Europe
Irish rerun referendum on Lisbon unlikely to be until after June
The Irish government is expected to rule out holding the Lisbon Treaty referendum before, or alongside the European Parliament elections in June, the Irish Times reports. The opposition parties have warned that the exact wording and status of the Irish "guarantees" may not be agreed with other European leaders before the Council meeting in June. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said an early referendum would be "a serious mistake", while Labour spokesman Joe Costello said that "The terms of these guarantees have yet to be determined, the legal wording has to be drawn up and the form and time of delivery have yet to be agreed."
Meanwhile, the Irish Times quotes Europe Minister Dick Roche saying, "I believe that a referendum which stands alone, so that the Irish people can make the judgment on the guarantees, is critical, that you can't actually confuse a whole series of issues - byelections, local elections, European elections, referendum." Czech Radio quotes Roche saying on the possible choice of October for a rerun referendum: "I'm not sure, but I would bet on it".
However, in an interview with Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin on Radio Praha, Czech Deputy PM for External Affairs Alexandr Vondra has been quoted saying: "For us it is important that the decision about the date of an Irish referendum is taken by June the latest".
Irish Independent Irish Times Irish Times-Hennessy WSJ ORF Radio CZ Focus Radio Praha
BMW job cuts prompt calls for early implementation of EU's Agency Workers Directive
The FT reports that unions have accused BMW of exploiting Britain's flexible labour laws after the carmaker cut 850 agency workers' jobs, at its Mini car plant in Cowley, in a way it could not do legally in Germany.
Tony Woodley, Unite's Joint General Secretary, said: "Sacking an entire shift like this, and targeting agency workers who have no rights to redundancy pay, is blatant opportunism on BMW's part and nothing short of scandalous. BMW's parent company couldn't attempt this in Germany because it would be illegal to do so."
The Guardian reports that Unite have demanded immediate Government action to protect agency workers. The article notes that the BMW decision has reignited debate over the EU's Agency Workers Directive, agreed last year, which is designed to give agency staff greater employment rights. Unite's Joint General Secretary, Derek Simpson, said: "There are currently one million agency workers in the UK who can be sacked without any notice ... The current inequalities between agency workers and full-time employees must end." PA notes that Simpson telephoned Business Secretary Lord Mandelson pressing him to introduce the Directive on agency workers so those affected by the Cowley cuts would receive redundancy pay.
According to PA, a Business Department spokesman said: "We intend to launch a consultation in the near future about how the UK will implement the Agency Workers Directive, which set out additional protections for agency workers on basic working and employment conditions - such as pay, holidays and overtime."
Adding, "It is important that we provide protections for working people without removing the important flexibility that agency work can offer both employers and workers."
FT Telegraph Mirror Times Guardian Guardian 2 Independent
Derek Simpson: ECJ decisions must be overturned in favour of a Posted Workers Directive that protects local wage rates
Reacting to yesterday's report from ACAS, over the recent strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery, Unite's Joint General Secretary Derek Simpson argues on Labour List that, "The ACAS inquiry has found that Total had not broken any law at the Lindsey oil refinery and that's the point. The law wasn't broken the law was wrong." He argues that, "The solution to this issue is for the EU Commission to overturn the ECJ decisions in favour of a Posted Workers Directive with that protects ambient wage rates. The PWD as applied in the UK at the moment only protects the minimum wage."
Times Times: Coates Labour List
Carbon price poised to fall further
The FT reports that the German government has begun releasing a new tranche of carbon emissions permits under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, and that traders are bracing themselves for a spate of selling. It also reports that the current second phase of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme is likely to see a shortage of permits, making it more costly to pollute, but a much smaller one than had been predicted.
FT The Parliament
Yuschenko: Ukraine and the EU have common interest in energy
Writing in the WSJ, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko argues that, "As significant net importers of energy, Ukraine and the European Union have a clear common interest." He goes on to say, "Across Europe, the pace of energy reform needs to be increased... Ending divisions in the European house is the only way to assure energy security for our citizens and industries for the decades to come."
EUobserver reports that bank analysts have predicted that Ukraine is heading for a historic default on its national debt, with the market pricing the probability of sovereign default at almost 90 percent.
WSJ: Yushchenko IHT EU Referendum blog EUobserver
Commission set to initiate deficit procedures this week
EUobserver reports that EU Economic Commissioner Joaquin Almunia will this week name the first group of states to receive disciplinary action from the Commission for breaching the Growth and Stability pact, saying "The rules were established for everybody and must be respected". The article suggests that France, Spain, Greece and potentially Ireland could be subject to action regarding excessive deficit levels, while Le Figaro reports that France and Spain will be warned.
EUobserver Figaro Spiegel
Flint: "There are no plans for a European army"
In an article for Le Monde, former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal has criticised French President Nicolas Sarkozy for wanting to reintegrate France into NATO's command structure when President Obama has stated his desire for a stronger and more united EU ally. She believes that joining NATO does not reinforce the case for creating an EU defence force, as Sarkozy has pointed out, but instead makes it harder "for an EU military capability to develop if NATO receives greater resources than any EU force."
Meanwhile, in a letter to the Guardian, Caroline Flint, UK Minister for Europe, has refuted the idea that an EU defence force puts NATO at risk, as Conservative MP David Davis has recently suggested. Flint went on to say, "let me be clear - there are no plans for a European army; no such army exists and John Hutton has never suggested it does. Nato remains the cornerstone of European defence and European defence policy is for EU member states alone."
Le Monde Guardian: Letters EU Referendum blog Synon blog
Difficulties for EU emergency 112 number
In his Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, Jean Quatremer has said that the recent launch of the EU emergency 112 number, is suffering from the difficulties of polyglot Europe. He notes that, "in the US, there is always an attempt to get somebody to answer in your language. In the EU, there are 21 centres that can communicate in English, 12 in German, 11 in French...but we don't know if any can use Slovak."
Coulisses de Bruxelles
Barber: EU has lost leverage to encourage reform in new member states
On his FT Brussels Blog Tony Barber looks at the Commission's recent report on corruption in Romania and says, "The corridors of power in Brussels still echo to the mutterings of policymakers who think Bulgaria and Romania, which became EU members in January 2007, were admitted too soon into the bloc. Once a country joins, so the argument goes, its fellow member-states and the EU institutions lose much of their leverage to make that new entrant behave better."
FT: Brussels blog Le Monde
Neurope reports that the European Commission has taken down its webpage on the "EU Circus Campaign" after a critical comment about the campaign on a blog.
Neurope Berlaymonster blog
EU leaders urged to buy corporate debt
The FT reports that the EU's employers' federation, BusinessEurope, has urged EU governments to consider buying corporate debt to stop businesses going bankrupt. The article reports that only the UK has so far taken the step of buying up private-sector debt outside the financial sector.
FT
Stephens: Conservative relations with Europe could turn to "deep freeze"
Philip Stephens in the FT looks at the Conservatives' foreign policy and argues that David Cameron has sought "warmer ties" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but if Mr Cameron should attempt to overturn the Lisbon Treaty, it would turn "relations into the deep freeze." Stephens goes on to suggest that "Mr Cameron should think harder about the wisdom of making enemies of natural allies."
FT: Stephens
MEPs in the Civil Liberties Committee will vote today to update the EU's rules for granting public access to documents. The Commission proposed revising the existing rules last year to take account of a series of ECJ rulings that found that the Commission had been wrong to deny access to certain documents, especially those that originated from member states.
European Voice
Commission succeeds in pressuring industry to standardise phone chargers
AFP reports that mobile phone manufacturers have agreed to product a standardised charger for mobile phones, following pressure from the EU Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen. Webwereld quotes an expert saying that this will bring along particular problems for the UK, where more differing chargers and voltages exist.
AFP Webwereld FTD
The Guardian reports that Gordon Brown is to make reform of the International Monetary Fund the centrepiece of a drive to make the G20 summit in April in London a turning point in the reform of the international economic order.
Guardian
Writing in the Telegraph the Chairman of Business for New Europe, Roland Rudd, argues that the European Commission is an "important bulwark" in preserving open markets and combating protectionism and that a stronger Commission is needed to "maintain the integrity of the single market."
Telegraph: Rudd
European Voice reports that France and Greece will be able to continue their ban on the cultivation of genetically modified crop maize, after a Commission panel of food-safety experts yesterday failed to reach a qualified majority on whether to allow the Commission to force the states to lift their bans.
IHT EurActiv European Voice
The Commission is to investigate whether 4 billion euros of support from the Spanish government to the car industry complies with EU rules.
European Voice
UK
The former head of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, has warned that the fear of terrorism in Britain is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties, and that people feel they are living in a "police state."
Telegraph Telegraph: Leader BBC
Preliminary bids approved for ten wind parks off Scottish coast
The Times reports that the Crown Estates, which owns the seabed out to 12 nautical miles from the coastline of the UK, has approved preliminary bids for ten wind parks to be built off the Scottish coast. If built, the parks could house hundreds of turbines and potentially supply energy for three millions homes, going a considerable way to meeting the Government's target for 15% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, which is part of the EU-wide target for 20% energy to come from renewables by 2020.
Times
Open Europe is an independent think tank campaigning for radical reform of the EU. For information on our research, events and other activities, please visit our website: openeurope.org.uk or call us on 0207 197 2333.
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