory overkill". It also reports that the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors, known as CEIOPS, issued 24 consultation papers (numbering 1100 pages in length) last month on the implementation of Solvency II, which has taken one consultancy company more than 1000 man hours of specialist resources to properly analyse and understand.
Only 28% of Britons think euro would have protected them in economic crisis
Les Echos reports on a recent Eurobarometer poll which showed that only 28% of Britons believe the euro would have afforded them better protection in the economic crisis. Interviewing two British MEPs, Roger Helmer (Conservative) and Fiona Hall (Liberal Democract), Les Echos also points to the division between the major parties on the EU. Hall notes that 55% of UK trade is with EU countries.
German Federal States push for "supervisory guidance" and an "emergency brake" in debate on German parliament's influence over EU decision-making
Following an internal meeting between CDU, CSU, and SPD politicians from the federal and the federal state level, FAZ reports that the federal states' representatives are pushing for additional powers for the Bundesrat (upper house) over future EU matters. The Bundesrat is pushing for the right to provide "supervisory guidance", in almost all policy domains, to the German government representative in the European Council.
Moreover, it is envisioned that the Bundesrat as well as the Bundestag want to be able to pull the "emergency brake" if they view an EU draft directive related to police cooperation or cooperation in criminal law proceedings as breaching fundamental national aspects within these two domains.
For the first time, the federal states' representatives expressed confidence that the new law, required by the Lisbon judgment of the Constitutional Court, can be passed before the parliament elections on 27 September. In that respect, they pushed for an expert hearing in the committees of both Bundestag and Bundesrat on 26 August. While the final decision in the Bundestag is due on 8 September, the Bundesrat has the final vote on 18 September.
Germany's Left party spokesperson calls campaign to reduce influence of Constitutional Court over EU law.
The EU spokesman of Germany's Left party (Die Linke) Diether Dehm has reacted to the recently announced campaign of 30 lawyers which is demanding that the parliament oblige the German Constitutional Court pass future proceedings related to EU law first to the European Court of Justice.
He said in the Junge Welt newspaper that it is "unconstitutional" to seek the part-abolition of the highest guardian of the German constitution. He called it "outrageous" that state-paid jurists from public universities are seeking to reduce the rights of the Constitutional Court in order to accommodate EU policy.
Junge Welt
French and German economies show recovery signs;
Europe's industrial production falls
The BBC reports that the French and German economies both grew by 0.3% between April and June, ending year-long recessions in two of Europe's largest economies. French Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, commented saying, "the data is very surprising. After four negative quarters France is coming out of the red."
Meanwhile, EU observer reports that Europe's industrial production fell in June after a mild improvement in May, casting doubts on a long-awaited recovery.
El pais BBC EU observer Le Figaro FAZ Focus
Reuters columnist Paul Taylor suggests a speech in his column that European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso should give to set out his agenda in trying to win the backing of the European Parliament for a second term. Taylor writes that Barroso should say, "If the Irish people vote to ratify the Lisbon Treaty on Oct. 2...the enlarged EU will have a more coherent presence on the world stage", but suggests what he will really mean is, "(let's hope they do what they're told this time)".
Swedish MP Karl Sigfrid has lodged a complaint to the EU Commission against Ireland's new blasphemy law which says that an EU citizen could receive a fine of up to €25,000 for making a comment deemed to be offensive. Sigfrid said, "[the law] seems like a huge step backwards."
Europaportalen Herald Sigfrid's Blog
An editorial in the WSJ criticises the EU's soft policy towards Iran, arguing that "the trial of [French citizen] Ms. Reiss is what they have to show for it - along with an Iran much closer to a bomb than it was when their charm offensive began."
Writing in the Times' law section, Alex Wade looks at the EU's European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and argues "The EAW was inspired by the laudable notion that European nations could trust each other's justice systems. However, practice has not always met with theory."
The IHT reports that the World Trade Organisation ruled against China in a trade dispute yesterday, saying it had broken international rules by limiting imports of books, songs and movies.
The Swedish EU Presidency has made a statement urging Russia to protect its NGO community after a series of killings of human rights activists in Chechnya.
The European Commission will launch negotiations with EU governments in September aiming to reduce CO2 emissions of vans and lorries. The Commission wants to reduce emissions to 175g per kilometre by 2012 and 160g per kilometre by 2015.
The Zimbabwean Government and Swedish Embassy in Harare say that negotiations to normalise relations between Zimbabwe and the EU will resume soon, with each side working on its commitment plan.
UK
Lord Tebbit warns Cameron not to ignore core Conservative vote
PA reports that former Cabinet Minister Lord Tebbit today warned David Cameron he risks pushing traditional Conservative voters towards the UK Independence Party if he persists with a strategy of wooing disenchanted Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Tebbit said: "The danger is that in doing that he will leave a lot of the hardcore Tory voters feeling, 'Well it wouldn't make much difference'. And they may stay at home or defect to UKIP in the same way that a lot of old Labour voters have defected to the BNP."
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