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Guardian: Cameron close to agreeing tweaks to EU working time rules in return for EU Treaty change;
40% of Britons think leaving the EU would be good for UK economy
The Guardian reports that David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have reached a compromise which would involve examining the implementation of the EU’s Working Time Directive (WTD) in return for UK support for changes to the EU Treaties, proposed by Germany. At Friday’s meeting between the two leaders, Merkel reportedly signalled she would consider revisions to the WTD. In return, Britain is likely to agree to Germany’s proposals to tighten eurozone fiscal governance via a Treaty change.

The article notes that the UK will table two demands: first, maintaining the right to opt-out of the 48-hour working week. Second, reversing the European Court of Justice’s Simap and Jaeger rulings on rest periods and “on call” time, which have caused severe problems for the NHS. However, unlike Treaty negotiations, where every member state has a veto, the WTD is decided by qualified majority voting, which means that supporters of the directive, such as France, could form a “blocking minority” to challenge any attempts to reform.

Meanwhile, the Metro reports that a new Harris poll has found that 40% of Britons believe that leaving the EU would have a positive effect on the UK economy. Separately, Lord Heseltine told the BBC’s Politics Show “I think we will join the euro.” He added, “I think the chances are the euro will survive because the determination, particularly of the French and the Germans, is to maintain the coherence that they have created in Europe.” In the Times, Lord Ashdown writes that it could be in Britain’s interest to join “sooner than we think”, arguing that, “As a member, Britain could have increased its competitiveness and avoided a huge deficit.”

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, London Mayor Boris Johnson said, “This idea that if we can find a big enough bazooka, we could blow away the problem by creating a Euro government in which there will be shared fiscal responsibility, I’m afraid that really will, in the long term, and probably even in the short and medium term, simply exacerbate the problem, because that administration, that economic government will have no democratic legitimacy.”
Guardian Mail Telegraph: Brogan’s blog FT Conservative Home: Montgomerie Times Times: AshdownExpress Mail City AM: Fraser Sunday Times Saturday’s Telegraph Saturday's Mail Saturday's SunSaturday's Independent Saturday's Times Saturday's Telegraph 2 Weekend FT: Peel Weekend FTIndependent BBC City AM 2 FT: Leader Sunday Express: Redwood Metro Sunday Telegraph Independent on Sunday

Commission says Eurobonds would not necessarily require Treaty change
The European Commission’s proposal to pool debt between eurozone countries, via so-called Eurobonds, will be published on Wednesday. A leaked draft of the proposal envisages three separate options: the substitution of all debt issued by eurozone governments with Eurobonds (called ‘stability bonds’ in the Commission’s paper), with eurozone countries guaranteeing their future debt issues jointly; the substitution of 60% of debt issued by eurozone governments with Eurobonds, with the rest being financed nationally; and the partial substitution of debt issued by eurozone governments with Eurobonds, with each eurozone country guaranteeing its share of future joint debt issues. The first two options would require a Treaty change, while for the third option such a change would not be needed, according to the Commission.
FT CityAM WSJ WSJ 2 El País Le Figaro Le Monde EUobserver Reuters

Centre-right party wins landslide victory in Spanish elections;
Moody’s issues new warning over France’s Triple-A rating
Spain’s centre-right Partido Popular won a landslide victory in yesterday’s general elections, securing an absolute majority – 186 out of 350 seats – in the lower house of the Spanish parliament. The outgoing Socialist Party only won 110 seats. Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy has vowed to lower taxes on small businesses while also cutting unemployment benefits, but is yet to offer more specific details on how he will tackle Spain's high unemployment levels.

Separately, Les Echos reports that Moody’s has this morning warned again that France’s rising borrowing costs and lower economic growth prospects could impact negatively on its credit rating. La Stampa reports that the new Italian government will today meet to start work on a new package of austerity measures and economic reforms, which could be unveiled after the next meeting of eurozone finance ministers, scheduled for 29-30 November. Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is due to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday. Separately, El País reports that Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will today meet European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy to discuss the disbursement of the next tranche of the first Greek bailout loan.
Saturday’s Guardian Saturday's Times Saturday’s Telegraph Weekend FT Sunday Telegraph Independent on Sunday FT Weekend WSJ 3 Guardian El País Le Figaro Les Echos FT 2 FT 3 CityAM 3 Irish Times The Observer The Observer The Observer Independent on Sunday Sunday Times Sunday Times Sunday Times BBC BBC: Hewitt BBC: Peston IHT Le Figaro El País Expansión: Leader Guardian Times Mail FTCityAM WSJ Telegraph Irish Independent Irish Times Telegraph El País Le Figaro: Rousselin Corriere della Sera Repubblica Repubblica 2 La Stampa Il Sole 24 Ore IHT: Posen FT: Soros & Bofinger FT: MackintoshFT: Dizard FT: Davies WSJ Review & Outlook FT: Anderlini FT: Munchau CityAM: Westgate WSJ: StelzerSunday Telegraph: Halligan The Observer Editorial Independent on Sunday: Vallely Independent on Sunday: Rentoul Sunday Times: Ivens Mail on Sunday: Hannan

Writing on Conservative Home, Chris Heaton-Harris MP cited Open Europe’s research, which found that regulation has cost the UK economy £176 billion since 1998 and argued that repatriating EU employment regulation could help create jobs and growth in the UK.
Conservative Home: Heaton-Harris Open Europe research

Saturday’s Handelsblatt reported that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder urged the ECB to “intervene in an unlimited way in order to defend the euro, if the situation in Italy, Spain and possibly France would worsen.”
Handelsblatt

EU officials threaten strike action over pay and conditions
The Sunday Telegraph reported that 40,000 EU officials are embroiled in a dispute over plans to increase their working week from 37.5 hours to 40 hours, raise their retirement age, and award a pay rise of 1.8%. Protests are planned in Brussels tomorrow and EU civil service unions have threatened strike action. Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe was quoted arguing that the move is unjustified “at a moment when all European governments are cutting their budgets, also at the instigation of the EU.” Pieter was also quoted in the Irish Independent.
Sunday Telegraph Irish Independent

2012 EU budget set for 2% increase
The BBC reports that the EU’s 2012 annual budget is set for an inflation-only rise of 2% to €129bn (£110bn) after negotiations between national governments and the European Parliament concluded on Saturday. The Commission had demanded a 4.9% increase while the European Parliament wanted 5.2%. Government officials described it as an “excellent deal for the UK.”
BBC EUobserver Bild Express City AM Irish Times BBC 2 Welt

Commission unveils new measures to grant legal migrants easier access to the EU
AP reports that EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström has unveiled a package of new measures aiming to make it easier for legal migrants to enter the EU, primarily by helping them obtain visas faster. Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson is quoted arguing that the EU will need workers in the future, due to its ageing population, but added that “it's going to be very difficult for Malmström to push this through,” due to domestic political constraints.
AP Saturday's Express

In an interview with Le Figaro, France’s former Prime Minister Édouard Balladur argues, “Europe at 27 is too large and diverse, it’s no more than a big market…For twenty years, I’ve been arguing in favour of a Europe organised in circles which would regroup countries based on the competences they share.”
Le Figaro: Balladur

The BBC reports that Chancellor George Osborne will today reveal that the UK made a commitment to the European Commission to sell a majority of its Northern Rock stake by the end of 2013 in order to overcome EU rules to combat state aid.
BBC

The WSJ reports that the European Commission is pushing for the eurozone to be represented by a single seat at the IMF. FAZ quotes the spokesman of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble rejecting the proposal, saying, “At the IMF only states can be members, only states have a voice and that is the way things will remain.”
FAZ WSJ

Saturday’s Guardian reported that Sir John Major has described proposals for an EU-wide financial transaction tax as a “heat-seeking missile proposed in continental Europe aimed at the City of London.”
Saturday's Guardian Saturday's Times: Leader Mail on Sunday FT: Jackson

EUobserver reports that, at a business congress in Istanbul on Friday, Turkey’s former Ambassador to the EU Volkan Bozkir said, “The EU dream has come to an end for the world. There is a paradigm shift. The EU is no longer the same Union that provided comfort, prosperity and wealth to its citizens as in the past.”
EUobserver

UK

Ken Clarke says UK on the brink of securing ECHR reform
In an interview with Saturday’s Telegraph, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said that Britain is poised to strike a deal to overhaul the European Court of Human Rights to stop it being used by “every individual who has lost his own particular case”. “We want the court back to its proper business as an international court which takes up serious issues of principle when a member state or its courts, or its parliament, are arguably in serious breach of the [European Human Rights] convention,” he said.
Saturday's Telegraph Saturday's Telegraph 2

New on the Open Europe blog

Cameron and Merkel spar
Open Europe blog