Open Europe press summary: 21 October 2008

Europe

EU Scrutiny Committee says Lisbon Treaty will do little to improve national parliaments' powers;
Andrew Duff: those involved in drafting the Lisbon Treaty's subsidiarity clause knew that it "was not really intended to be used"
The cross-party Commons European Scrutiny Committee has today published a report on "Subsidiarity, National Parliaments and the Lisbon Treaty." The committee concludes that "we doubt whether the Lisbon Treaty's new subsidiarity provisions about the role of national parliaments would make much practical difference to the influence presently enjoyed by the UK Parliament", and says, "we doubt the significance of the 'greater opportunities' for national parliaments to be involved in any meaningful manner in the workings of the EU."

The Committee notes that "if national parliaments trigger the yellow or orange card procedures, the decision on whether a proposal is compatible with subsidiarity will continue to rest with the EU institutions." It also notes that, "There may in future be proposals where it might be difficult to deny that collective action by the EU would be the most effective way to achieve a Treaty objective, but where a national parliament would strenuously object to the proposal because it infringes national sovereignty. If a proposal were objectionable on grounds of sovereignty alone, neither the yellow nor the orange card procedures would be available to national parliaments."

The report quotes Andrew Duff MEP, who told the Committee: "there is a danger that, in assessing the Treaty of Lisbon, national parliaments become obsessed by the early warning mechanism on subsidiarity. It was understood by those of us involved in its drafting and, then re-drafting that the mechanism, although a necessary addition to the system of governance of the Union, was not really intended to be used. It is, in Bagehot's terms, more a dignified part of the European constitutional settlement than an efficient one." Richard Corbett MEP also told the Committee: "in practice, I do not think that the 'yellow' and 'orange' card mechanisms will be extensively used."
Press release

EU climate package talks deadlocked as Germany voices concerns
Point Carbon reports that talks between environment ministers from 27 EU member states were deadlocked yesterday, as some member states held out for major revisions to the bloc's energy and climate package.

Italy's Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo is quoted by AFP as saying "The package as it stands right now is not suitable. It is untenable. Significant changes are needed."

Le Figaro notes that Germany has joined the ranks of countries holding serious reservations over the package, asking for swathes of industry to be given exemptions from having to pay for carbon permits - such as steel and cement. Austria is also said to back special conditions for energy intensive industries. The BBC notes that Germany and other countries have expressed "fears about 'carbon leakage' - the possibility of European industries moving to countries where there is little or no restriction on emitting CO2."

There is still uncertainty over the costs of the package. Rome says the plan would cost its economy around 25 billion euros each year, although the European Commission puts the figure at between 9 and 12 billion euros. Open Europe's estimate for the cost to Italy is in a similar range to that of the Commission, but does not include new electricity grid connection costs (likely to be substantial), or the knock-on effects of carbon leakage.

Italian Europe Minister Andrea Ronchi, in an interview with Corriere della Serra, argues that concerns over the EU climate and energy package have been raised across Europe, citing Open Europe's new study on the issue.
BN De Stem AFP Point Carbon Corriere della Serra IHT NY Times: Green Blog European Voice Libertad Digital DW Reuters Spiegel AFP BBC Open Europe research

De Standaard: EU legal services investigate extending Sarkozy's EU Presidency
EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso is reportedly "lying awake at night" worrying about President Sarkozy's impending departure from the EU Council Presidency. According to De Standaard, EU legal services have even been investigating whether or not it will be possible to extend Sarkozy's term to maintain "continuity".

However, the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, has told Angela Merkel that he is committed to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty before the Czech Republic takes over the EU Presidency on 1 January, reports Deutsche Welle. The Czech Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the Treaty to confirm whether or not it is compatible with the Czech constitution. Topolanek admitted it would be "very complicated" to talk to the Irish about their plans for ratification if "we ourselves did not ratify the Lisbon Treaty", according to EUobserver.
Deutsche Welle EUobserver De Standaard OE Blog

Recession predicted for eurozone
The FT reports that "there is little, or no, expectation of growth" in the eurozone in 2009. The IMF has predicted that the eurozone will expand just 0.2 per cent next year, after a little more than 1 per cent in 2008, while BNP Paribas forecasts that the eurozone will contract by 0.3 per cent in 2009. The biggest eurozone members, and the UK, will all face technical recessions at the very least.

Meanwhile, Sweden has become the latest country to shore up its financial system with $200bn worth of credit guarantees to improve liquidity amid fears over leading Swedish banks' exposure to the Baltic economies. The Independent also notes that Iceland is close to agreeing a £3.5bn rescue deal with the IMF, after several days of talks.

France has injected 10.5bn euros into its top six banks in an effort to ensure they can continue to offer credit to businesses and consumers.

The FT reports that Germany has softened some elements of its 500bn euro bank rescue package as arguments escalated over whether banks would be stigmatised for using the package. The IHT notes that the German cabinet loosened a strict pay cap of 500,000 euros a year for top managers amid concerns that it would scare off the banks that needed help.
IHT Telegraph Independent FT FT 2 FT 3 FT 4 Retuers-Le Monde IHT

French Europe Minister Jouyet: "More Europe is needed"
In an interview with La Croix, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet says that Paris is in favour of creating European regulatory authorities for each main sector of financial activity. He told the paper, "The idea today is to advance together on all these sectors to arrive, in time, with the emergence of specific authorities for each of these." He suggested that, "more Europe is needed in the financial sector."

Outlining the priorities for France, he said "the first form of action will be to look towards the strengthening of European level regulation."
La Croix

Rachman: Financial crisis has stalled European integration
The FT's Gideon Rachman argues that EU institutions have not played a key part in finding a solution, and instead European leaders relied upon "the heresy of intergovermentalism" to resolve the crisis.

Rachman writes: "Ardent Europeans in Brussels know that during the financial crisis the true religion of the 'community method' was abandoned...the crisis was dealt with by national governments". This runs counter to what most EU elites assumed would be the inevitable outcome of such a global crisis, and Rachman quotes Romano Prodi from 1999 in a discussion about future economic integration: "Some day there will be a crisis and new instruments will be created".
FT: Rachman

Baroness Ashton gets 'soft touch' hearing in European Parliament
On his Telegraph blog, Bruno Waterfield looks at Catherine Ashton's hearing in the European Parliament's International Trade Committee yesterday, during which the Committee endorsed Ashton as the new Trade Commissioner. Waterfield calls the hearing "the softest touch any of Gordon Brown's unelected and appointed politicians could dream of".

According to EUobserver, Ashton dismissed charges by Farage that she lacked the "relevant experience" for the portfolio. "I am a negotiator, this is what I do. I may not have had the profile of the now newly ennobled Lord Mandelson, but that does not mean I have got no experience. Quite the contrary," she replied.

According to European Voice, Ashton also said that Nicolas Sarkozy's declaration that the EU needed to protect people was not the same as protectionism, which she saw as "a retreat away from being able to work from and within a global economy". She also declared herself to be "strongly pro-European". Her British and European identities, she said, had always pulled her in the same direction. The full Parliament will vote on Ashton's appointment at 11.30 on Wednesday morning.
European Voice Telegraph: Waterfield EUobserver BBC BBC-Mardell

European Union to resume import duties on grain, European Commissioner Fischer Boel has said
Agriholland

Iceland could quickly complete EU membership, European Commissioner says
Iceland could quickly complete European Union membership negotiations should it wish to do so, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said. Iceland's fisheries minister has been quoted last week as saying: "Everyone knows that I am against EU membership," however adding: "today we should think about these questions in a new light." An opinion poll published Saturday in Iceland's Frettabladid daily indicated that 70 percent of Icelanders want a referendum to be held on EU membership, with 49 percent saying they would vote in favour of joining the bloc, 27 percent against and 24 percent undecided.
AFP Telegraaf

Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that French President Sarkoy has declared "full support" for former Bavarian PM Edmund Stoiber in the fight against EU bureaucracy.
Suddeutsche Zeitung

Ukraine: Pro-western 'Orange Revolution' implodes as President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko prepare to face each other in parliamentary elections.
Independent Times

Nominations announced for worst EU lobby awards
Brussels lobby firms acting for both the Kremlin and Tbilisi, and EU official Fritz-Harald Wenig - caught selling trade secrets in a Sunday Times sting - are among candidates for the "Worst EU Lobbying" award in 2008. Further nominations include business association EBPS, nominated for allegedly using friends in high places in the European Parliament to hold on to rent-free rooms and sell access to MEPs for %u20AC15,000 a year.
EU Observer Spiegel Worst EU Lobbyism Awards website

The launch date of the EU's mission to Mars, ExoMars, has been delayed three years until January 2016, after the expected cost of the project doubled to 1.2 billion euros.
European Voice

Lisbon Treaty defeated in mock referendum
Last night ITV's Tonight programme featured a mock referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and EU membership held in Luton earlier this month. People were asked how they would vote on ratification of the Lisbon Treaty: 27 per cent voted yes, 63 per cent voted no and 10 per cent were undecided. The respondents were also asked their views on membership of the EU, with 35 per cent voting to stay in, 54 per cent voting to come out and 11 per cent undecided.
Tonight

Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska dined together a year before they 'met'
The Times reports that Peter Mandelson first met Oleg Deripaska, Russia's richest man, at an exclusive Moscow restaurant in 2005, at least a year earlier than Mandelson originally claimed. Mandelson's friendship with Deripaska has raised questions of a possible conflict of interest because he signed off rule changes that benefited the Russian's company while he was European Trade Commissioner.
Times

UK

Director of Public Prosecutions attacks 'Big Brother' database
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken MacDonald, has spoken out against plans for a controversial new database that would hold records of all phone calls and emails made in Britain. He told ministers that it threatened to "break the back of freedom", according to the Independent.
Independent