Europe
EU fails to have its accounts signed off for the 14th consecutive year -
Might not be signed off before 2020
European Voice reports that Siim Kallas, the EU Commissioner for audit, has announced that the European Court of Auditors will not sign off the EU's 2007 accounts - marking the 14th consecutive year in which the EU has failed to have its accounts cleared. Auditors will say they found only a slight improvement in the legality and regularity of payments between the financial years 2006 and 2007. The Court is to publish its annual report on the EU's accounts on 10 November, but Kallas will brief his fellow Commissioners on 23 September that another negative verdict is imminent.
Speaking to MEPs, Kallas admitted that there were "real and unquestioned" weaknesses in 17 areas including research policy, the European refugee fund, structural funds, external actions and rural development.
For the Common Agricultural Policy - which amounted to 12.4 bn euros in 2007 - the auditors found that rural development expenditure, was "particularly prone to errors" because of the complexity of rules for complying with the programme. For the Structural and Cohesion Funds, worth 45.5bn euros in 2007, the auditors found that there had been an improvement, with 46% of projects free from error, compared to 31% in 2006. But in terms of financial impact the situation is almost unchanged. The Court estimated that 11% of the total amount reimbursed to member states should not have been reimbursed, compared to 12% (or 4 billion euros) in 2006.
With the Court's verdict, MEPs have concluded that the European Commission will miss one of the declared objectives of José Manuel Barroso - to have its accounts signed off. Jan Mulder, a Dutch Liberal MEP and a member of the Budgetary Control Committee is quoted describing the improvements made under the Barroso Commission as "extremely slow. At this rate we'll achieve a positive DAS in 20 years' time."
Weak pound to increase Britain's EU budget contribution by billions -
EU ignores Lisbon vote and initiates spending spree
The Telegraph reports that due to the weakness of the pound against the euro, Britain's price for membership of the EU has increased substantially. In 2005 Tony Blair committed Britain to paying 57 billion euros to the EU budget between 2007 and 2013. Based on the exchange rate at the time, this meant a total of £39 billion but due to the pound's recent decline in value the contribution now amounts to £45 billion. Open Europe's Neil O'Brien is quoted in the Telegraph's article, stating that "the value of our contribution is already pretty big. It's not clear we get good value for money. The EU spends too much on the Common Agricultural Policy and regional policy that has been shown to be ineffective". He adds, "Now we're likely to pay even more - this should make us consider whether we get a good deal".
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported that "The European Union appears to be ignoring Ireland's No vote on the Lisbon treaty and pressing ahead with massive spending increases to implement its provisions." It quotes Neil O'Brien as saying, "The EU is pressing ahead as if nothing happened, and is doing all the things it was planning to do under the Lisbon treaty anyway. They are arrogantly assuming that they will be able to force the treaty through, regardless of the Irish No vote."
Saturday Telegraph Sunday Times
Commission to propose harmonised maternity leave rules
EUobserver looks at the Commission's proposal to extend the minimum length of maternity leave from fourteen to eighteen continuous weeks, including full payment of wages or salary. It is reported that under the proposal, a mother would be obliged to take compulsory maternity leave of at least six weeks after childbirth, with the remainder being taken before or after labour, depending on parents' own preference. The time of leave could also be extended in special circumstances, such as premature childbirth. In addition, the plan would give mothers the right to return to "the same job or to an equivalent post and terms and conditions," while it would be more difficult for an employer to dismiss them within one year of the end of maternity leave. An employer would also be "obliged to consider" a mother's request to adapt her working patterns and hours to the new family situation. The Commission will officially present the proposal next month.
Fine Gael warns it won't back Lisbon vote in the Dail -
Timmins wants to scrap 'fair referendum' rules
The Irish Independent reports that the main opposition party in Ireland, Fine Gael, has said it will not back any plan involving ratifying parts of the Lisbon Treaty through the Dail. FG foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins is quoted saying, "It would be most unlikely we would support any of it going through the Dail. This is not something we would see as an option. My personal view is I don't see this as a runner at all."
He also said that the Irish government should look at legislation in relation to the McKenna judgment on referendums, which prevents the government using exchequer money to push an argument in favour or against any referendum, "No matter what the argument might be, 50pc of the time in TV and radio debates has to be given to the opponent and the Government is prevented from giving resources. The McKenna judgment strikes me as an unhealthy state of affairs," he said.
Meanwhile, the Irish Independent also reports that the date for the local and European elections in Ireland will be June 11, 2009. It is noted that the relatively early June date adds to the belief that there will not be another referendum on Lisbon-related questions before autumn of next year.
Irish Independent Irish Independent
On Friday EU Finance Ministers appointed Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker for a third term as President of the Eurogroup. According to the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, Juncker actually wanted to be EU President, a plan which has been thwarted by Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.
Coulisses de Bruxelles De Standaard
Lib Dems abandon commitment to euro
Several papers report that the Liberal Democrats have U-turned on their policy of supporting Britain's entry into the euro. In an interview with the Observer, Treasury Spokesperson Vince Cable dropped the party's commitment to holding a referendum on Britain's entry to the euro, saying it would be pointless to hold one as it was "perfectly obvious" it "could not be won." He said: "I sometimes use the visual image that it is a ship that has sailed out of the harbour. There is no point in jumping into the sea and swimming after it."
Implying that he and his party were wrong to have pushed for entry into the euro for the past decade, Cable suggested that handing control of interest rates to the European Central Bank may have contributed to property price "bubbles" in some eurozone countries, including Spain. He said: "There are various things that we have learnt about euroland, and about the eurozone, which are clearly problems that need to be resolved."
He denied that the party had abandoned its core pro-EU beliefs. But in what the Observer called "an extraordinary shift," he said it would campaign for a more decentralised, less bureaucratic EU in next year's European elections. He said: "There are things wrong with it [the EU]. The CAP [common agricultural policy] is a complete disgrace. We think there is a lot of institutional reform that is necessary. I think when we get to the European elections next year this will be a key message."
However, PA quoted Nick Clegg saying, "Our position on the euro is absolutely unchanged. We believe that when the time is right Britain should enter the euro, that decision should be taken on the back of a recommendation by us subject to a referendum of the British people. Is it a debate for now? No. I think it's off the radar screen."
According to the Observer there was a furious response from some in the party, who predicted a stormy debate on Europe on Tuesday. Chris Davies MEP and former leader of its group in the European Parliament, said "This is a very good recipe for coming fifth in the European elections."
Mail Independent on Sunday Observer OE blog
EU fails to agree on allowing member states to lower sales tax rates
Over the weekend EU finance ministers failed to agree whether to allow specially reduced sales tax rates for services like restaurant meals or haircuts. Germany in particular remains opposed to the idea, originally proposed by France. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck fears that Germany would come under pressure to cut their VAT rates to match cuts by neighbouring countries. Steinbruck estimates that such cuts could have a budget effect of about 12bn euros each year.
AFP The Guardian Menafn FAZ
Palmer: EU trials in absentia reform will transform UK into Bulgarian and Romanian style justice system
Commenting in the Sunday Telegraph on the endorsement of the UK Government of the new proposed EU law that would force member states to recognise foreign trials in absentia, Alasdair Palmer argues: "If you are found guilty in absentia by a court in another EU state, our Government will have no option but to extradite you to serve your prison sentence there". He also argued, "That measure would be a threat to the liberty of law-abiding Britons even if every EU country had uniformly high standards of justice. No trial in absentia can be fair, and the procedure can only be justified as a last, desperate response to the most exceptional and severe conditions. (...) The idea of 'common standards of justice' across the EU is a bureaucratic fantasy". He concludes: "British justice is being transformed, under the bogus rubric of 'combating the threat of terrorism', into a system that has all the protections and all the integrity of the Romanian or Bulgarian variety."
Sunday Telegraph Open Europe Research
Angela Merkel has warned that EU climate policy plans will lead to rising unemployment
FTD The Guardian Deutsche Welle WSJ
Irish PM Brian Cowen has admitted that Ireland will break the EU's 3pc economic limit for borrowing in 2008 and 2009 - Ireland has received a form of 'preliminary permission' for deficit-funding this year.
Russia/Georgia update
The WSJ reports that Russian troops have begun pulling back from checkpoints in western Georgia ahead of a key deadline in a peace deal brokered by the European Union. The next major deadline is 1 October, by which date the EU is due to have deployed at least 200 civilian monitors into the so-called buffer zones around South Ossetia. Russian troops are committed to pull out of these buffer-zones by this point.
The FT reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that if Russia abides by its commitment to withdraw from the buffer zones, the EU will next month reverse its decision to suspend discussions with Moscow on an economic partnership pact. However, the EU's deal with Russia has been condemned by Nato's top official as "not acceptable" because it cedes too much ground to Moscow. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato's secretary-general, has taken a tougher line than Sarkozy, signalling that Nato would stand by its decision to suspend regular meetings of ambassadors from Nato and Russia as long as Russian troops remained in the two breakaway regions.
European Parliament legalises European symbols through the back door
The European Parliament has stepped up efforts to legalise the use of the European flag and hymn as official Union symbols - something that was removed from the EU Constitution. The removal of the flag and anthem has been cited as one of the few differences between the Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty.
Sam Leith argues in the Telegraph, that the "bid to put out more flags... isn't a threat, but a self-regarding waste of time and public money. (...) People cleave to the symbols that arise out of political identity; but you can't start with a set of symbols and hope to reverse-engineer an identity from them."
NRC Handelsblad Times Euractiv Telegraph comment
The EU takes measure to lend more to small firms
EUbusiness reports that at a two-day meeting in the French Riviera city of Nice European finance ministers backed plans to hike public lending to credit-starved small and mid-sized firms, hoping to give the faltering European economy a boost. The European Investment Bank will lend 30 billion euros to such firms by 2011.
EUbusiness EUobserver WSJ IHT Nu.nl
EU criticised in global IT trading agreement negotiations
The FT reports that the EU has been accused by the US, Japan and Taiwan of breaking a global IT trading agreement's zero-duty provisions by imposing import tariffs on some products, including flat-screen LCD monitors and set-top boxes. Gretchen Hamel, spokeswoman for the US trade representative, said: "if the [European Commission] is truly interested in providing duty-free treatment for IT products, it is unclear why it continues to apply duties to the ITA products that are the subject of the dispute".
An opinion poll by Sifo shows that 78 percent of Swedes think Sweden, not the EU, should decide the organisation of the country's labour market. 43 percent want a special protection for the Swedish labour market model written in to the Lisbon Treaty, versus 39 percent who are hesitant or don't know.
"The EU cannot further be enlarged without the Lisbon Treaty", says Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, while questioning the "absorption capacity of the EU" with reference to the cancellation of EU funds to Bulgaria due to irregularities.
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