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Theresa May to announce EU crime and justice opt-out this week
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EU Referendum: Now a question of when not if?
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Doves dominate as central banks show the way ahead in Europe 
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Daily Press Summary

UK to opt out of EU crime and justice laws but seek to keep European Arrest Warrant, Europol and Eurojust 
Theresa May will today announce to MPs that the Government plans to opt out of 133 EU crime and policing measures but will seek to opt back in to about 35. The Guardian reports that the UK will seek to opt back in to Europol, the EU-wide intelligence sharing agency which co-ordinates police investigation, and Eurojust, which oversees judicial co-operation across the EU. May will also set out plans to opt back into a reformed European Arrest Warrant, including a new proportionality test to ensure that British citizens cannot be deported to other EU states for relatively minor offences. 

In her statement, May will announce that parliament will be given a vote next week on the government's proposals. This is designed to strengthen the hand of ministers who will have to negotiate with the European Commission and other member states. In its January 2012 report, ‘An unavoidable choice’, Open Europe was the first to recommend that the Government take the bock opt-out, a conclusion subsequently backed by 102 backbench Conservative MPs in a letter to the Telegraph
Open Europe blog Open Europe research Open Europe research 2 Times Telegraph Guardian 

Writing in the Evening Standard, Gerard Lyons, new Open Europe board member and chief economic adviser to London Mayor Boris Johnson, argues, “If Europe behaves like a prison that keeps us trapped, then we should be outside. If, however, it is like a fortress — a beacon of strength in a changing world economy — then we should be in. Our renegotiation with Europe will help determine which it is.”
Standard 

Eurozone agrees to release Greek bailout funds but in separate instalments 
At their meeting yesterday, eurozone finance ministers approved the release of the next €6.8bn in bailout funds for Greece. It will be disbursed in separate instalments with the eurozone providing €2.5bn this month and €500m in October. Eurozone central banks will provide €1.5bn and €500m at the same time by releasing profits from their holdings of Greek government bonds, while the IMF is expected to release €1.8bn later this month as well. The deal also comes with strict requirements on Greece including: placing 12,500 civil servants in the mobility scheme (where they receive reduced pay) within the next few weeks, doubling this number by the end of the year, laying-off 15,000 civil servants by next year and implementing stringent tax and healthcare reforms. The Greek government is set to try and pass the reforms through parliament in the coming days. 

In an interview with Handelsblatt, France’s Europe Minister Thierry Repentin says it would be “easier if the euro rescue fund [ESM] was already able to directly recapitalise Greek banks”, adding that it will be necessary to “support Greece as of 2014 with funds from the new seven-year EU [budget]”. 
Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Kathimerini 3 FT CityAM WSJ EUobserver Reuters Reuters Deutschland IHTGuardian Le Figaro La Tribune El Mundo Handelsblatt FAZ FAZ 2 Süddeutsche Süddeutsche: GammelinWelt 

The SPD’s Chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrück yesterday criticised the EU Commission for overstepping its remit, claiming that “the Commission has probably 18 Commissioners too many who seek to justify their right to exist by arrogating competencies. The Commission must be dissuaded from trying to regulate everything in detail.” 
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Writing on Conservative Home, Fresh Start co-chair Andrea Leadsom argues that “there are significant benefits in cooperating in certain policy areas, in deepening and widening the Single Market, and in leading the world to establish global free trade. But the principle of ever-closer union is flawed”. 
Conservative Home: Leadsom 

The Sun reports that the UK is likely to face a £975m bill when a £6.3bn increase to the 2013 EU budget is agreed today under qualified majority voting. A Treasury spokesman said, “The UK does not support this.” 
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The Commission will tomorrow release its proposal for a single resolution authority to provide funding and oversight to wind up failing banks in the eurozone banking union. According to the latest draft, the Commission will propose giving itself the majority of the power and the ability to overrule national financial regulators. The proposal also sees all eurozone banks paying into a central resolution fund. 
FT 

The IMF has suggested that the ECB should consider “further [interest] rate cuts, including negative deposit rates, [which] would support demand across the euro area and address deflationary pressures.”
Reuters WSJ 

El Mundo has obtained and published a page from the original secret accounting books held by Luis Bárcenas, the former treasurer of Spain’s ruling Partido Popular. The document appears to confirm previous allegations that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy received illegal extra payments in cash between 1997 and 1999 – when he was serving as a minister of José María Aznar’s cabinet. 
El Mundo El País El Mundo 2

El País reports that ECB President Mario Draghi is not confident that the recent aid given to small and medium-sized Spanish firms will be effective in the long-term. 
El Pais

In an interview with the WSJ, Cypriot Finance Minister Harris Georgiades called for capital controls to be lifted, as they “are prolonging a situation that hinders economic activity and, if prolonged, will drive Cyprus’s economy in an unbearable situation.”
WSJ Cyprus Mail

The Times reports that the European Commission is planning to finance an “independent” news outlet run by professional journalists at a cost of €3.2m a year. The online outlet shall offer “a new voice and new perspectives on EU affairs,” says the bid invitation to prospective contractors. 
Times 

According to new Ernst & Young calculations, eurozone unemployment is set to increase to over 20 million in 2014 – a new record-high. Meanwhile, Spiegel Online reports on a survey showing that unemployment is the largest worry across Europe.
Welt Welt 2 Spiegel Online 


The Express reports that the European External Action Service, led by Baroness Ashton, employs over 3,000 EU officials across 120 countries, costing £440m to run in 2012.
Express 
 

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