Europe
Irish government's research on Lisbon 'No' vote to be published today;
Plan to deny a second referendum on most of the Treaty changes
Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin will this morning brief his Cabinet colleagues about the research commissioned by the government, looking into the reasons behind the 'No' vote to the Lisbon Treaty in the referendum in June. The research, which is conducted by polling firm Millward Brown IMS and based on opinion polls and focus groups, will be published later today, the Irish Times reports. Martin has previously said that the government will begin to map out a way forward after the publication of the research. The article notes that Taoiseach Brian Cowen will give his European counterparts an update about the options on the table at the next European Council meeting in Brussels on October 15 and 16, but is not expected to tell them of the Irish government's final response until the December meeting of the Council.
In a separate article in the paper, Senator Eugene Regan of Fine Gael argues that "Ireland and its referendum process is now an obstacle to the standard method of EU integration". He proposes that only "those elements of Lisbon which raise constitutional issues" and are not covered by previous Irish referendums, should be put to a second public vote. The rest should be ratified in the Oireachtas. He goes on to argue that if approval was not "forthcoming" in such a referendum, then Ireland should seek opt-outs.
Irish Times Irish Times-Regan Open Europe bulletin
European ministers agree to set up common asylum office
French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux yesterday announced that EU ministers meeting in Paris have decided to accelerate the establishment of a common asylum regime. He said a 'support office' would be set up in the first few months of 2009, which will work in cooperation with the UN High Commission for Refugees, and which will be in charge of collecting information on the countries of origin of asylum seekers, supporting member states in crisis situations and ensuring common training. Hortefeux said: "With this conference, Europe has reached a new stage" in the building of a common asylum regime among all EU members. Swedish Migration and Asylum Minister Tobias Billstrom said: "We are progressing very rapidly so that we can move away from the lottery that asylum currently is." The Vice President of the EU Commission, Jacques Barrot, said he has committed to revising the necessary texts to prepare for the establishment of a common regime which he hopes to get adopted before the end of 2009.
Comment: the UK has been completely opposed to this idea - it will be interesting to see whether it takes part.
Former German President: European Court of Justice systematically distorts the law
The European Court of Justice needs to be stopped from undermining national jurisdiction, former German President Roman Herzog and Lüder Gerken, the Director of the Centre for European Policy, have warned in a comment published by EUobserver, and originally by FAZ.
Several cases analysed by Mr Herzog prove, in his view, that the European Court of Justice "systematically ignores fundamental principles of the Western interpretation of law", that it "ignores the will of the legislator, or even turns it into its opposite" and "invents legal principles serving as grounds for later judgements".
Herzog describes the reasons given by the ECJ for a recent judgement on age discrimination as a "fabrication". He argues, "To put it bluntly, with this construction, which the ECJ more or less pulled out of a hat, they were acting not as part of the judicial power but as the legislature".
Herzog's comments come amid growing frustration amongst Danish leaders that a ruling by the court regarding Irish legislation covering the residency rights of non-EU citizens who are spouses of citizens, is having a knock-on effect on similar Danish legislation.
EUobserver EUobserver Herzog piece in full
EU ruling will mean higher car repair bills
The Telegraph reports that the EU Commission plans to scrap the so-called "Block Exemption", which requires car manufacturers to provide parts and computer codes to independent, often smaller garages. It is noted that the changes, to take effect in 2010, could force up the prices for car repairs and services. The hourly charge of an independent garage is £55.63 compared with £94.70 in a dealership workshop.
No link
Sarkozy irritated by presence of Barroso and Solana in Russia negotiations
Courrier International reports that Nicolas Sarkozy was visibly "irritated" yesterday by the presence of Javier Solana and Jose Barroso at his meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. According to the article he "grudgingly" accepted their presence at the negotiation table, insisting that they would not take part in the final press conference.
Jean-Pierre Jouyet: "Europe has asserted itself as a political actor"
In an interview with the Paris Métro, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet says of the Georgia crisis: "It is the first time that Europe, alone, has stopped a conflict." He said: "Europe has shown itself to be united in the conflict between Russia and Georgia. The ceasefire on 12 August and the agreement obtained on Monday by Nicolas Sarkozy constitute Europe's first big diplomatic success. It is the first time that it, alone, has stopped a conflict of this size, managed the aftermath and organised an international conference and laid the bases for a pacific solution. It is the birth, the affirmation by 27 of a European external policy, with the means of resolving a serious international conflict. Europe has weighed in, and even with regard to the US. It is going to deploy 200 observers under its own banner in Georgia. Several months ago, I would never have bet on such a thing happening in the Caucuses, near Russia. Europe has asserted itself as a political actor."
European Commission to interfere in Austrian election campaign
In the run-up to the Austrian elections on 28 September, the European Commission has unveiled a plan to counter EU criticism in Austria in a bid to challenge Austria's most influential newspaper, Kronen Zeitung, which has launched an energetic campaign against the EU following the Irish 'No' vote.
Nachrichten Die Presse Irish Times
The date for ratifying the Lisbon Treaty in the Swedish Parliament - the Riksdag - has been postponed. The new date may be sometime in December.
EU dodges question of membership for Ukraine
The EU stopped short yesterday of promising Ukraine EU membership. The EU did nonetheless promise to sign an Association Agreement with Ukraine in mid-2009. The FT reports that Ukrainian officials were left "frustrated" by the outcome. A separate article reports that a flight of foreign capital from Russia in the wake of the Georgian war is forcing the country's banks to slash lending.
According to European diplomats speaking to the FT, Washington views Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's close personal ties to Putin with suspicion, and is worried about Italy's presidency of the G8 from January . Italy has already made clear it intends to invite Mr Putin to the summit in Sardinia. "Italy is Russia's Trojan horse in Europe," said a diplomat from a former Soviet satellite state.
Times Times-Maddox EUobserver WSJ WSJ FT FT 2 FT 3 Irish Times IHT-Ukraine IHT EUobserver
EU troops in Chad not solving security problem, says Oxfam
The 3,700 EU troops deployed in Chad, Europe's largest military mission abroad, cannot effectively protect the refugees because they are not backed by an effective UN policing mission, a report released by Oxfam has said. Complaints also include the considerable amount of time between when the mission was appointed until it was actually deployed.
More EU financial regulation imminent
The FT reports that EU finance ministers gather for informal discussions in Nice over the next two days, whilst regulators and financial service industry heavyweights hold a high-level conference next door. The European Commission is expected to produce formal legislative proposals at the beginning of next month. Reuters notes that EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been working on proposals to tighten capital requirement rules for banks, greater oversight of credit rating agencies and more transparency in financial markets.
McCreevy is still opposed to tightening up regulation of hedge funds and private equity. However, the European Parliament's Economic Affairs committee is expected to adopt today a report from Danish socialist Poul Nyrup Rasmussen recommending that all financial institutions in the EU would have to set aside capital.
Friction in EU-China trade relations
The FT reports that a senior Chinese official has criticised the EU's use of anti-dumping duties to restrict the flow of cheap Chinese imports into the EU. Peter Power, the spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, reacted by asserting that "European companies are more than able to compete in the global marketplace. Anti-dumping is not about competitiveness; it is about fighting unfair trade". Meanwhile, a report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said that although European firms were "generally optimistic" about their business in the country, they expressed concerns over Chinese "economic nationalism" complaining of a lack of market access, poor transparency and inadequate protection of intellectual property rights.
Demos: EU is Conservatives' Achilles heel
The Guardian has a feature on the "New Tories", assessing their "progressive impact" in ten policy areas. On EU issues, the article notes that David Cameron's plan to block the Lisbon Treaty if it has not come in to law by the time of the general elections "would be opposed by virtually every EU leader". Think-tank Demos is quoted arguing that EU policy remains the Conservatives' "Achilles heel" in foreign affairs.
No link
The European Parliament wants to set up an international data network in order to share identity and addresses of traffic offenders.
European Commission threatens to sharpen German finance crisis
European Commissioner Neelie Kroes is pushing troubled German state bank WestLB to significantly improve its restructuring package, threatening to collect back billions of euros it received as public bailout money. If the EC executes its threat, it is reported this may spell disaster for the German economy.
Berliner Umschau FTD Forbes AHN
The Dutch central planning agency has calculated EU internal market benefits for Dutch citizens to be between 1,500 and 2,200 euro per year.
Serbia's parliament has ratified the country's EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement, a step towards EU membership.
Under pressure of an EU privacy directive, Google has to decide to halve the period in which it stores IP addresses.
Telegraaf Google blog IT Proportal
No comments:
Post a Comment