Open Europe press summary: 11 November 2008

Europe

Auditors find errors in "most spending areas" of EU budget for 14th straight year;
Dutch MEP: Clean opinion on reliability of Commission's account due to political pressure?
There has been widespread coverage of the annual report from the European Court of Auditors published yesterday. The Times notes that for the 14th successive year, the Auditors were unable to state that the EU accounts were clean for "most spending areas". It notes that six billion euros were paid out wrongly by the EU last year from Structural Funds alone - the highest cash total yet to be called into question by the Auditors' annual report. The Auditors also found that farm payments - the other big spending area in the EU budget - contained "too high level of error with farmers over claiming or exaggerating the size of their land area or the number of animals they keep. Rural development schemes - worth 12.4 billion euros are "particularly prone to errors" because of the complexity involved in complying with EU rules, the Court said.

Of the samples undertaken by the Auditors, 54% of the Structural Funds projects and 31% of agricultural transfers were subject to "material errors" in 2007.

However, despite the usual problems with spending, the Auditors gave an "unqualified" - or clean - opinion of the Commission's internal account as it showed a reliable set of figures for the first time.

Open Europe's Mats Persson was quoted in the Telegraph, arguing that mismanagement of the EU budget will continue until "Byzantine spending schemes" such as the Common Agricultural Policy and Structural Funds are fundamentally reformed. Mats was also quoted in French daily Les Echos and the Irish edition of the Daily Mail. On his BBC blog, Mark Mardell quoted Open Europe when arguing that the primary responsibility of the EU accounts rests with the Commission. Open Europe's list of 100 examples of EU waste and fraud also continued to receive coverage in British and European media, including in the Times, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagbla and on Hungarian state radio.

De Telegraaf quotes Dutch MEP Jan Mulder, who argues that although the Auditors gave a clean opinion in regards to the reliability of the Commission's book keeping, "it isn't as nice as it seems, because the approval is only with regards to budgetary accuracy, which has always been 98 percent and is now apparently 100 percent". The most important issue, Mulder argues, remains whether the money should have been spent in the first place. He goes on to say that the European Commission had as one of its objectives to reach a positive verdict on its account before the end of the mandate period in 2009. "That [a positive] verdict now has been given, is perhaps because some of the members of the European Commission want to be re-elected, including President Jose Manuel Barroso", he says.

On his Telegraph blog, Bruno Waterfield also looks at the "strategic objective" of the Commission and the Auditors clean verdict on the Commission's accounts this year. He notes, "Too good to be true? Has someone been cooking the books to help get the Commission off the hook? For, as the rest of the auditors report shows, the EU incorrectly paid out at least £4.9 billion in funding last year as 92 per cent of Brussels budgets, worth £93 billion in 2007, continued to be tainted by 'too high levels of illegality and irregularity'".
Telegraph FT BBC Mardell Times European Voice Telegraaf Elsevier Court of Auditors report FAZ Les Echos BBC-Mardell Stuttgarter Nachrichten Telegraph - Waterfield

EU defence ministers agree pan-European military aircraft transport fleet;
French Defence Minister: "We have done as much as we did in 10 years"
The FT reports that EU defence ministers on Monday gave the green light to launch an initiative to build a pan-European military aircraft transport fleet to fulfil the EU's increasing role in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions. The project was endorsed by 12 EU nations.

Agence Europe notes that at the close of the meeting French Defence Minister Hervé Morin said, "We have done as much as we did in 10 years". The Executive Director of the European Defence Agency (EDA), Alexander Weis, commented that the meeting was evidence that the EU Defence Council "has, for the first time (...), succeeded in transforming words into action".
FT Reuters.de Elsevier

Miliband's "U-turn" allows EU to resume talks with Russia
The FT reports that the EU said on Monday that it was ready to resume talks with Russia on a long-term Partnership Agreement in spite of Eastern European complaints, which have suggested that the talks be conditional on a full Russian withdrawal from Georgia.

The Times notes that a "U-turn" from British Foreign Minister David Miliband may have tipped the balance in favour of those wishing to resume talks over the Partnership Agreement. A joint statement issued with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, read: "We need and want to work with Russia. Negotiations on the agreement are a pragmatic way of pursuing our interests across a range of important issues". However, they stressed that Russia's actions in Georgia "continue to cast a shadow over the EU's relationship with Russia".
FT BBC Times WSJ IHT Guardian European Voice FT: Brussels blog De Tijd
Ireland vows to end Lisbon crisis, as Czech President meets Libertas chairman Agence France Presse reports that Ireland has vowed to unblock the EU crisis over the Lisbon Treaty within a 'reasonable timeframe', with Irish PM Brian Cowen promising to make proposals at the December EU summit ahead of the handover of the rotating EU presidency. This is despite a report that from ESharp magazine that suggests that the Conservatives are urging the Irish government to delay a decision on ratifying the Lisbon Treaty, because a change of UK Government would "get Dublin off the hook" by killing the Treaty.
Meanwhile, Le Figaro reports that Czech president Vaclav Klaus will meet Libertas chairman Declan Ganley and has promised to support Ganley's plan for a pan-European party which may put up candidates for the 2009 European elections. The article also reports that a recent poll in the Czech Republic shows that 55% Czechs are against the Lisbon Treaty.
Figaro Open Europe blog ESharp

The "critical weakness" of the Euro is political decision-making; Germany showing weak leadership
Former German Foreign Minister Joscha Fischer, in an interview with the FT, argues that Germany has "renounced" any claim to an EU leadership role in relation to the financial crisis, and that the German government is acting only in its national interest. Similarly, ESharp magazine argues that the financial crisis has exposed the deficiencies in the economic decision-making processes in Europe in general. While the currency has grown steadily over the last 10 years, the feature argues that "it is the politics that have become a critical weakness." The magazine writes that the idea of a European treasury to administer the single currency "may well be an improbable dream", but its absence has placed a great deal of pressure on the financial system.
FT ESharp

The European Commission says it is willing to provide Iceland with a "small" loan to help it through the current financial crisis, but only after agreements over bank deposits held by Europeans
European Voice

The European Commission has proposed deep cuts in fishing quotas in 2009 to allow stocks to recover.
IHT Guardian European Voice

Most EU countries have not yet signaled support for CO2 capture and storage targets and favour existing renewable energy sources, due to concerns over safety and cost-effectiveness. The UK, France and the Netherlands support the growing calls to develop new technology.
Euractiv European Voice

A leader in Le Figaro says of the French President: "Rather than attach himself to the incongruous idea of a European economic government, Nicolas Sarkozy would better devote himself to make sure that France by 2010 leaves the recession stronger than it has entered"Figaro

The FT reports that ECB chairman Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday criticised the banking system for 'not showing sufficient drive to support the real economy' by keeping credit lines 'tight'.
FT

Serbia has intensified its attempts to arrest General Ratko Mladic, the war crimes fugitive, a precondition set by the EU for granting it pre-membership status.
IHT