Open Europe press summary: 27 January 2009

Europe

Environment Agency Chairman: UK in danger of missing renewable energy targets
Lord Smith, the Chairman of the UK's Environment Agency, has expressed concern in an interview with the FT that the Government is in danger of missing European Union renewable energy targets unless action is taken to promote investment in the renewable energy sector. It comes following recent announcements that energy companies are reconsidering plans for offshore wind farms. Lord Smith said, "You have to look at the subsidy system to see it if is working properly. If it is deterring companies from investing, then you need to make changes."

A leader in the FT argues that support for renewable energy should come in the form of a "broad carbon tax". It goes on to say that committing to such a tax now would "provide the certainty required for companies to increase investment in renewables."

A shortlist of potential schemes to harness tidal power, as part of renewable energy plans, was published by the Government yesterday and included the controversial Severn estuary plan, reports the front page of the Independent.
FT FT: Leader Guardian Independent Independent: Leader European Voice EurActiv

Nato Secretary General: Europe must do more in Afghanistan;
EU Foreign Ministers fail to reach agreement on Guantanamo detainees
At a speech in Brussels yesterday, Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that he expected Europeans to contribute more to the effort in Afghanistan. The BBC reports that he said, "If the Europeans expect that the United States will close Guantanamo, sign up to climate change treaties, accept EU leadership on key issues, but provide nothing more in return, for example in Afghanistan, than encouragement, they should think again. It simply won't work like that."

EUobserver also reports that Mr Scheffer expressed regret at failing to bring the alliance and the EU closer when he said, "I'm sad that at the end of my mandate as secretary general I have not been able to bring this relationship more forward than on a pragmatic basis."

At a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers yesterday, there was failure to reach an agreement on whether or not to accept former detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison, according to the Independent.
BBC FT Sun: Leader Guardian Independent BBC IHT EUobserver

EU Commission caricatures Open Europe as "to the right of the British Conservatives"
The European Commission has sent a politically-charged press release to the Swedish media dismissing Open Europe's recent work on the EU communication policy. The press release described Open Europe as being "to the right of the British Conservatives", in an obvious attempt to caricature the think-tank to a Swedish audience. The office of EU Communications Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, which sent the message, will join a debate in Brussels this evening to discuss the themes raised by Open Europe's book.

If you would like to attend the debate this evening, please RSVP to Pieter Cleppe at pieter@openeurope.org.uk or on 0032 477 68 46 08.
OE blog The hard sell: EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds

Commission-funded "blogging competition" launches
An EU-wide "blogging competition" funded by the Commission was launched yesterday. The purpose of the competition is to have bloggers "cover, report, critique and debate" campaign issues and candidates for the EU elections in June, and to "share their thoughts on the EU" in general, Euractiv reports.
BBC Mardell: blog EurActiv FT: Brussels blog

Feldstein: "it is possible that one or more countries might actually withdraw from the Eurozone"In an article on Vox.eu, Harvard Professor and former President of the US National Bureau of Economic Research, Martin Feldstein, states that, "the economic advantages of a single currency in promoting trade and competition would be outweighed by a higher rate of unemployment and by the risk of higher long-term inflation." He goes on to say that, "the primary motivation for the creation of the euro was political, not economic and... the creation of the euro could lead to increased conflict within Europe and with the US."

He adds that "Germany is still resisting any substantial fiscal deficits and the ECB has a much higher interest rate than the Federal Reserve or the Bank of Japan. Spain with a 13% unemployment rate and a trade deficit of 10% of GDP must want a more expansive monetary and fiscal policy than Germany. Smaller countries may now feel that they have lost control over their economic future". He concludes that "in these circumstances, it is possible that one or more countries might actually withdraw from the Eurozone".
In his FT column, Gideon Rachman describes how countries such as "Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and possibly Ireland would find managing their public finances ever harder...Unable to devalue their currency, weaker economies can only restore competitiveness by cutting jobs and real wages. He concludes by considering that, this "is obviously a recipe for social unrest, which leads on to the political crisis...If euro membership forces southern European countries to make deep cuts in their budgets in the midst of a recession".
FT: Rachman Open Europe blog 1 Open Europe blog 2 Vox.eu

Ireland could be facing fines in the area of millions of euro a day from next January if it fails to divert biodegradable waste from landfill under the EU's Landfill Directive.
Irish Times

EU ministers add British-based companies to Mugabe blacklist
The Guardian reports that EU Foreign Ministers yesterday extended their sanctions against the Robert Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe to 18 British-based companies believed to be doing business with the regime, and blacklisted businessman John Bredenkamp understood to be living in Britain. In addition to freezing the assets of the companies and proscribing transactions with them, EU ministers also added 26 individuals to the list of 177 barred from travelling in the EU.
FT Guardian BBC Telegraph Times EUobserver AFP

EU Committee of financial supervisors to move to QMV
European Voice and Euractiv report that the European Commission has proposed that three EU Committees in charge of monitoring the banking (CEBS), insurance (CEIOPS) and securities (CESR) sectors, which all bring together national regulators, will move from a system requiring unanimity for decisions to be taken to a system that requires a qualified majority. In addition, the Commission proposed that the EU provide the committees with direct funding. At present they are funded solely by national governments.
European Voice EurActiv

The BBC reports that EU envoy Louis Michel yesterday said that Hamas bore the "overwhelming responsibility" for the recent destruction in the Gaza strip. He said there would be no dialogue with the movement until it renounced violence and recognised Israel. At the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers yesterday, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands reportedly opposed calls for an inquiry into alleged human rights violations.
Irish Times: Smyth Irish Times Guardian: Patten European Voice BBC Deutsche Welle Libération

The Dutch Christian Democratic party, CDA, has cautioned against allowing new states to join the EU, including Iceland and Turkey.
ND

The Icelandic Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, yesterday announced the immediate resignation of his government, saying "What I have feared the most has come to pass, we now have a governmental crisis on top of the economic one".
FT Guardian BBC Times IHT

Gordon Brown has been accused of leaving the British steel industry at a disadvantage to its European rivals. Appeals have been made to ministers to match subsidies by European governments to allow it to keep skilled workers. Philippe Varin, the Corus Chief Executive, said that without similar support, the outlook for British mills was "very serious".
Times

Serbia is to submit a request to accede to the EU by the end of June 2009. Euractiv reports that the country is yet to meet the final condition for moving to this new phase in the transition process; the extradition of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).Emportal Euractiv

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