Europe
Leader of Conservative MEPs faces calls for official investigation over £450,000 he paid into his own company
The Sunday Times and today's Telegraph report that Giles Chichester, the leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, has paid £450,000 of his expenses into a family company owned by him and his wife. Over the same period since 1996, its Company Directors have received £158,938, with £47,792 paid out since 2002, when Mr Chichester and his wife were sole directors. The company also paid him £40,000 rent between 1996 and 2003 for office space at St James's Place in London, the same address given by Mr Chichester and his wife as their home address.
Neil O'Brien from Open Europe was quoted in the Sunday Times saying that "Parliament should act decisively to ensure its expenses system is not open to any form of abuse."
The Telegraph reports that Parliament sources said that it would "clearly be a conflict of interests" for an MEP to pay allowances to a company where he was a paid director. A Conservative party spokesman said: "Mr Chichester received a letter raising a potential conflict of interest 18 months ago. He replied clarifying the position but has since heard nothing from the authorities. There has been no suggestion that he has broken any rule."
Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat Euro-MP who has campaigned for greater scrutiny of the Parliament's allowances, which amount to more than £125 million a year, will press for an official investigation. "It is clearly a matter for the parliamentary authorities. Mr Chichester must explain his position."
France to propose EU-wide cap on executive bonuses
The Independent on Saturday reported that France, which takes over the Presidency of the EU on 1 July, will ask finance ministers to consider a European directive to curb "disproportionate" bonuses or golden handshakes to company bosses. French officials said Paris felt that, without such an EU-wide curb, large companies or highly paid executives would evade national curbs by exercising their right to move from one EU country to another.
Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, and president of the "Eurogroup" - the countries using the Euro - recently described steep increases in executive pay as a "social scourge".
Two thirds think Government lied over referendum
The FT and Telegraph report on a poll commissioned by Stuart Wheeler ahead of his legal challenge next week, which finds that two thirds of UK voters think the Government reneged on its promise of a referendum, and people were five to one in favour of a vote.
MEPs are to have a special train laid to make the journey from Strasbourg to Brussels - members of the public may not travel on it
The Sunday Times reported that each return journey will cost the taxpayer £158,000. Members of the public will not be allowed to travel on the high-speed Thalys train, which will replace some of the charter aircraft currently used to make the monthly journey.
An internal staff memo, seen by the Sunday Times, warns that the arrival of the train at 1.36pm in Strasbourg will "deprive colleagues of their midday break and the possibility of a proper lunch".
Referendum campaigners across Europe show solidarity with Ireland
The European Referendum Campaign organised events outside Irish Embassies in 14 EU capital cities. Open Europe arranged the London event - pictures are available here. Open Europe's Neil O'Brien had a piece in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times, looking at the arguments of the 'yes' side in Irish referendum campaign.
German MEP Jo Leinen has suggested Ireland would have to leave the EU if it voted no. However, Thomas Rupp, Director of the European Referendum Campaign said "the Irish people should vote how they want. They don't have to care about the rest of Europe on this".
The Irish Times on Saturday reported that a rift over the Lisbon Treaty is emerging between the Irish Government and SIPTU, Ireland's largest trade union. SIPTU has demanded that the Government guarantee collective bargaining rights for workers as its price for supporting the treaty. A separate article in the newspaper features the views of young Irish voters on the referendum. The implications for military neutrality are regarded as the most contentious issue.
The FT on Saturday noted that although a Yes vote is still the bookies favourite, there is growing momentum with the No side.
FT Irish Times Irish Times 2 Irish Times 3 Irish Times 4 Irish Times 5 Irish Independent Irish Times
FIFA: we will use Lisbon Treaty to put caps on foreign football players
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said he hopes new rules allowing football teams to name only five foreign players in their starting XI will be in place by the 2012-13 season. The EU has repeatedly said this would contravene its law on free movement of workers.
However, Blatter has said that the Lisbon Treaty will permit caps on foreign players. He said, "We want to use the legal basis of the Treaty of Lisbon, which acknowledges the specificity of sport and its structures and organisations".
Irish Times Scotland on Sunday PA
Mail: when will politicians face up to the EU?
A story in the Mail on Sunday highlighted the fact that British child benefit paid to foreign children living abroad "has rocketed by an astonishing 72 per cent in just nine months, to £33million a year." A leader argues "The trouble is that this is not so much of a bargain, since very few Britons seek work in Poland, and Polish welfare payments, unsurprisingly, are a lot less generous than ours. The result is that the economic advantages of immigration turn out to be a good deal less than they appear". The paper argues that, "The Tories blame Gordon Brown. But, in fact, EU rules, supposedly aimed at ensuring free movement of labour, prevent us from doing anything about this unequal arrangement."
The leader asks: "When will our mainstream politicians seriously address the enormous impact for Brussels and our freedom of manoeuvre?"
New EU haulage firm laws may cost UK £165 million
The Mail on Sunday looked at new EU competition laws for haulage firms to be phased in, eventually allowing foreign lorries to take on unlimited numbers of jobs in the UK. It is noted that the move may cost the British economy £165 million as foreign competitors use cheap fuel and unregulated labour.
No link
French plan "heaviest presidency in EU history"
The French plan to set up the institutions created by the Lisbon Treaty, agree the climate action package, EU immigration policy and moves towards an EU defence.
EU's diplomatic service is being implemented before Lisbon Treaty is ratified
Bruno Waterfield reports on the secret negotiations underway on the External Action Service on his Telegraph blog. He notes that European Commission reports are said to claim that on number of occasions Kim Darroch, the UK's permanent representative to the EU, was left to "personally agree" to French proposals, in the absence of a formal British Government position. These claims have been denied by British officials.
Prospect also looks at the implementation of the External Action Service, noting, "Preparations are discreet for now, since officials cannot take appear to be taking the ratification process for granted."
EU ombudsman: Commission transparency proposal a "step backwards"
EUobserver reports that the EU ombudsman has strongly criticised the Commission's proposal for an update of a 2001 law on document transparency, calling it a "step backwards". He said, "The commission's proposals would mean access to fewer, not more, documents". He noted that the new proposal would effectively mean that the Commission can decide what documents that must be released, and who should get access to them.
Booker: Conservatives silence on Europe has created vacuum
In the Sunday Telegraph, Christopher Booker notes that the Conservatives fear over the last ten years of addressing the question of "Europe", has created a "vacuum in our politics". He argues, "All that is left to us to argue over is "schools 'n' hospitals 'n' crime", those few policy areas that Brussels has not yet taken over. The Tories must remain silent, because the only thing that matters to them is getting into government. But when they do arrive in "government" they will get a fearful shock to find that, while they were not talking about it, most of it has departed - to that real centre of power in Brussels."
The Express reports that a study by Migrationwatch claims that there was a net migration to the UK of 2.3 million people between 1991 and 2006. The Telegraph reports that less than 10% of UK immigration is from the EU.
Conservatives attack Government for failing to show up at CAP meeting.
No Link
A leader in the FT welcomes Nicolas Sarkozy's plans for EU immigration policy
In the Times, William Rees-Mogg looks at the American Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty, arguing that a comparison between the two shows the inadequacy of the Lisbon Treaty.
World
Vladimir Putin has told Le Monde that Iran does not want nuclear weapons.
http://www.openeurope.org.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment