Europe
"80 percent of legislation affecting business comes from EU", says Commissioner
Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has said that "over 80 percent of all legislation affecting the business community is adopted by majority voting at EU level." The former Irish Finance Minister made the admission at a Yes campaign rally in Dublin.
In an analysis piece in the FT Quentin Peel looks at what EU politicians' response will be if the Irish vote no. He sketches out four options - add a new protocol, rewrite the whole treaty, go ahead without Ireland and finally - abandon the Treaty. He reports that many countries would be nervous about how Gordon Brown would react and predicts that they will be eager to maintain a united front. He quotes one EU diplomat saying, "Quite a lot of people in Brussels might be relieved. There are not a huge number of fans of the (Lisbon) treaty. A lot of the small members hate the permanent (council) president. Others worry about the cost of the EU diplomatic service. And some think we have given away too many powers to the (European) parliament. There may not be as many tears shed as we think."
Commission Press Release Times Times 2 FT Evening Standard
Taxpayers to fund £3m EU chat site which only MEPs will be able to use in full
The Telegraph and Sun report that the European Parliament is to create its own social networking website at a cost of £3.2 million to taxpayers. Creating and running the new service will cost more than £4,000 for each MEP over the next 18 months, even though many already belong to free networking sites such as Facebook or Bebo. Despite the use of taxpayers' cash, much of MyParl.eu will not be visible to the public, with its networking "restricted to parliamentarians".
David Miliband 'misled MPs over EU embassies'
The Conservatives have accused Foreign Secretary David Miliband of misleading the House of Commons over secret negotiations to set up a European diplomatic service under the new Lisbon Treaty. Talks on the creation of the European External Action Service are now at an advanced stage, contradicting statements to MPs made by the Foreign Secretary, argue the Conservatives.
Wolf - Britain better off outside euro
In the FT Martin Wolf criticises those who are beginning to renew their calls for the UK to join the euro. He argues, "remaining outside the euro preserves the safety valve of currency flexibility, while losing nothing in economic competitiveness. Being outside has not even hurt London's position as a financial centre."
Wind power costs to increase, jeopardising EU renewables targets
The construction of offshore wind farms is becoming more costly, creating further problems for the EU in meeting its renewable energy target of 20% by 2020. An analysis from Cambridge Energy Research Associates (Cera) has found that the capital cost of offshore turbines is likely to increase by a fifth in the next two to three years, from 2,300 euros ($4600) per kilowatt to 2800 euros.
"The sector could be at risk, given ongoing increases in capital costs, especially if government subsidies do not keep pace," said Matt Brown, senior director and head of European power at Cera. This would make it "more challenging" to meet the target proposed by the European Commission.
Biofuels behind one third of global food price rises say OECD and FAO
El Pais reports that the OECD and the FAO have estimated that biofuels will contribute to around a third of food price rises over the next decade, contradicting the previous claims of the EU Commission that biofuels have no impact on food prices. The authors also argue that the supposed benefits of biofuels in fighting global warming have been overstated in the past.
President of the World Bank Group Robert Zoellick has a piece in the FT arguing that "we need action in the US and Europe to ease subsidies, mandates and tariffs on biofuels that are derived from corn and oilseeds."
Corbett plan to backfire?
On his blog Dan Hannan predicts that Richard Corbett's plan to make it harder to form eurosceptic groups in the European Parliament will backfire and will actually make it easier for the Conservatives to form a new grouping.
French parliament singles out Turkey for compulsory referendums on future enlargements
The Economist has a special report on EU enlargement, arguing that it is the Union's biggest success. A leader argues that "EU enlargement scare stories about enlargement have led to false alarms. Several studies confirm that the club functions as well with 25 (now 27) members as it did with 15. Cheap labour helps hosts as well as new members." It argues however that by naming an accession date for Bulgaria and Romania, the EU lost leverage in forcing reforms in these countries. It argues that to suggest that countries such as Ukraine or Turkey be kept out indefinitely would be a huge mistake, and would fuel instability and hostility on the EU's doorstep.
Meanwhile, EUobserver reports that the lower house of the French parliament yesterday approved an amendment to constitutional reforms that could make it compulsory for France to hold a referendum on large countries joining the EU, in a move seemingly targeting Turkey.
Economist leader Economist special report EUobserver
The Express reports that the French EU Presidency is drawing up EU wide plans to return unlawful migrants to their country of origin "almost immediately".
El Pais reports that Italy will today approve special powers to deal with the so-called "gypsy emergency", including censuses of inhabitants of camps. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said "naturally, we don't want to enter with bulldozers and destroy the camps, but we need to find a solution."
The German Government has warned the EU Commission not to challenge it on the issue of its law restricting foreign takeovers of its largest car company - the so-called VW law.
The Assembly of European Regions is campaigning for the word "subsidiarity" to be in more dictionaries.
World
Iran creating enriched uranium faster than expected
The FT reports that Iran's nuclear programme is progressing faster than previously estimated. During the course of the next year Iran is likely to build up a stockpile of enriched uranium that in theory could be turned into enough fissile material for a bomb in a matter of months.
Bronwen Maddox argues in the Times that instability in the Israeli government and the 'demoralisation' of President Bush on the issue have led to a drop in the likelihood of any military strike in the short-term - but the issue of Iran will be the first major test for the US's next President.
UK
Labour at all time poll low
A YouGov poll in the Telegraph puts the Conservatives on 47 percent, Labour on 23 percent and the Lib Dems on 18 percent. Labour support is now at its lowest since polling began. Even under Michael Foot support for the Labour Party never dipped below 23.5 percent.
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