Open Europe press summary: 17 March 2009

Europe

Negotiations begin today in Brussels over the future of UK's opt-out from the EU's 48 hour working week
The Mail looks at the 'conciliation' talks starting today between MEPs and EU ministers over the future of the opt-out from the EU's 48 hour working week. In December, the European Parliament voted to scrap the opt-out, rejecting a proposal from the Council of Ministers which reaffirmed the right of workers to choose flexible working hours. Today's negotiations are aimed at finding a compromise. Crucially, the final decision on whether of not to keep the opt-out will be taken by majority voting, meaning that the UK could be outvoted.

The article cites Open Europe's report released yesterday, which shows that the Working Time Directive as it currently applies in the UK is already costing the economy nearly £4billion every year. Scrapping the opt-out from the 48 hour week would increase the cost to almost £12billion a year in lost wages and output. The Mail quotes Open Europe's Mats Persson saying, "The decision whether or not to work flexible hours should rest with individuals and families - not remote politicians in Brussels. This law combines the worst of all worlds. It's absurdly prescriptive, hugely expensive and takes no account of individual circumstances. It should have been confined to the dustbin a long time ago. Taking away the right to choose flexible working hours at this point in time would be disastrous." Open Europe's findings are also reported by the BBC and in the Western Daily Press, as well as on PA.

PA quotes Conservative MEP Philip Bushill-Matthews - who sits on the 'conciliation committee' for the European Parliament - saying: "The Labour government must instruct its MEPs to act in the interests of UK and EU workers to defend the opt-out. Scrapping the opt-out during the downturn is even more nonsensical than before and workers should be able to choose if they want to work longer hours to help pay the bills." Meanwhile, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said taking away the derogation "would be absurd", adding "we're determined to protect the opt-out. Our focus is on helping businesses and employees through these testing times - not making their lives harder."

A decision on the opt-out will be taken within six weeks from today. If no compromise is reached, the proposal from the European Parliament falls and the opt-out stays in place.
Mail Mail 2 Telegraph: Letters BBC Open Europe press release Open Europe briefing Open Europe blog

EU Single Farm Payment Scheme costs £742 to administer every claim
In a written Parliamentary Answer Jane Kennedy, Minister of State for Defra, has revealed that the average administrative cost of processing an individual Single Farm Payment Scheme claim in 2007-08 is estimated at £742. A further answer has revealed that 14,645 claims are under £400 in value.
Hansard Common Agricultural Policy blog

Barroso calls for "one voice" for Europe at the G20
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said that Europe must speak "with one voice" at the G20 summit in April or risk an even more severe decline, according to the Telegraph. He went on to say, "It is critically important not only for Europe, but for the world, that we have this success here in London."

Writing in the IHT, Paul Krugman argues that "unlike America, Europe doesn't have the kind of continent-wide institutions needed to deal with a continent-wide crisis...There's no government in a position to take responsibility for the European economy as a whole...Europe, in other words, is turning out to be structurally weak in a time of crisis."
IHT: Krugman Telegraph

Barroso "regrets" Conservatives' decision to leave EPP-ED;
Brown backs Barroso for another term as Commission President
There is further coverage of the Conservatives' decision to pull out of the EPP-ED group in the European Parliament. Commission President Jose Barroso is quoted in the Independent saying, "I regret this decision because in Europe [it is] the main political parties and the main political families that really shape the European agenda." Europe Minister Caroline Flint is quoted by The Parliament saying that the move will "weaken" Britain's role in Europe. She said, "Already people are coming up to me and asking what the Tories are up to. Others have expressed dismay at the decision. I wonder what people like Angela Merkel think?"

The BBC quotes David Cameron saying, "On the EPP, I just believe profoundly we have got to have in politics a sense that, if we say something in Westminster, we say the same thing in Brussels. I profoundly believe that we should be in the European Union but we don't want to see a further transfer of power from Westminster to Brussels."

Meanwhile, on his Coulisses de Bruxelles blog, Jean Quatremer reports that Gordon Brown reaffirmed his support for EU Commissioner Jose Barroso yesterday in London, saying that "I want to make it absolutely clear that we will support him not only as the current president of the European Commission but for election as the next president of the European Commission". The Independent notes that Mr Cameron meanwhile said that he had had a "very good" meeting with Mr Barroso and was "a big supporter" of the Commission's President.
Coulisses de Bruxelles The Parliament Independent Independent: Leader Times: Sylvestor BBC EU Referendum blog

Serbia in talks over emergency IMF loan;
Ireland rejects possibility of IMF bailout
The BBC reports that Serbia has begun talks with the IMF over an emergency loan of €2 billion, with the talks expected to last up to 10 days.

In an article for the FT, the Serbian Central Bank Governor, Radovan Jelasic, has warned that central and eastern European countries in crisis should seek internal economic reform and writes, "In the EU you are safe even if, like Hungary, you mismanage your economy. If you are not in the EU you are on your own."

Meanwhile, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is playing down speculation that Ireland may need a bailout from the IMF, according to the Guardian.
BBC FT: Jelasic Guardian FT

Nabucco pipeline removed from €5 billion stimulus plan
The Irish Times reports that the Irish government is pushing hard to persuade other member states to sign off on a €5 billion economic stimulus package at this week's EU leaders' summit, which would provide funding for energy and broadband projects.

EurActiv reports that mention of the Nabucco gas pipeline has been deleted from the stimulus package after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers yesterday, apparently at the request of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has insisted no public money should be spent on the project. However, the European Commission insists that Nabucco can still receive funding under the revised plan. "The fact that we have changed the name doesn't mean that Nabucco has disappeared. It's there with another name," said Commission spokesperson Ferran Tarradellas Espuny.
Irish Times EurActiv

The Brussels Sprouts column in Private Eye notes that with its plans to redevelop the centre of Brussels to become "the second most important diplomatic centre in the world" the European Commission can avoid putting out any contracts to a public tender under its own regulations. Instead, "negotiated procedures", which the column describes as "backhanders", will be used to award the contracts.
No link

The EU has announced a "civic caravan" program which will send a convoy of caravans to twenty-six locations across France over the period of about one month beginning in early May. It seeks to "promote an understanding of EU institutions, processes and issues, especially with younger EU citizens," says the 'caravan' website. The costs are not disclosed.
Toute L'Europe

MEPs postpone approval of EU Council's budget
MEPs voted on Monday to postpone approving the EU Council of Ministers' spending for 2007. The Budgetary Control Committee said the Council's administrative spending had become increasingly operational, and that Parliament should therefore have scrutiny over the Council budget. Reportedly, the Council has consistently refused to provide the Committee with information. Rapporteur Soren Sondergaard said that the vote to postpone was to show that MEPs took this issue very seriously but also to give Council the opportunity to provide the information requested before the April plenary session. As reported by Spiegel last week, the budget of CFSP High Representative Solana is of particular concern.
European Parliament Spiegel

Merkel: EU must "consolidate" before further enlargement
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the EU must "consolidate" first before accepting new member states, according to EUobserver. Merkel is reported to have said, "We don't want this, but no one is well served in a Europe that can't keep up with integration and takes on too many new members too quickly".
EUobserver

MEPs delay vote on food labelling law;
German butchers fear for their sausages
European Voice reports that the European Parliament's Environment Committee voted by a clear majority (26 to 10) to postpone a vote on a new food labelling law intended to inform consumers in detail about the health or foods. The debate has led to the introduction of more than 1,000 amendments.

Meanwhile, the FTD reports that after German bakers successfully saved their bread from "heartless EU bureaucrats", the German sausage is now endangered. A Commission proposal regarding nutrition value labels, which would have forbidden German multigrain bread to be labelled as "healthy", was successfully challenged through protests by bakers and MEPs.
European Voice FTD

Peter Riddell: Europe remains a divisive issue in British politics;
Denis MacShane: Reopen the debate on Euro membership
Writing in the Times, Peter Riddell notes on the issue of Europe "Over the next year we face a series of decisions, each of which could present problems for both Labour and the Tories." He questions what the Conservatives' plan to do if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force, asking what William Hague's talk of not letting it rest will mean in practice.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the FT, Former Europe Minister Denis MacShane said, "We can see the Euro is working, now Britain technically can't join tomorrow and it's not on anybody's political agenda...What I'm championing is a long-lasting and honest debate on it, because our policy on the euro for ten years has been to see no euro, speak no euro, hear no euro. That always was childish".
FT: View Europe Times: Riddell

Sweden fears a potentially "difficult" Presidency
Swedish EU Minister Cecilia Malmstrom has expressed worry that "two key players and very important partners of the presidency - the parliament and the commission - will not be fully operational until quite some time into the autumn," a loss of time that could dampen Sweden's ambitious agenda, EUobserver reports. Sweden plans to prepare a coordinated EU position for the Copenhagen United Nations conference on climate change taking place in December and is also hoping to achieve results on EU enlargement, notably by bringing Croatia's EU talks to an end and by opening "a chapter or two" of Turkey's EU accession package. Sweden will likely push other EU members to reach an agreement on a new President for the Commission by June to prevent any delays to its initiatives.
EUobserver

Independent: Curbing EU free movement rules would mean "economic suicide"
A leader in the Independent argues the case for free movement of workers across the EU. It argues that "All the migration restrictions in the world will not prevent our fellow EU citizens looking for and taking work in Britain if they want to. The only way to stop such flows is our withdrawal from the EU. No serious party recommends that for a very good reason: it would be economic suicide."
Independent: Leader

In an interview with Le Monde, former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin explains his hostility to Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to reintegrate France into NATO, expressing doubt that this would stimulate European defence integration.
Le Monde

Rolf Langhammer, Vice-President of the World Economic Institute, comments in Handelsblatt that subsidies, such as EU milk subsidies, create unfair competition and harm developing countries, especially in times of the economic crisis: "The poorer the countries, the more they suffer from the financial and economic crisis. Developing countries are seriously disadvantaged through developed countries' subsidies."
No link

Writing in the FT, Quentin Peel argues that "The Europeans are the greatest source of resistance to radical change" with regards to the IMF, following the G20 finance ministers' pledge to reform the IMF and increase its resources.
FT: Peel

The Telegraph reports that talks between the UK and General Motors Europe over a rescue plan for the company are moving quicker than in Germany, where talks appear to have stalled.
Telegraph

EU foreign ministers made a decision yesterday to suspend the travel ban on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, despite continuing concerns over his human rights record.
Gazeta Wyborcza Dziennik.pl IHT

EUobserver reports that a Directive proposed by the European Commission last July, which prohibits discriminatory practices in areas such as education and health care, has been endorsed by the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, and the Parliament is expected to vote on the issue at the beginning of April.
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.