Open Europe press summary: 1 December 2008

Europe

Barroso: UK "closer" to adopting the euro
Speaking on a French radio show, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has claimed that the UK is "closer than ever before" to joining the euro and said that "some British politicians have already told me, 'If we had the euro, we would have been better off'", the BBC reports. Barroso said that British politicians were considering the move because of the effects of the global credit crunch. EUobserver quotes Barroso as saying "I don't mean to say that it will be tomorrow and I know that the majority in Britain are still opposed, but there is a period of consideration under way and the people who matter in Britain are currently thinking about it".

The Mail suggests that Lord Mandelson may be the Government source that Barroso refers to, by highlighting his closeness to the Commission President and his well known support for the single currency. However, the BBC reports that Downing Street's position on the euro "remained the same".

Meanwhile, the IHT and EUobserver report that Iceland is considering joining the euro, and is keen to join the single currency even without joining the European Union.
BBC Daily Mail Express EUobserver IHT Telegraph IHT 2

Commission to set out "final step" towards common asylum rules
A package of proposals to be presented on 3 December by the European Commission will suggest establishing common rules on the detention of asylum-seekers. The proposals will change EU rules which determine which member states are responsible for processing asylum requests, European Voice reports. The proposals will also seek to make it easier for asylum seekers to work whilst their claim is processed, and will also extend EU rules to cover those who lack refugee status, but who are deemed to be in danger if returned to their country of origin. The article reports that the proposals will be part of a final step towards the creation of a common European asylum system, with more proposals to be made in 2009.
European Voice

EU Budget Commissioner: 80% of budget is for the "last century"
At a speech at the LSE on Thursday, EU Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite said that 80% of the EU budget was devoted to policies agreed "last century" and that it currently looked like a budget of the past. She said that 5% was spent on administration and bureaucracy while the leftovers go on everything else. She added that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy does not pass the test of European value added, going on to say that the EU's priorities should be research, competitiveness and innovation, which was "exactly the opposite of what is happening today".
No link

Cowen: EU cannot be "optional extra" for Ireland;
Irish parliamentary committee denies it based its recommendations on pro-Lisbon Treaty sourceSaturday's Irish Independent reported that Irish PM Brian Cowen has stated that the EU cannot be an "optional extra" for Ireland and that the financial crisis has highlighted the importance of being at the heart of Europe. He also praised the "critical and pivotal" role that the European Investment Bank had played in helping Ireland to contend with the recent financial turbulence.

The Irish Times reported that French general Henri Bentégeat, the Chair of the EU Military Committee, has warned during a visit to Dublin that a decision by Ireland to opt out of EU security and defence policy in the event of a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would be an "important loss" for Europe. According to the paper he said this "while stressing that he did not want to interfere with national debate on the issue".

He said: "There is a frequent understanding, not only in Ireland but other European countries, that what we are trying to do in the EU now is to build up a European army but this is nonsense...there is absolutely no hint of any evolution towards a European armed forces."

A leader in Saturday's Irish Times argued that "any new campaign" on the Lisbon Treaty "would be better informed" by the report from the Irish parliament's Sub-committee on Ireland's Future in the European Union. The Sub-committee found that Ireland has lost influence and good will as a result of blocking the Treaty's ratification. However, the paper also reported that the Sub-committee has been criticised for commissioning a report from a "pro-Lisbon Treaty source". Former Green MEP Patricia McKenna told a press conference in Dublin, "I find it quite astonishing that the sub-committee commissioned work from a very pro-treaty source and then based its key recommendations on their work."

Chairman of the Sub-committee Paschal Donohoe defended the authors of the report, the Dublin European Institute, saying, "The DEI is an impartial, purely academic institution with recognised expertise in the area of European policy. It was agreed by the subcommittee that the input of such an expert organisation would be helpful to its work."

In a comment piece in the FT, Quentin Peel argues that the financial crisis seems to have scared the Irish from "excluding themselves from the comfort of membership of the EU", and that it could work to Brian Cowen's favour if he calls a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Meanwhile, Libertas chairman Declan Ganley is said to be seriously considering running in the European elections next year as a candidate in the North-West constituency in Ireland, reports the Irish Independent.
Irish Independent FT Irish Independent 2 Irish Times Irish Times 2

Will France break CAP reform promise?
Saturday's Telegraph reported that senior French officials have admitted they plan to block attempts to cut EU farm subsidies, worth more than £7 billion a year to French farmers. Following a meeting of EU farm ministers on Friday, the French tabled "conclusions" that the CAP should continue unchanged also after 2013, when a new EU budget period will begin. The deal threatens to break promises made three years ago, when Britain gave up £7 billion of its EU budget rebate, in return for future cuts in farm spending. Britain, backed by Latvia and Sweden, on Friday blocked the French proposal.

However, it is reported that France will continue to push for the proposal during the continuation of its Presidency. A senior French official is quoted saying, "The red line was to preserve the tools for the regulation of markets, not to give up the economic governance that the CAP was founded on 40 years ago. We do not want agriculture to become a variable in an adjusted European budget."No link

New UK climate report to call for higher targets;
International talks hampered by EU divisions
The UK Government's Climate Change Committee is to set out plans today to decarbonise the economy, the Guardian reports. The FT notes that the Committee will recommend that Britain adopt more aggressive targets for cutting greenhouse gases than the rest of Europe. Lord Turner, Chair of the Committee, will say that Britain should cut emissions by more than 26% by 2020, rather than the EU target of 20%, in order to reach the Government's commitment to cut emissions by 80% by 2050. It will also say that new coal-fired power stations will have to be retrofitted with carbon storage technology that is not expected to be in commercial use until 2015.

Writing in the Times, Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive of energy company Centrica, argues that the kind of changes needed in the energy sector to reach the 2050 target will be "seismic" and akin to the technological revolution caused by the internet.

International talks on a climate change treaty are set to resume today in Poznan, Poland. However, EurActiv reports that the conference is already being overshadowed by the EU's internal divisions over sharing the burden of cutting emissions.
Guardian FT Times-Laidlaw EurActiv

Commission blocks French bail-out proposal
Saturday's FT reported that the European Commission has blocked a French government plan to shore up the capital position of France's six main retail banks, insisting they must reduce their lending in return for state support.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is trying to persuade EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes to withdraw her veto on the 10.5bn euros support package, but Kroes is sticking to her view that banks cannot use state aid to increase their lending books. "We have to apply the same criteria to everyone . . . support should be sufficient to offset the negative impact of the current financial crisis and no more," said one official.

Meanwhile, AFP reports that Poland yesterday adopted an economic package for 2009-2010 valued at 24 billion euros, which includes increasing bank guarantees, giving loans to small and medium-sized businesses, and investing in renewable energy sources. The Polish government has insisted that it will not spend its way out of the recession.

In the FT, Wolfgang Munchau criticises the German "boycott of a coordinated response" to the financial crisis, arguing that the eventual German fiscal policy response is likely to come too late.
AFP FT FT FT-Munchau IHT

Leaked 'transcript' of meeting between Sarkozy and Czech PM sparks diplomatic row
Le Monde reports that a leaked 'transcript' of a private meeting between Nicolas Sarkozy and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, published by Czech weekly magazine Reflex, has caused a small diplomatic row. In the meeting Sarkozy reportedly tried to convince his successor to the EU Presidency to let France co-preside the Mediterranean Union beyond its current Presidency, apparently saying: "Do you know what it means to be alone against all these Arabs? To be on the phone with them? They are terrible, I assure you..."

Both offices denied the authenticity of the transcript and the Czech chief diplomat presented his excuses to France for the incident.
Le Monde

The FT reports that industry insiders are concerned that EU plans for regulating credit rating agencies threaten to create an element of financial protectionism in debt markets.
FT

NATO split over Georgia and Ukraine
The IHT reports that NATO is split over Georgia and Ukraine's possible future membership of the transatlantic alliance, with the United States and Germany quarrelling over "just how much distance" to keep from Georgia and Ukraine.

The FT notes that Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, has said Washington will not press for the two former Soviet republics to gain immediate entry to the alliance's Membership Application Plan. The IHT notes that Paris and Berlin compromised by agreeing that Ukraine and Georgia could become members, but they did not say when.
FT Independent Independent-Wheatcroft Times IHT

WTO: EU's import taxes on bananas break global commerce rules
Saturday's Irish Independent reported that the WTO has ruled that the EU's import taxes for bananas break global commerce rules. It ruled the taxes are putting some Latin American companies at an unfair disadvantage against former French and British colonies.Irish Independent

Essex County Council plans to set up its own bank and is hoping for EU and regional development agency assistance to fund it.
Independent Times FT

EU-China relations continued to deteriorate over the weekend, as EU leaders criticised Beijing for cancelling Monday's (1 December) summit and for executing Austrian-educated scientist Wo Weihan on spy charges.
EUobserver

In a letter to the FT, Chief Executive of Barrat Developments Mark Clare argues that the UK Government should implement the Crosby report's proposal to pledge a £100bn to guarantee mortgaged-backed securities. The plan would require EU clearance and Clare writes that "The Government should therefore make EU approval for the Crosby proposal an urgent priority".
FT-letters

The Weekend FT reported that the Eurozone jobless rate has soared to a two-year high.
FT

The EU will deploy its peacekeeping mission to Kosovo next week.
European Voice

Saturday's Independent ran a feature on the bluefin tuna, exploring how it may not survive an EU decision to maintain catch quotas in defiance of scientists.Independent

No party obtained enough votes to form a government in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Romania. A centre-right coalition between the PNL and the PDL and the Hungarian minority party looks like the most likely option, according to EUobserver.
EUobserver

Pharmaceutical companies have been targeted in a report by European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, who has suggested that drug companies could face huge fines from the EU if they prevent production of generic versions of their medicines. Restrictive practises have reportedly cost consumers across Europe 3 billion euros in the past seven years. Saturday Times Guardian European Voice EurActiv

A leader in the Irish Times argues that the EU's draft proposals that seek to encourage people to shop across the EU by protecting consumer rights, are positive because consumers "have never secured the full benefits" of the single market due to uncoordinated rules from member states.
Irish Times: Leader