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New on the Open Europe Blog Hollande goes on the offensive - Two years to achieve political union in Europe Open Europe Blog EU Referendum Bill faces many hurdles Open Europe Blog Where do EU member states stand on bank bail-in plans?  Open Europe Blog
Daily Press Summary Hollande: Eurozone economic government and “political union” within two years; Die Welt: Hollande needs Merkel “as a punching bag” At a press conference yesterday, French President François Hollande said the eurozone should have an “economic government” – which should meet once a month and be headed by a full-time president. He reiterated calls for Eurobonds and for the eurozone to have its own “budgetary capacity”. Hollande also said he would push for “political union” in Europe and gave himself “two years to achieve” this objective. According to Hollande, “What hits Europe is the recession, provoked by austerity policies, that affects all eurozone countries.” Sascha Lehnartz, Paris correspondent for Die Welt, argues that Hollande’s “notorious rant” against German austerity policy is tactical as he needs German Chancellor Angela Merkel “as a punching bag” in order to release the growing domestic political pressure. Open Europe blog Guardian Guardian: Leader Le Figaro Les Echos La Tribune Le Monde El PaísSüddeutsche FAZ FAZ: Frankenberger FT Welt Mail Welt: Lehnartz In an op-ed piece for E!Sharp, discussing Open Europe’s recent report on the topic, Nina Schick writes that, with the help of like-minded countries, the UK should use a quirk in the EU treaties to make a new push to deregulate the European services market. “This is a move that will give a permanent, and desperately needed, boost of almost €300bn to the crisis-stricken EU economy,” Nina argues. Open Europe research: Services Liberalisation E!Sharp: Schick On his Telegraph blog, Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson argues that the EU referendum debate over the last week has “arguably strengthened Cameron’s hand in Europe.” However, he says, “the Tory party must be very careful not to turn into the Don Quixote of EU politics, fighting windmills rather than the many problems within the EU itself.” Telegraph blogs: Persson Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson is quoted by financial news site Quartz discussing the impact of EU financial regulation on the City of London and the City’s future as a global financial centre. Open Europe research: EU financial regulation Quartz A new YouGov poll for the Times has found that only 17% believe David Cameron feels strongly about his European strategy, with 64% believing he is motivated by political tactics. This belief was shared by Conservative voters, albeit only by a margin of 45% to 44%. The poll also found that voters believed Labour leader Ed Miliband placed calculation ahead of conviction on Europe by 52% to 20%.Times Conservative Home FT Telegraph Mail Express Sun Independent: Rentoul Guardian: CridlandEconomist: Leader Telegraph: Mandelson Bild reports that tensions are growing between the ECB and the Bundesbank ahead of the German Constitutional Court’s ruling in June on the legality of the ECB’s OMT bond-buying programme. According to the paper, it is believed in ECB circles that there are some in the Bundesbank who are “genuine euro-opponents”.Bild Economist: Charlemagne Cyprus considers selling natural gas reserves to help its economyKathimerini reports that Cyprus is considering pre-selling some of its natural gas reserves in order to raise funds quickly to help ease its economic crisis. Meanwhile, details released by the Central Bank of Cyprus yesterday show that, at least on paper, the restructured Bank of Cyprus has a tier one capital ratio of 13%. Separately, a new Fitch survey of investors in the eurozone found that 80% expect the Cyprus bail-in model to be used in other countries. Kathimerini Cyprus Mail City AM Piero Longo, one of Silvio Berlusconi’s lawyers, said yesterday that if Berlusconi’s ban from holding public office for tax fraud were upheld by Italy’s Supreme Court, “The [Italian] government would probably fall one second before the ban.” ADNKronos Economist Il Fatto Quotidiano TGcom 24 A new Public Issue poll for SKAI and Kathimerini puts Greece’s left-wing SYRIZA on 28%, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy on 27.5%, far-right Golden Dawn on 11.5% and PASOK on 6.5%. Meanwhile, 49% of respondents said they believed none of the leading parties are capable of tackling the economic crisis.Kathimerini The European Banking Authority (EBA) announced yesterday that it has delayed its latest round of stress tests until 2014 to allow the ECB and other EU national regulators to perform a full ‘asset quality review’ in an attempt to reveal the true strength of bank balance sheets in Europe.Bloomberg FT The German Bundestag has approved Croatia’s EU entry, clearing the last formal hurdle for the country to join the EU on 1 July 2013. Reuters Süddeutsche The FT reports that the new EU regulations aimed at harmonising and increasing competition in the market for securities settlement could be finalised this summer. FT Air China and Air India are among the ten Chinese and Indian airlines named by the European Commission as facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from EU airports for refusing to comply with the EU’s CO2 emissions rules.IHT The WSJ reports on growing trade tensions between the EU and China in the wake of EU plans to launch a probe into imports of Chinese mobile telecommunications products and the existing investigation into solar panels. WSJ Le Monde