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New on the Open Europe Blog The election of the new Italian President: Has Berlusconi just scored another one?  Open Europe Blog Is the academic premise for austerity in the eurozone crumbling? Not quite…  Open Europe Blog Aufstand im Bundestag: Who are Germany's most rebellious MPs? Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Leading German economist: Absurd to claim Germany has profited from the euro through an export-boostOpen Europe has published a podcast interview with German Professor Hans-Werner Sinn, the head of the Ifo Institute and one of Germany's leading economists. In the interview, Prof. Dr. Sinn labels the claim that Germany has profited from the euro through a large export boost as “absurd”, explains why Greece should leave the single currency, shares his analysis of whether the Cyprus bailout has set a precedent in the eurozone and highlights how Germany once experienced its own “euro crisis”.  Open Europe Video Bundestag approves Cypriot bailout by 478 votes to 102  German MPs this morning voted on the Cypriot bailout and the seven year extension for Portugal and Ireland after the German Constitutional Court rejected a request for a temporary injunction. The package was passed by 478 votes in favour to 102 against and 13 abstentions, with the coalition CDU/CSU and FDP and the opposition SPD and Green MPs voting in favour and Die Linke voting against. During the debate, the SPD’s budgetary spokesman Carsten Schneider argued that the government was falsely accusing the opposition of supporting debt pooling in order to protect its right flank against the new anti-euro party Alternative für Deutschland.  Welt live blog EU Observer Cypriot parliament will need to approve bailout deal – outcome uncertain  Kathimerini reports that the Cypriot parliament will vote on whether to approve the country’s bailout package at the end of the month. The outcome of the vote is uncertain with the opposition Green, Communist and Socialist parties suggesting they could vote against the deal, although the latter two may just abstain. Cypriot government spokesman Christos Stylianides warned that anyone voting against the bailout deal should have to propose alternative avenues to raise the €10bn necessary.  Kathimerini Famagusta Gazette Reuters Euractiv BBC Presse EUobserver House of Lords report finds fraud against EU budget could be twelve times higher than estimated by EU CommissionA report by the House of Lords’ EU Select Committee published yesterday has concluded that the EU's anti-fraud system has “a number of weaknesses”, and that the Commission’s estimate of €404m “offers only a glimpse of the levels of fraud perpetrated against the EU's budget”, with the actual figure possibly €5bn or higher. Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki is quoted in the Telegraph as arguing that the top-down nature and overly complex design of the EU budget makes it “particularly vulnerable to ineffective spending but also fraud and mismanagement", and that at the moment accountability over EU spending falls into a black hole between the Commission and member states.  House of Lords Report: The Fight Against Fraud on the EU's Finances Telegraph Times Mail Express In an interview with European Radio Network Euranet, Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe discussed MEPs’ decision to cap bankers’ bonuses.  No link  Bersani strikes deal with Berlusconi over presidency candidate, but provokes split in his own camp  The Italian parliament has started voting to elect the new President of the Republic this morning. Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, Silvio Berlusconi and Mario Monti have agreed to back the candidacy of former trade unionist and Senate speaker Franco Marini. However, the decision provoked a split in Bersani’s own party and centre-left alliance – to the advantage of Berlusconi. Several Italian papers question whether Marini will achieve the two-third majority required in the first ballot. The vote is expected to be very tight as up to 100 members of Bersani’s party could abstain.  Open Europe blog Repubblica Repubblica 2 La Stampa FT FT Editorial Bundesbank President warns that exiting euro crisis could take up to a decade  In an interview with the WSJ, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann warned that overcoming the eurozone crisis could take up to a decade. He added that the ECB stands ready to “adjust in response to new information” but warned that easing monetary policy comes with “side effects and risks”. The euro weakened significantly in response to the comments, with the markets interpreting them as increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut. Weidmann also suggested the Cypriot deal established the “pecking order” for future bail-ins.  WSJ CityAM WSJ 2 WSJ 3 EUobserver The FT reports that the EEF manufacturers organisation has said many of its members were concerned about the impact of yesterday’s European Parliament vote against propping up the EU’s carbon market, which could disadvantage British companies because the UK has just introduced a separate “carbon price floor”. FT FT 2 FT: Editorial European Voice A German finance ministry spokesman said yesterday that Germany is “not suddenly asking for a change in the EU treaty and I categorically reject the assertion that we are putting the brakes on the banking union.”  Open Europe blog Open Europe blog2 EUobserver European Voice reports that member states last week submitted a number of proposals to the Commission and European Parliament for reforming the EU’s civil service including increasing the retirement age to 67, increasing staff contributions to the pensions scheme and abolishing automatic promotions.  European Voice EurActiv reports that the European Court of Justice has ruled that Belgium’s Flemish community infringed EU rules on the freedom of movement by only drafting workers’ contracts in Dutch.  Euractiv German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Bild that said she will run for the whole legislative period until 2017 if re-elected, ending speculation she might retire in 2015. Bild European Voice notes that Iceland’s centre-right Progressive Party has a chance of winning an outright majority in the upcoming parliamentary elections on 27 April. This could result in a referendum on halting Iceland’s EU membership talks immediately.  European Voice Slovenia eased its crisis slightly yesterday by issuing €1.1bn in short term debt, although at an elevated borrowing cost of 4.15%. A large amount of the debt is thought to have been bought by Slovenian banks.  WSJ Reuters Reuters reports that the Portuguese government has reached a deal on new austerity measures worth 0.5% of GDP to fill in for those struck down by the Constitutional Court. Finding new cuts is vital to securing the next tranche of bailout funding and an extension in the length of bailout loans.  Reuters  The Telegraph reports that Romania has dropped setting a target date for adopting the euro, although officials insisted that joining the single currency remains a fundamental objective for the country.  Telegraph France has renewed its attacks on Austrian banking secrecy, with French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault telling French radio station France Inter, “Austria will not be able to hold this position.” Kurier