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Daily Press Summary Downing Street indicates ministers will be allowed free vote on EU referendum amendment  Backbench Conservative MPs have tabled an amendment to the motion approving the Queen’s Speech expressing “regret” that the legislative package did not contain an EU referendum bill. Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister is “relaxed” about the prospect of a vote on the amendment next Tuesday, which would be largely symbolic, indicating that ministers might be allowed to support it, although Mr Cameron will himself be out of the country. The Telegraph notes that following next week’s debate, backbenchers also intend to table a private members’ bill on an EU referendum. No 10 sources indicated that MPs and ministers would be free to vote for that bill as well, raising the prospect of the Commons voting on laws to provide a referendum in the next Parliament.  Meanwhile, former Conservative Chancellor Lord Lamont said yesterday, “I think the economic advantages of the EU are vastly overstated. I think we could manage on our own as Switzerland does. But I think it is worth one final attempt to renegotiate our relationship.” In an interview with theGuardian, former Conservative Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said, “It is grossly premature to assume that the Prime Minister's renegotiation will not succeed…the signs since his Bloomberg speech of the likely reaction of his European colleagues so far is positive rather than negative.” In the Times, former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling argues that the UK must stay in the EU, while, in the FT, Martin Wolf writes, “The case for exit is not close to proven.”  Open Europe blog Mail Telegraph Telegraph 2 BBC Times Times 2 FT FT 2 Sun Express Conservative Home Independent Guardian City AM Guardian 2 Economist Times: Darling FT: Wolf Guardian: Toynbee The Greek unemployment rate reached a record high of 27% in February with youth unemployment hitting a staggering 64.2%. In Portugal, the unemployment rate for the first quarter of this year hit 17.7%, up from 16.9% in the last quarter of 2012.  Kathimerini FT Jornal de Negócios Le Monde La Tribune Irish times  On his Rzeczpospolita blog, Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki argues that further liberalisation of the EU services sector, which Open Europe’s new report shows would boost EU GDP by €294bn (2.3%), would be a good way for non-euro states like Poland and the UK to engage constructively in setting the EU agenda. Open Europe research Rzeczpospolita: Swidlicki Slovenia yesterday announced a new package of measures aimed at helping the country avoid a eurozone bailout. The measures include increasing VAT and selling off 15 state companies but the government resisted implementing a ‘crisis tax’.  WSJ FAZ Süddeutsche Spiegel La Tribune El País Irish Times Euractiv European Voice BBC  Spain successfully sold €4.57bn worth of government bonds yesterday at lower cost than previous sales. The sale means Spain has now issued 48% of the debt targeted to be sold this year. Separately, the Spanish government has decided to postpone the adoption of a package of reforms and cuts affecting the education sector, following protests against the plans.  WSJ El País El Mundo El País 2  In an interview with Polskie Radio on the future of the EU and on UK-EU relations, Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki argued that the solution to many of Europe’s problems would be greater economic and political decentralisation, as the one-size fits all approach of Brussels has contributed to the current economic malaise and disconnect between EU elites and citizens.No link  The Mail reports that British tourists have been urged by consumer groups not to rely on the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which is supposed to give all EU citizens access to state medical care in member countries, because clinics in cash-strapped EU nations are refusing to treat them.  Mail  In an op-ed piece in FAZ, German economist and Open Europe Berlin board member, Carl Christian von Weizsäcker argues that an appreciation of the euro would cause a massive shift of jobs away from Germany.Open Europe Berlin FAZ  Speaking at yesterday’s Global Investment Conference German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned that the stimulus provided by central banks around the world was causing “critical problems” and that they must strive to “reduce global liquidity”. Separately, he also looked to calm fears over the Financial Transaction Tax, saying, “it is not a major problem” this year or next year.  WSJ Guardian Live Blog UKTI Reuters Times  The Irish Independent reports that, according to a new study, 308,000 Irish men and women have moved overseas in search of work in the past four years, and half of young people aged under 24 have considered emigrating.Irish Independent FAZ’s economics editor Heike Göbel argues that France has intentionally avoided consolidating its budget, and that the extension it has been given to do so is not justifiable. “It is unfair to denigrate these [consolidating] measures as ‘austerity dogma’”, she says. “Monetary union cannot be built upon hope.”FAZ: Goebel Italian prosecutors have requested that Silvio Berlusconi stand trial for corruption. Berlusconi is accused of bribing centre-left Senator Sergio De Gregorio to defect to the centre-right and ‘sabotage’ the government led by Romano Prodi – which fell in 2008 after less than two years in office.Repubblica

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