Europe
Conservatives call on the Government to defy EU working time rules for doctors;
MPs vote for retention of individual opt-out
Last night in the Commons, MPs debated the EU's Working Time Directive. The debate focused on the impact of the Directive on doctors' working hours and retained fire fighters, but also on the wider issue of the potential end of the individual opt-out from the EU's 48-hour working week for the rest of the UK economy. Last year the European Parliament voted to scrap the opt-out, despite an agreement reached by member states. The Government is currently in 'conciliation talks' with the Parliament over the retention of the individual opt-out.
The Conservatives argued that implementing a 48-hour week for junior doctors would threaten patient safety by reducing doctor training and creating staff shortages. The Conservatives proposed securing a new opt-out for the health sector, allowing doctors to work as many as 56 hours a week.
Regarding working and on-call time for doctors, Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said, "We need to have junior doctors continuing to be able to opt out from 48 hours and go up to as much as 56 hours. We need inactive time on call not to be treated as working time so that these rotas can be given the proper flexibility."
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said that the Government had notified the European Commission of its intended "derogation" for more isolated parts of the country where there was a shortage of trainee doctors. He said that this would not amount to opting out of the Directive, but it would mean a maximum working week for certain disciplines of 52 hours.
Under current rules, junior doctors' hours are set to be reduced to 48 in August, with inactive on-call time counted towards those hours.
On the potential loss of the opt-out Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois said, "The now threatened opt-out is crucial to British business's ability to remain globally competitive." He cited Open Europe's estimate that losing the opt-out would cost the British economy between £47 billion and £67 billion by 2020. He also quoted a survey of 1,000 employees undertaken by the British Constructional Steelwork Association, which found that 90 percent favoured keeping the opt-out.
He criticised the Government for not properly assessing the impact of losing the opt-out, saying, "According to a study by the think-tank Open Europe, the reason, according to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is that
'no one expected the opt-out to come up for negotiation'".
MPs voted for a motion supporting the retention of the opt-out and noted the need to find a solution to the issue of on-call time in EU negotiations. They however rejected Conservative proposals for a new opt-out for doctors.
Hansard Open Europe briefing Open Europe research: Out of Control? Measuring a decade of EU regulation
Former Treasury adviser: UK authorities have been silent on European dimension on financial regulation
The EU Referendum blog reports that Sir James Sassoon, a former Treasury adviser to Gordon Brown, has said in a report, commission by Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, that "It would also be foolish not to recognise up front that critical new proposals on the future structure of European banking regulation are starting to emerge from Brussels. It is regrettable that at a time when Jacques de Larosiere has been reviewing the structure of European financial regulation and when European Central Bank (ECB) board members have been calling for the ECB to become the pan-European bank regulator, the UK authorities' voice has been publicly silent on the European dimension".
EU Referendum blog WSJ
MEPs seek to restrict the role of EU President envisioned in Lisbon Treaty
EUobserver reports that MEPs on the Constitutional Affairs Committee have approved a report calling for a narrow role for the EU President, a five year-post envisioned under the Lisbon Treaty. MEPs agreed that a President of the European Council should not speak for the EU as a whole on political issues. Instead the role should be restricted to representing the EU at leader level on common foreign and security (CSFP) issues, while the EU's planned foreign minister would deal with CFSP issues at ministerial level.
MEPs reportedly favour a stronger role for the European Commission President saying that this person would assume "the representation of the Union at the highest level in relation to the whole of the external relations of the Union," including specific areas such as foreign trade.
EUobserver
Commission to be taught how to make the perfect brew
The IHT reports that, following revelations that the European Commission had purchased 21 espresso machines costing 5,000 euros each, a settlement has been reached with the maker after Commissioners and staff complained about the poor quality of the coffee.
In addition to programming the machines to clean themselves automatically, the coffee machine manufacturer, La Cimbali of Italy, is organising training sessions for a representative from each Commissioner's office in order to teach them how to operate the machines. A lawyer representing the company, Massimiliano Mostardini, said the "friendly agreement" was covered by "strict confidentiality obligations."
IHT
EU allows cuts in VAT rate
EU finance ministers agreed yesterday to allow member states to reduce VAT taxes to 5% - by about one third in many cases - on a range of labour-intensive services, including restaurants, home-renovation and child/elderly-care. On his Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, Jean Quatremer wrote that yesterday's VAT reduction in certain industries will likely cost France "2 to 3 billion euros in tax revenue per year", which he argues is an ill affordable loss in revenue stream in the midst of an economic recession that is already gauging a deep hole in government budgets.
Irish Times Guardian European Voice EurActiv WSJ IHT Le Monde Coulisse de Bruxelles EUobserver
CSU and CDU differ on plans for European elections
FAZ and Handelsblatt report that the party manifestos for the European elections agreed upon on Sunday by the CDU and CSU makes clear that the CSU continues to distance itself from the CDU ahead of the elections. According to Handelsblatt, the CSU manifesto has a different emphasis from the CDU manifesto, pleading for binding referenda and direct elections for MEPs. Handelsblatt quotes the CDU manifesto: "Especially if new rights shall be transferred from the member states to Europe or when the European family shall be extended by further member states, an approval of the citizens is necessary".
FAZ Handelsblatt dpa
EU finance ministers reject US calls for increased government spending;
Growing rift could threaten a deal at the G20
The FT reports that EU finance ministers, meeting in Brussels, have adopted a policy document deflecting US calls for bigger deficit spending programmes. Alex Weber, Germany's Bundesbank President, is quoted saying "We have reached our limits...The expectation that we could neturalise this synchronized recession through short-term fiscal policy measures is false."
The Guardian reports that the transatlantic rift is threatening the prospect of a deal to handle the economic crisis at the G20 in April. The Times reports that the rift has been emphasised in an admission by Britain's most senior civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, that it was proving "unbelievably difficult" to liaise with the Obama Administration to prepare for the meeting.
Tony Barber, writing in the FT argues that the number of recent EU summits on the financial crisis are "without precedent in the EU's 51-year history." He quotes EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia saying, "If new summits take place without precise decisions and results, confidence in the capacity of these summits to solve problems will clearly diminish."
The Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown has said that the G20 meeting must produce a substantive plan to rescue the world economy or there will be "disastrous" financial consequences because the stakes have been raised so high, according to the Telegraph.
FT FT 2 FT: Leader BBC Le Monde Le Figaro Toute l'Europe IHT Times Independent Guardian FT: Barber Irish Independent Telegraph
French uninterested in European elections?
According to a survey by LH2 released last week, only 53% of the French population are interested in the European elections.
Coulisses de Bruxelles
Debate over French reintegration into Nato hots up
The Times reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to explain "to a sceptical nation" today why he is taking the country back into the core of the Nato alliance. Sarkozy is facing political criticism over the move, even within in his own party. Dominique de Villepin, a former Gaullist Prime Minister, has said that "closing ourselves into the 'Western family' would be to shrink our country, a renunciation of our diplomatic calling".
Meanwhile, the IHT reports that the US is still considering which candidate to support for the top post at Nato, dispelling reports that Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen already had sufficient support to win the seat.
Times: Leader Times Times: Bremner IHT Le Figaro
EU plan on rose wine causes uproar in France
The Telegraph reports that a draft EU plan to be put to final vote on April 27 would allow any wine producer in Europe to blend white and red wine to produce rose, rather than the "nobler" tradition of macerating red grapes for a few hours and bleeding off the rose-tinted liquid.
Telegraph
The Irish Times reports on the launch of Libertas in the UK with its Chairman Declan Ganley saying that he wants to bring "the EU back to its people". EurActiv also reports that Libertas will announce its French candidates for the European elections today.
Irish Independent Irish Times EurActiv
The BBC reports that a "secret" EU list of items banned from being carried on to aircraft has been declared illegal by the European Court of Justice, because passengers cannot find out what is on the list.
BBC European Voice
Credit rating agency Moody's has called for more differentiation of credit risks between eastern European countries.
WSJ
In an article on the BBC website Martin Livermore, Director of the Scientific Alliance, argues that "The much-vaunted European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has turned out to be an ineffective and costly piece of market fixing, which will not achieve its stated aims."
BBC
In an article for the WSJ, Lucy Davis, a trade policy analyst at the European Center for International Political Economy argues that the EU "is not practicing what it preaches" when it comes to protectionism, citing its application of anti-dumping duties on US biodiesel last week.
WSJ: Davis
Irish Central Bank Governor John Hurley has said that the ECB may have to print money to get out of the economic crisis, and he was in favour of it as "a legitimate operation, depending on interest rates".
Irish Independent
The European Commission has said that it will relax use-or-lose rules on takeoff and landing slots at EU airports during the recession. Under current rules, if airlines don't use 80% of their slots each season, they can lose the right to them.
WSJ
MEPs have by a huge majority voted against creating an EU-wide single market for online gambling.
EUobserver
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment