Europe
Open Europe is hosting a debate on the potential end of the UK's opt-out from the EU Working Time Directive, on Wednesday 10 December, from 3pm until 4.30pm. For more details, please see our homepage: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/ Places are limited - if you would like to attend, please contact Susannah Prins on 0207 197 2333 or susannah@openeurope.org.uk
Trade unions unite with employers in mass protest against EU climate package
AFP reports that over 10,000 metal workers protested in Brussels yesterday over the controversial EU climate package - currently under negotiation - which they fear will damage their industry.
The European Metalworkers' Federation criticised in particular the EU's plan to force European heavy industry to pay for emissions permits from 2013, saying the proposal "endangers production and jobs in the steel and non-ferrous metal sectors". European producers "are confronted with increasing international competition from producers who do not meet European norms and are not subject to emissions restrictions," the federation said in a statement.
Environmental NGO WWF however accused the trade unions of being misled by their employers. "The steel trade unions tend to follow their employers, taking whatever line their industry tells them", according to spokesman Sanjeev Kumar quoted on EUobserver.
UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson will today set out plans for a new age of "industrial activism" when he gives the annual Hugo Young memorial lecture, according to the Guardian.Guardian EUobserver Mail Standaard Xinhua AP AFP Reuters GAO report Guardian 2 Guardian 3
EU Commission spends 100,000 euros of taxpayers' money on office coffee machines - and then turns them off
The front page of the IHT reveals that the European Commission spent 100,000 euros on 20 luxury coffee machines for the upper floors of the Berlaymont building (the Commission headquarters). According to the paper the machines were installed as "a perk for the most senior European Union officials - saving them and their members of cabinet from having to line up in cafés on other floors." The article reports that the machines are so-called "superautomatics" that grind the beans, select the correct quantity of milk and discard the spent coffee grounds, all at the touch of a button.
However, the machines have now had to be switched off, following a complaint from an employee regarding the levels of nickel in coffee produced by the machines.
The article notes, "There has been no evidence of anyone getting sick", and that the Commissioners "now may have to line up in the cafeterias with thousands of less lofty bureaucrats to get a cup of coffee."
IHT Open Europe blog
Britain's EU payments set to treble under failed CAP reform
Figures released by the Treasury show that Britain's contributions to the EU are set to treble following a failed deal to cut European farm subsidies, reports the Telegraph. Britain's net contributions in 2008/9 are expected to be £2bn, but this is set to rise in 2010/11 to £6bn. The paper notes that a 2005 agreement to cut the size of the UK's annual rebate was supposed to be matched by cuts in CAP subsidies - but that France is trying to protect the CAP from reform in negotiations to be held next year.
Telegraph
Irish government: negotiations on Lisbon will go "down to the wire";
Irish PM visits four EU capitals ahead of EU summit
The Irish Independent reports that Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin yesterday warned that negotiations on resolving the issue of the Lisbon Treaty will go "down to the wire" in the climax to next week's EU summit. The Irish Times suggests that the Irish response to Lisbon will centre on a commitment to hold another referendum on the Treaty in autumn of next year if there is a commitment that all EU states will be allowed to retain a commissioner. It will also hinge on agreement from the other 26 member states to accept a number of binding declarations to the Treaty to deal with Irish concerns about neutrality, abortion, tax and defence.
Meanwhile, the Coulisses de Bruxelles blog reports that Irish PM Brian Cowen is beginning a tour of four European countries today - France, Luxembourg, Germany and Britain - to discuss the Lisbon Treaty. It also reports that the Czech Parliament's lower house has decided to meet on 9 December to ratify the Treaty. However, Czech daily Pravo notes that the Treaty's approval by the Senate could be more problematic due to resistance from a faction of the ruling Civic Democratic Party.
Irish Independent Irish Times Coulisses de Bruxelles
European Commission plans to prevent return of asylum seekers to country of entry
L'Express reports that European Commission proposals for immigration policy reform include stopping EU members sending asylum seekers back to the countries where they first landed on European soil when those states are struggling to cope. Countries like Malta and Greece are becoming overburdened by high numbers of refugees, returned to them under the so-called Dublin regulation. The Commission also aims to harmonise reception conditions, including giving access to the labour market and ensuring asylum seekers are detained only in exceptional cases.
STV L'Express
Brown to face questions over euro rumours
The front page of the Express reports that Gordon Brown is to face Parliamentary questions about whether the issue of joining the Euro was raised in meetings with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, following Barroso's revelation that the issue was discussed with senior British politicians.
Express
EU Commission's economic stimulus plan "defused" by Germany
FAZ reports that EU finance ministers (meeting yesterday) have "defused" the European Commission's proposed 200bn euro economic stimulus packages, by ruling out tax cuts and changes to the EU budget.
EUobserver notes that according to insiders, there was little enthusiasm at the ministers' meeting to commit to the Commission's scheme. One diplomat told the website that the 200bn figure was "so unclear that it does not mean anything but a bad PR attempt."
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck categorically rejected any further German contributions in the way of fiscal stimulus. The Telegraph reports that he said, "Please, Europe is not on the brink of collapse. To listen to some people you'd think that western civilization was going down". In an interview with Der Speigel he criticised the bailout mindset of fellow European governments: "Just because all the lemmings have chosen the same way doesn't make it automatically the right way. What else would you like for Christmas?"
Jean Pisani-Ferry of think tank Bruegel writes in Le Monde that "On 11 December, the date of the next summit, we will know whether the Union is capable of concerted action... If they succeed, they will have invented, through this action, the economic government for which France regularly pleads... If they fail, we will know that... unfortunately the EU is not fit for storms."
Eurointelligence Le Monde Pisani-Ferry Le Monde Welt Irish Times European Voice FT
Telegraph EUobserver EUbusiness
EU Commission to relax state aid rules amid criticism from member states for dithering and bureaucracy
The FT reports that the European Commission yesterday promised more flexibility in how it applies state aid rules to banks hit by the credit crisis. European governments have criticised the difficulties in getting EU approval for bail-outs and have called for the Commission to relax its state aid rules and speed up the process of approving state bail-outs.
According to the BBC, Peer Steinbruck, Germany's Finance Minister, who is awaiting Commission approval for his country's bank bail-out plan, said, "If the protective measures we've organised in Germany and other European countries are to work in this crisis, we must have a secure framework very quickly for the banks."
The WSJ notes that Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg was even more forthright in his criticism of the Commission, insisting that "we need to call off these legions of state aid bureaucrats."
The IHT notes that EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes' spokesman dismissed the charge of acting slowly in response to the crisis: "The Commission is extremely fast, from the moment we receive all the necessary commitments and information from the member state concerned. We have proven we are capable of taking decisions within 24 hours - when we have all the information we need."
NOS FT WSJ Le Figaro IHT Reuters IHT 2 Dow Jones Irish Independent FT 2 BBC
An article on the Economist website says that China's cancelling of a bilateral summit with the EU suggests that Europe is not respected as a world power bloc, and quotes an expert on Asia who says that the snub is "a brutal, and unprecedented warning of how little Europe means to China".
Economist
Premier League agrees to debt investigation
Premier League officials have agreed to a voluntary investigation into clubs' debt levels to head off the threat of increased regulation from Europe. The Times reports that a task force is being set to up examine the "financial governance" of the 27 national leagues which are members of the Association of Professional Football Leagues, of which Premier League executives are leading figures. The move follows complaints about the debt levels and dominance of Premier League clubs in European football competitions.Times
According to EUobserver, the leader of the Party of European Socialists, MEP and former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, is being mooted as a potential successor to Jose Manuel Barroso as President of the Commission, if the centre-left political family wins the European Parliament elections.
EUobserver
EU ministers have backed a "passport" for investment funds managers.
Britain, Germany and France yesterday won their battle to allow mutual funds to manage European operations centrally and save money, a move that dismayed Luxembourg and Ireland.
Euractiv Reuters
German soldiers in Afghanistan have been deemed too overweight to fight, according to a German Parliament report. Reinhold Robbe, the parliamentary commissioner for the German armed forces, concluded: "Plainly put, the soldiers are too fat, exercise too little and take little care of their diet."
Times
Nato puts the brakes on Ukraine and Georgia membership.
Times Independent
EU regulation for insurance industry watered down
EU finance ministers have reached a compromise in principle on Solvency II, the set of regulations and capital adequacy requirements for the EU insurance industry. It has however loosened original proposed regulation.
Reuters FAZ
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