Juncker: impossible to adopt the Lisbon Treaty next year
Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, said yesterday that the Lisbon Treaty, rejected by Irish voters three months ago, appears unlikely to come into effect until January 2010 at the earliest. His statement marked the first time a prominent EU leader has acknowledged it would be impossible to adopt the Treaty next year. The WSJ quotes Junker saying, "If I were the Irish prime minister, I wouldn't hold another referendum right now". EUobserver also quotes him saying "Given the economic crisis we're living in, given the confidence that's lacking, given that governments are increasingly unpopular all over Europe, organising a referendum around a European treaty is a dangerous road to take," he also said according to EUobserver.
EUBusiness reports that there are currently two schools of thought on how to proceed. The first, supported by France and Germany, is to press Dublin to hold a fresh vote ahead of the European elections, with voters given extra reassurances, so as to bring the EU out of its gridlock. The other camp, which includes the Austrians, the Czechs and the Swedes, says that pushing Ireland into a new referendum early next year risks another massive 'no' vote and an even bigger mess for Europe.
According to the Irish Times French President Nicolas Sarkozy still hopes Taoiseach Brian Cowen will be able to provide a solution to the EU's "Lisbon dilemma" at the December summit. According to EU sources, he is considering making a second visit to Dublin in early December. Most EU diplomats, MEPs and Commission officials now believe the earliest possible date that Cowen may agree to hold a second vote on Lisbon is October 2009. This would enable the Lisbon Treaty to enter into force before a British general election in early to mid-2010. However, the Conservative Party has vowed to hold a referendum in Britain on the Lisbon Treaty if the Government has not managed to ratify it by then.
The Irish Times also reports that French MEP and close Sarkozy aide Alain Lamassoure has said that the French fear a snowball effect if the Irish government delays too long. "The Polish president may not sign the law ratifying the treaty. The Czechs could decide not to submit ratification of the treaty to their newly re-elected senate, and in the meanwhile the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who is worn out, may call an early election. If he is replaced by David Cameron, the latter might review the ratification of the treaty." Mr Lamassoure's conclusion is that "if Irish ratification is not legally completed by June, there will be no more Lisbon Treaty. And in the European elections, the Eurosceptics will triumph."
WSJ EUobserver AFP EU Business Irish Times Irish Times - Lamassoure Le Figaro Le Monde
Britain seeks to revise EU climate package
The UK is seeking to radically increase the number of 'permits to pollute' that can be imported from outside the EU in order to meet EU targets for emissions reductions. Such a move would be controversial because of longstanding concerns over the credibility of the system used for trading international carbon permits - the UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), arranged under the Kyoto Protocol. It allows rich countries to offset some of their emissions reductions by purchasing carbon credits which help developing countries get clean technology. However, various reports suggest that between 20% and 60% of CDM projects do not save additional CO2.
The leaked document (a so-called "non-paper", discussed between UK Government departments but not yet stated policy) argues: "There are many good reasons why we should support increased access to project (CDM) credits."
Caroline Lucas, MEP and leader of the Green Party, said: "The British government is trying to buy its way out of climate change targets using unreliable credits from abroad. It shows how much of the political talk on climate is empty rhetoric".
Le Monde notes that EU member states are deeply divided on the climate and energy package, which will be discussed in detail next month. It quotes a top Commission official as saying "The atmosphere is much more difficult than it was in March 2007, when the economic environment was better".
Will the EU Commission stay out of HBOS-Lloyds TSB merger?
The FT reports that lawyers have said that the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB is unlikely to face problems from European Commission competition authorities, because the British focus of both banks would mean Brussels had no jurisdiction.
Andrew Lilico from Europe Economics writes on Conservative Home, "I wonder, in practice, how content the European Commission would be with not being involved, especially when the powers of national competition authorities have been so summarily over-ruled. If, in due course, a smaller UK mortgage company - or, perhaps, a mortgage company in another EU Member State if Lloyds-HBOS were to be tempted to enter there - were to complain to the Commission or even the European Court of Justice, might we find that today's UK government assurances to Lloyds TSB and HBOS were not worth the paper on which they were written?"
The EUreferendum blog argues that "Whatever the media might report, this deal is not done until it has been approved by the EU - specifically DG Competition."
FT Conservative Home Lilico EUreferendum
Would Steinmeier steer a more pro-Russian course as Chancellor?
The IHT notes that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder - now an executive on a Russian-German energy consortium dominated by Gazprom - has roundly criticised the United States on several fronts, warning NATO against offering membership to Georgia and opposing Pentagon plans to base its anti-ballistic missile shield in Eastern Europe. "Europe should accept that Russia, just like any other country, must defend its security interests," Schröder said.
German media close to the Social Democrats have reported that Schröder played a role in persuading Frank-Walter Steinmeier to stand against Angela Merkel. Steinmeier was Chief of Staff of Schröder's office when he was Chancellor, between 1998 and 2005. During that time, he was intimately involved in devising a foreign policy of forging particularly close relations with Russia and China while weakening ties with the United States, the article notes.
BBC Today IHT-Rice IHT-Schroder
Stephen Wall: UK must abandon 'island mentality' in EU
PA notes that a Chatham House report by Sir Stephen Wall - former Europe adviser to Tony Blair - argues that Britain must abandon its "island mentality" and "sterile" debate over EU membership, and instead focus on shaping "the Union's future policies". The report, published today, also argues that, "An EU which comprises such a large and diverse membership makes impossible, both politically and practically, the level of centralisation of power within supranational EU institutions in Brussels that a super-state would require."
Wheeler to challenge Cameron to take more assertive stance on EU
PA reports that Conservative party donor Stuart Wheeler has challenged David Cameron to take a more assertive stance on the EU, and has warned that failure to do so could lead to voters turning their backs on the party in the 2009 elections for the European Parliament. In a speech at University College London today, Wheeler will call on Cameron to write the promise of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty into his party's manifesto and demand a promise that if the Treaty has already entered into law when and if the Conservatives come in to office, they will conduct an "immediate and massive" renegotiation of the UK's relationship with the EU.
Mann and Matsukata: The US' growing hostility toward free trade has left the EU as the lone defender of the world trading order
In the Wall Street Journal Erika Mann and Nao Matsukata look at how the US' recent reneging on WTO commitments may affect EU businesses. Citing the US' withdrawal from obligations to open its multibillion-dollar online gaming market as an example, they argue that Europe's biggest concern should be that US protectionism of this kind "opens the door for similar brinkmanship by other countries". China has already gained leverage from Washington's selective rejection of global trade rules, by borrowing arguments from Washington in its defence against WTO litigation over its inadequate protection of intellectual property, an issue the EU cares greatly about.
EU states signal end to import duties on footwear
More than half the EU's member states voted yesterday to end emergency import duties of 16.5 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes, complicating a looming decision for Peter Mandelson, European Trade Commissioner, who will have to decide by October 4 whether to extend the measures.
Commission targets inflated EU fishing fleet
EUobserver reports that the European Commission has called for an immediate shake up of EU fisheries policy as both the ecological balance of oceans and the sector's economic profitability are at stake, with overfishing identified as the number one problem.
EU seeks to increase food aid for Europe's poor
EUobserver reports that due to recent increases in food prices, the EU has announced it is to boost its food aid scheme for the poor by 70 percent, to roughly 500 million euros.
No comments:
Post a Comment