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France and Italy propose revising Schengen Treaty following immigration row
Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi will meet today to discuss revising the Schengen Treaty in light of recent tensions over immigration. Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, has said that Italy will accept a review of Schengen, in return for extra EU funds to help it deal with migrants, reports the Telegraph. The revised agreement is expected to propose that border controls can be reinstated between EU member states in exceptional circumstances when external EU borders have been breached. Italian daily La Stampa reports that the joint proposal could also call for a burden sharing agreement with a redistribution of migrants.
French Europe Minister Laurent Wauquiez is quoted in the Journal du Dimanche saying, "Europe is not the free movement of illegal immigrants". The Italian authorities are reportedly accused of buying train tickets for migrants issued with temporary visit permits and encouraging them to travel to France, reports the Telegraph. On his BBC blog, Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt notes, “The real tension here is that EU principles are increasingly seen as at odds with economic reality and the wishes of a majority of the people. Appeals to solidarity do not sit well with the voters. The dilemma is similar to that of the bail-outs. In order to keep the euro together Brussels is supporting policies that alienate many voters”.
Telegraph El Pais Monday's FT Irish Independent BBC Le Figaro Le Figaro: Thréard BBC BBC: Hewitt EUobserver Le Monde Repubblica EurActiv Saturday’s Telegraph AFP La Stampa
Cameron says proposed 4.9% EU budget increase is “not going to happen”;
UK has no veto as decision is taken by QMV
Friday’s Mail reported that David Cameron has said that he will veto the European Commission’s proposal for a 4.9% EU budget increase for 2012. Cameron was quoted saying, “It’s not going to happen. It must be stopped.” However, the decision on the EU annual budget is taken by qualified majority voting, which means that the UK cannot veto any increase alone but must find other governments to support it. The article featured Open Europe’s report on wasteful EU spending, while the BBC quoted Open Europe’s calculations that a 4.9% rise would increase UK contributions to the EU by £680m. The draft budget proposes a 4% increase for EU officials’ pension schemes - 1.4% above the EU’s overall rate of inflation - which would take Britain’s total yearly contribution to the scheme to £170 million, reports the Telegraph.
Writing in Saturday’s Mail, Iain Martin asked “Was Cameron ever really a Eurosceptic?”, adding “the long list of retreats in the face of Brussels’ continued assault on what is left of British sovereignty is shameful.”
Open Europe research Monday's Telegraph Monday’s Mail Friday's Mail BBC EurActiv France Saturday’s Mail
Commission responds to criticism of its aid spending
In a letter to the Sunday Times, EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs responded to the paper’s article on EU aid spending, which featured Open Europe’s recent report on the subject. Piebalgs argued that, “The EU has been contributing to fighting poverty for decades” and noted, “Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) said recently that ‘the European Development Fund (EDF) is one of the best performing funds as far as poverty alleviation is concerned’”.
Open Europe’s report argues, as does DFID, that the €3.6bn a year EDF performs better on poverty reduction because national contributions to it are voluntary and therefore more accountable to member state’s priorities, whereas the rest of the EU’s €7bn a year aid spending, which relies on mandatory contributions, is poorly targeted at reducing poverty. Open Europe has therefore called for all contributions to EU aid spending to be made voluntary.
Open Europe research Open Europe blog Sunday Times Sunday Times: Letters
Portuguese deficit revised upwards again;
EU set for crisis talks with Greece
The Portuguese National Statistics agency has revised Portugal’s 2010 deficit upwards for the second time in the space of a few months. The deficit is now estimated to be 9.1% of GDP, up from 8.6%, and well above the government target of 7.3%. The Portuguese government maintains that the increases are purely down to a change in accounting standards enforced by the EU.
The Telegraph reported on Saturday that EU, IMF and ECB officials are set to visit Greece for crisis talks, during the first two weeks of May, following rumours that Greece may default on its debt. Meanwhile, the Greek government has reported Citigroup to Interpol following an email from a London based trader which suggested that a Greek restructuring may happen over the Easter weekend. The email is said to have led to a sell off of Greek bank shares and a spike in the Greek cost of borrowing. However, FT Alphaville notes that according to the time stamp of the email the sell off actually began before it was sent.
EUobserver reported that Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Euro Group, has suggested that discussions on eurozone economic policies should take place in “dark secret rooms” to prevent harmful financial market movements. Juncker said he often "had to lie" to prevent rumours spreading in financial markets.
Juncker also admitted that he is not convinced of the merits of the eurozone pact, designed to enforce fiscal discipline and increase competitiveness. “I was never a strong believer of this Euro-plus-pact,” he said. “There is nothing new in it. All ideas had already been on the table of the Council [of ministers], but there was never much political will to implement them.” Swedish Minister of Finance Anders Borg has said he hopes that Sweden will join the Euro Pact, and is quoted in The Local saying that “My hope is that we can reach such clarification from the European Council to allow for a broad majority in Sweden to support this".
In an interview with WirtschaftsWoche Christian Linder, Deputy Leader of German party FDP, warned that his party would resist any attempts to circumvent the Bundestag over payments into the EU’s permanent bailout fund (ESM). He also accused the government of trying to “grind down the budgetary sovereignty of the Bundestag”.
Guardian AFP FT Weekend Saturday’s Telegraph Saturday’s Independent Saturday’s Guardian Irish Times FT Alphaville Saturday’s Times Irish Independent EUobserver Les Echos Reuters Dagens Nyheter The Local Monday's FT: Munchau WSJ: Hannon
Peter Oborne: Is Labour “ditching” its commitment to Europe?
Writing on his Telegraph blog on Thursday, Peter Oborne argued that Labour may be reassessing its approach to Europe. Oborne argued that “By demanding that the clear bulk of the [bailout] financing should come from the eurozone, [Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor] has also signalled that he is ditching New Labour’s long-term and very public strategy of co-operation with Europe.” Although the Labour party is still far from anti-EU, Oborne suggested that it is more eurosceptic that at any point over the past two decades, and that this approach may give the coalition government more strength to speak out against EU policies.
Writing in Monday’s Sun, Trevor Kavanagh argued that the UK should not contribute to further eurozone bailouts. Kavanagh also suggested that Labour could be set to take a tough new line on Europe.
Telegraph: Oborne
Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe was quoted by AFP commenting on the possibility of Arnold Schwarzenegger running for EU President. "Someone with an American style of politics with outspoken ideas would absolutely not be appreciated by EU leaders", he said. Pieter was also quoted by Coulisses de Bruxelles, EUbusiness and La Dernière Heure.
Open Europe blog AFP La Dernière Heure Coulisses de Bruxelles EUbusiness
True Finns to lead three committees in the new Parliament
The True Finns are set lead three committees in the new Finnish Parliament - the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Management Committee and the Defence Committee - reports Yle. Meanwhile, in response to the rise of the True Finns in the recent Finnish elections, the FT Weekend’s Tony Barber argued, “Above all, Finns want politicians to listen seriously to their concerns. This is a trend discernible all over western Europe. Neither in Finland nor anywhere else can it be truly said that the mainstream political parties have delivered a convincing response.”
Open Europe blog Sunday Times FT Weekend: Barber Saturday’s Independent: Lichfield Irish Times Yle
Monday’s Guardian reported that under the non-negotiable host city contract with the International Olympic Committee – signed by the Government and the Mayor of London in 2005 – the IOC can withhold 25% of the expected £700m broadcasting income generated from the 2012 Olympic Games should air quality levels exceed EU limits during the games.
Monday's Guardian
The FT reports that top representatives from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are to meet their US counterparts at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to discuss the potential consequences of the EU’s proposed rules on credit rating agencies with regard to ratings issued outside the EU.
FT
Euractiv notes that new consultations with trade unions and employers’ organisations on revising the EU’s Working Time Directive are due to start this summer. Negotiations on amending the directive failed in 2009 after the UK and several other member states refused to give up their opt-out from the EU’s 48-hour working week.
Open Europe research EurActiv
The Sunday Times reported that EU Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn and German Liberal MEP Silvana Koch-Merin have been accused of plagiarism in their PhD dissertations. German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg resigned last month over similar allegations.
Sunday Times
The Sunday Telegraph argued in a leader that the European Convention on Human Rights is “protecting the wrong people”.
Sunday Telegraph Saturday’s Guardian
Monday’s Mail noted that from next Sunday, rules will be lifted on citizens from new EU member states which will allow social security benefits to be claimed in the UK before working for 12 months continuously.
Monday’s Mail Monday's FT
Human Rights Watch has called on the EU to "stop making faustian pacts with repressive regimes and to realign its foreign policy with its ideals", arguing that EU-Syria diplomacy has up to now neglected the rights of Syrian people for the sake of strategic objectives, reports EUobserver.
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