Open Europe press summary: 14 November 2008

Europe

Budget Commissioner: EU's budget reflects "policies of the past"
European Voice reports that the EU Commissioner for the budget Dalia Grybauskaite yesterday presented results from a consultation on the EU's budget. Grybauskaite noted that people were strongly in favour of moving resources away from agriculture to research, innovation, the environment and climate change. Grybauskaite said that the EU budget is currently too inflexible and continuously "running after events", responding to the "policies of the past". She also said that three-quarters of the CAP was going to just 14% of all beneficiaries. Many of these were not even farmers, she said, but businesses. Open Europe's report on '100 examples of EU fraud and waste' was covered in French paper La Depeche.
European Voice La Depeche Open Europe briefing paper: Top EU 100 Fraud and Waste

Commission relaunches controversial Oil Stocks Directive
European Voice summarises the Commission's proposals for environmental action and energy security, unveiled yesterday. The proposals include a relaunch of the Oil Stocks Directive, which requires EU members to build an EU system of emergency oil stocks.

Previous research from Open Europe estimated that the Directive could cost the UK £6bn to implement, owing to the obligations to ramp up oil stocks. The UK government successfully blocked the Directive in its earlier form.
European Voice Economist Open Europe research - Oil Stocks Directive Oil Stocks - proposed Directive

German foreign ministry floats "Norwegian option" for Ireland in order to bring Lisbon Treaty into force
The Irish Times reports that senior German foreign ministry officials have hatched a so-called "Norwegian option" of reducing Ireland to associate member status as a means of clearing the way for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier denied such a option had been floated, saying that Berlin would "naturally give Ireland time to make the necessary decision". Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin has dismissed the plan insisting that the Lisbon issue "is for the Irish people to decide".

The Irish Independent reports that Vice-President of the European Commission Margot Wallström told a Dáil sub-committee that Ireland should resist any EU attempts to bully it: "I think everybody understands this is a difficult situation. Is there a way forward? I hope they will not try to bully you. I don't think that will work and you should resist it. But they are eager because there are European elections coming up."

However, she added that there was no appetite for renegotiation of the Treaty: "There is absolutely no willingness to open negotiations. Any other solutions, they will be willing to look at." Wallström cautioned that the disappointment across the EU at the Irish No vote "could turn to frustration, if a solution is not found within a reasonable timeframe". She said, "The Irish 'No' is an answer -- not a solution."

The Irish Times notes that one of these solutions could be allowing Ireland to keep its Commissioner. The current Nice Treaty will reduce the number of Commissioners by next November but Wallström hinted at the possibility of the issue being revisited, should the Lisbon Treaty be ratified.

The Irish Times reports that the Czech government has defended the right of President Vaclav Klaus to criticise the Lisbon Treaty - rejected by the Irish in June - on his controversial Irish state visit this week. Klaus' meeting with anti-Lisbon group Libertas' leader Declan Ganley sparked angry reactions from Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin. The Irish edition of the Mail reports that Martin attacked Klaus' description of Ganley as an EU "dissident" as "ridiculous", "shallow" and "bogus". Libertas said the criticism of President Klaus showed how keen the Irish political establishment is to stifle anti-Treaty commentary.

A leader in the WSJ asks "How bizarre is EU politics? So much so that the Irish government feels compelled to chide another head of state for agreeing with a majority of the Irish people".

The Irish Times reports that public support for the Irish government, the Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil has collapsed to the lowest level recorded since Irish Times polling began more than a quarter of a century ago. The level of dissatisfaction with the government is now a massive 76 per cent, while 61 per cent of people are dissatisfied with the way Mr Cowen is doing his job.

Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy will not be able to promote the Lisbon Treaty on his visit to Poland in December because Polish President Lech Kaczynski will be out of the country. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last month that Sarkozy had hoped to meet the Polish President to "convince him to sign" the Treaty.
Irish Times Irish Times 2 WSJ-editorial Economist Eurotopics Irish Independent Irish Times 3 Irish Times

Open Europe: 2009 European elections can be an opportunity for Conservatives
Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally has a piece on Conservative Home suggesting that June 2009's European elections represent an opportunity for the Conservatives because "the public hungers for power to be taken back from Europe."

The elections will bring focus to the issue and, "when the public do think about Europe, their view is clear...The EU is now the least popular it has been in Britain in 25 years".

She argues that to represent change in Europe, MEPs need to show that they are having some effect on the "fraud, waste and lack of accountability they see coming from Brussels and Strasbourg", for example by responding to Open Europe's Transparency Initiative.

In addition to this, drafting a manifesto for June now would, "pave the way" for more careful thinking on Europe ahead of the General Election, allowing voters to know what to expect from a Conservative government.
Conservative Home-Mullally

European Environment Agency: biofuels "may cause adverse effects on the environment"
According to European Voice, the European Environment Agency (EEA), whose task is to provide information to policymakers, says in a report published yesterday that the expansion of bioenergy production "may cause adverse effects on the environment" that could "jeopardise the achievement of other environmental goals, such as the protection of biodiversity and water resources".

Despite repeated warnings from the EEA and other bodies on the dangers of biofuels, the EU Commission continues to push for targets whereby 10% of transport fuels will be sourced from biofuels by 2020.
European Voice

Government forces European Scrutiny Committee to stay secret
Simon Carr notes in the Independent that the Government whipped MPs to vote against the European Scrutiny Committee deliberating in public. He describes the narrow victory "against the public's right to know" as "deplorable".
Independent-Carr Parliamentary debate

New EU laws will see British workers receive more paid leave from April 2009, though it will still be less than what is received on the continent.
Jobsnewswire

Dover expelled from Conservatives - further coverage
Open Europe's Hugo Robinson appeared on LBC's 'Drivetime' programme, arguing that it was right for Den Dover MEP to be expelled from the Conservative Party and face criminal investigation after channelling £750,000 of taxpayers' money to a family owned company in order to buy BMW cars and home improvements.
No link

Swedish parliament to vote on delaying ratification of Lisbon
A motion has been handed in to the Speaker of the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament), proposing that the Lisbon Treaty be subject to additional scrutiny by the Riksdag's constitutional committee, which in turn would delay ratification a year. For this to happen, one sixth of the MPs need to vote for the motion. According to Swedish Radio, the outcome depends on whether some centre-right MPs vote against their respective party lines, and whether some of the Social Democrats chose to vote, rather than to abstain. Swedish Radio quotes Anne-Marie Pålsson, MP for the Moderate Party and one of the proponents of the motion, saying, "If you're getting close to constitutional issues, I think you should be particularly careful and perhaps go further [on scrutiny] than what a strict judicial interpretation requires you to do".
Swedish Radio

Eurozone officially in recession;
Economist: Euro-membership not a pancea
BBC reports that figures to be confirmed by the European Commission today show that the eurozone has slipped into its "first" recession.

Meanwhile, the Economist notes that euro membership will not insulate countries from a crisis that "combines problems in the financial system with a nasty recession"

In the FT, Martin Wolf argues, "The issue [for the UK] is, it should be stressed, that of fundamental fiscal solvency. Membership of the eurozone would also do nothing to improve this, unless one expects eurozone taxpayers to bail out the British. I suspect the former are far too wise to take the UK on any such terms."
FT BBC Daily Mail Economist FT Weekly Standard Guardian Bloomberg EUobserver Bloomberg

Commission proposes measures to address reliance on Russian energy
The FT reports that the EU Commission is looking to address Europe's heavy reliance on Russian gas, by forming a 'southern gas corridor', bypassing Russia, to bring Kazakh and Turkmen gas through the Caspian region.
FT Guardian FT 2 Guardian 2

UK Government discovers Post Office exempt from EU tender process
EUreferendum argues that most of the British print media has failed to draw attention to the EU Procurements Directive in its reports of the Post Office's retention of a contract to handle pension and benefits payments.
EUreferendum

Ahead of the EU-Russia summit today, it emerges that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had to be persuaded by French President Sarkozy, who was leading the EU's peace efforts, not to 'hang' the Georgian President during the South Ossetia conflict.
Times Daily Mail FT

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko is in talks with Moscow about placing missiles that could hit targets deep inside Europe.
WSJ

EU prepared to cede some representation in financial institutions to emerging countries.
IHT

EU hopes to achieve a partnership agreement with Libya before 2010
European Voice De Morgen

The EU has invited US president elect Barrack Obama for the European summit in Prague on 2 April 2009
Telegraaf

"I am afraid the Lisbon Treaty is dead", says German EU expert professor Eckart Stratenschulte according to News.de, adding that "the real problem is that there is no longer agreement on where we want to go. The negative Irish referendum is not the cause of the crisis, but rather a sympthom".
News.de