Bundesbank President: Unintended side-effects of FTT “could be considerable”;
Commercial banks could become more reliant on ECB and central bank fundingBundesbank President Jens Weidmann yesterday warned of the negative implications of the proposed EU financial transaction tax (FTT) on ECB monetary policy and commercial banks’ reliance on ECB funding. “From a monetary policy point of view, the FTT in its current form is to be viewed very critically,” he said. Weidmann warned that “the unintended side-effects could be considerable”, adding that the current draft would “significantly damage the repo market” and therefore increase commercial banks’ reliance on borrowing cheap money from the ECB and eurozone central banks. He said that central banks could “remain massively and permanently involved” in providing liquidity to the banking system.
Open Europe’s Vincenzo Scarpetta is quoted by Italian business daily
Il Sole 24 Ore as saying, “The FTT proposed by the European Commission could drive up borrowing costs for both governments and the private sector, at a time when Italy can least afford it.”
City AM, the
Times’ Business Editor Ian King, the
Telegraph and
Guardian live blogs, Spanish daily
El País and Spanish news agencies
EFE and
Europa Press credit Open Europe for
publishing on its blog the exclusive leaked memo highlighting the eleven participating countries’ major concerns about the FTT.
Bloomberg also features the memo obtained by Open Europe. The
Telegraph quotes Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson and Austrian daily
Kurierquotes Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel discussing the memo.
Open Europe blog Open Europe blog 2 WSJ: Review & Outlook EUobserver Il Sole 24 Ore El País EFEEuropa Press Kurier Telegraph Guardian: Live blog City AM Times: King Bloomberg BundesbankSpain’s unemployment rate hit a new record of 27.16% in the first quarter of 2013. The number of unemployed people has reached above 6 million for the first time, notes El País.El País El Mundo Expansión FAZEnrico Letta, deputy leader of Italy’s centre-left Democratic Party, was appointed the new Italian Prime Minister yesterday. Letta could disclose the names of ministers over the weekend, after a round of talks with the other political parties. Open Europe’s blog reaction to the appointment was cited by City AM and the Guardian’s live blog.Corriere della Sera Repubblica La Stampa City AM Guardian: Live blog FT WSJ WSJ 2 IHT Les Echos La Tribune FAZ FAZ: Frankenberger Süddeutsche Süddeutsche: Bachstein DWNOpen Europe’s event featuring Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon MP on how to cut the burden of EU regulations, where he said the Government had “effectively ended” the gold-plating of EU laws in the UK, is cited by the BBC. A video summary of the event will be available on our website shortly.Open Europe event Open Europe video BBCOpen Europe’s twitter feed @OpenEurope featured in City AM’s ‘best of twitter’.City AMTrust in the EU hits all-time low in six biggest member statesNew Eurobarometer figures published exclusively in the
Guardian show that since the outbreak of the financial crisis, trust in the EU has fallen to record levels in its six biggest member states. Between May 2007 and November 2012 the proportion of people saying they tended not to trust the EU as an institution increased from 18% to 42% in Poland, from 28% to 53% in Italy, from 41% to 56% in France, from 36% to 59% in Germany, from 49% to 69% in the UK and from 23% to 72% in Spain.
Guardian Spiegel EUobserverIn a letter to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and all other European leaders, David Cameron has urged Europe to crack down on tax evasion.FTSwiss government re-imposes restrictions on EU workersSwitzerland is to renew restrictions on immigration from eight central and eastern EU countries for twelve months from May. The Swiss government says the quotas could be extended to 17 more EU countries from June. When it signed up to EU freedom of movement rules in 1999, Switzerland claimed the right to enact a “safeguard clause” if the annual number of workers from countries including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, exceeds a certain number. EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton has criticised the move, saying the measures are in violation of the free movement agreement because they distinguish between groups of member states
EUobserver Süddeutsche BBC Euractiv EC statementThe Telegraph reports that the EU’s External Action Service has requested a 4.1% increase in its budget for 2014, over twice the rate of inflation. Meanwhile, the Times reports that the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee criticised EU Foreign Policy Chief Baroness Catherine Ashton, for running a complex, “top-heavy operation”.Times EUobserver TelegraphGreece’s biggest union for state-employed workers will stage a rally outside the Greek parliament on Sunday as MPs meet to approve plans to lay off 15,000 workers. Separately, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos told MPs yesterday that Greece will renew its long-standing demands for war-time reparations from Germany.Kathimerini WSJ EUobserverHome Secretary Theresa May yesterday told MPs that the UK has signed a new treaty with Jordan that would allow for the deportation of Abu Qatada – a move blocked by the Strasbourg based European Court of Human Rights – but added, “We should look at all the options and that should include leaving the jurisdiction of the court altogether.”MailEUobserver reports that MEPs on the Civil Liberties Committee have rejected proposals for EU airline passenger data sharing due to concerns that personal data – including names, addresses and credit card details – could be shared in cases defined as a “serious crime” rather than terrorist investigations as originally intended.EUobserver Welt
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