Open Europe press summary: 30 October 2008

Europe

European Commission to double crisis fund
The European Commission has announced that it is to double the crisis fund available to member states to 25 billion euros, in a sign that other European countries may need emergency cash injections, reports the Times. At its current level, the fund has been depleted by more than half by its bailout package to Hungary.

The Commission will present a more comprehensive EU-wide stimulus plan in November and Commission President Barroso has cautioned against national recovery plans, urging a bloc-wide plan stating that "we must swim together or we will sink together", according to EUobserver.

Economic Affairs Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, has urged EU states to draw on the flexibility contained in the EU's stability and growth pact. The Commission has told member states they may breach the 3% limit on budget deficits as long as their budgetary pressures are the result of the current financial crisis rather than poor policies, which could still result in punishment, writes the Irish Times.

Britain's biggest banks are to be offered £4billion today by the European Investment Bank, but will only receive the money if they agree to conform to "tight parameters", and restrict their ability to impose "punitive" interest rates, reports the Times.

Deutsche Welle reports that Angela Merkel will meet with Gordon Brown today to discuss the effects of the global financial crisis. The paper writes that Britain, France and Germany have been working on a "shared perspective" on how to move forward and Nicolas Sarkozy has said that "we have been trying to coordinate our positions, to make sure Europe has a common position and to find solutions together". However, Mark Mardell writes on his BBC blog that Merkel has "watered down" suggestions from Sarkozy during his Presidency and, of late, she has been "visible by blocking his plans."
EUobserver Deutsche Welle Times Irish Independent Tijd Guardian Suddeutsche Zeitung The Parliament Times2 BBC: Mardell Deutsche Welle European Voice New Statesman Macwhirter Irish Times

Irish 'No' vote has not reduced inward foreign investment
Ireland's Industrial Development Agency has announced that it has suffered little negative impact as a result of the country's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. The agency, which works to secure foreign investment in Ireland, had previously urged a Yes vote.
Breakingnews.ie

Lisbon: French Europe Minister hopes for resolution before year end
Le Figaro has an interview with French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet. He says, "I deeply hope... that by the end of the French Presidency we will have a sort of political agreement with our Irish friends, amongst 27, that they tell us what proposals they need, that we can give them legal guarantees... that these are put in place and that we have the most precise road map possible concerning the implementation of the treaty."
Le Figaro interview

Commission backs car industry's request for soft loans and incentives to boost new car purchases
The Guardian reports that the European Commission yesterday backed industry calls for an EU-wide scheme to offer motorists incentives to take their old cars off the road and buy new fuel-efficient, cleaner models. The Commission also urged the European Investment Bank (EIB) to offer up to 40bn euros (£32bn) in soft loans to help the car industry design new green technologies.

Günter Verheugen, EU Industry Commissioner, said the proposed scheme would have to be financed by national governments and would operate on a pan-European basis. According to EUobserver, he said "We are in a situation where it is getting harder for big European businesses to get credit," he added. "It is not a question of hand-outs, it's a question of the European Investment Bank making available a low-interest credit programme."
Guardian FEM Business Stern BBC WSJ EUobserver

David Walker, plant sciences professor at the University of Sheffield, argues in a letter in the Guardian "Biofuels do not lead to any appreciable sparing of carbon dioxide emissions that could not be better accomplished by the most modest means of energy conservation, such as a small reduction of the legal speed limit on motorways." Guardian letters Reuters European Voice

According to a poll by Germany's Stern magazine, the country's population is losing faith in the free market and may be open to more government intervention in the economy, including nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy.
EUobserver

Blue Card policy may harm EU investment in education
EUobserver reports that Aristide Zolberg, Professor at New York's New School University, has warned that EU governments will tend to invest less in education if they can "import" highly skilled workers from third countries through the so-called "Blue Card" immigration scheme. "Every country wants the same - high-skilled, already trained workers. But I strongly disapprove of subcontracting education to other countries at the expense of not investing in one's own schools," Mr Zolberg argued.
EUobserver

Sainsbury's presses EU to allow 'knobbly fruit'
The British supermarket giant Sainsbury's has written to the European Commission demanding that it loosens strict standards that prevent flawed fruit and vegetables from reaching supermarket shelves. European Voice reports that the strict EU rules "consign knobbly cucumbers and undersized melons" to be wasted.
European Voice

EU resists calls to send troops to Congo
EUobserver reports that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has called for the EU to do more to help UN peacekeepers in Democratic Republic of Congo, but said there is not enough political will among member states to send an EU battlegroup to the African region. Louis Michel, the EU's Development Aid Commissioner is heading a special envoy to the region to assess the humanitarian situation.
EUobserver IHT

Mandelson heralds new relationship with Russia
Despite a pledge only weeks ago from Gordon Brown that "business as usual" would not be resumed with Russia after the "totally unacceptable" Georgia conflict, the Times reports Lord Mandelson's claims that "The global economic crisis has brought Britain and Russia closer". Speaking at the end of a four-day visit to Moscow, the Business Secretary said that the two countries would work together to stave off a worldwide recession. Mandelson's hopes that his visit would encourage a "thawing in the difficult political relationship" with Russia, contrasts with the stance adopted by the Prime Minister and David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, the Times reports.
Times

The Irish dairy industry fears that EU emissions targets will force farmers to cut cattle numbers by 20%, making the industry even less competitive.
Irish Times

Ukraine starts talks on visa free travel to the EU for its citizens
EU and Ukrainian officials discussed plans yesterday to allow visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens to the EU, EUobserver reports. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister described the possibility of ending the "lengthy and expensive" visa system as "really a very remarkable event" for EU-Ukraine relations, but if the EU approves Ukraine's request, it is unlikely that free movement of people will be possible until at least 2012, EUobserver reports.
EUobserver

Jim McConalogue argues on the Centre Right blog, that better Parliamentary scrutiny of EU laws is needed and that this can be achieved via a strengthened European Scrutiny Committee.
ConservativeHome

Writing in the WSJ Daniel Henninger warns that US Presidential candidate Barack Obama wants to take the US toward a Western European 'social economic' model.
WSJ Henninger

The London-based Alternative Investment Management Association, the hedge fund trade body, says it plans to ask the EU to clamp down on the German legal loophole which allowed Porsche to secretly take its VW stake to almost 75%, resulting in huge hedge fund losses.
Times