Open Europe press summary: 15 May 2009

Europe

Shadow Europe Minister asks Gordon Brown: What is the point of a European election manifesto if you break the promises in it?
El País reports that Gordon Brown launched Labour's European election campaign in Derbyshire yesterday, warning that Britain risks losing jobs and influence in the EU if 'eurosceptic' parties do well in the June elections. Brown said that 3 million jobs depend on the EU and 60 percent of British exports go to the 27 member states. Brown said "You don't walk away and isolate yourself from Europe" and that "being outside Europe is a threat to jobs in this country."

PA quotes Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois asking, "What is the point of Gordon Brown launching a European election manifesto when he broke his main promise on Europe in his General Election manifesto?...Labour's EU promises cannot be taken seriously while they are denying people their say on the renamed EU Constitution."

Meanwhile, the Green Party have also launched their campaign for the European elections, and have pledged to offer voters an alternative to parties which are "mired in sleaze", according to the BBC.

A new YouGov/Sun poll asking voters how they would vote in the EU elections in June has found that the Conservatives are on 29 percent, Labour are on 20 percent, Lib Dems are on 19 percent, UKIP are on 15 percent and the Green party are on 6 percent.

However, writing on his Telegraph blog, MEP Dan Hannan reports that a new YouGov poll in Saturday's Sun will put Labour and UKIP on level pegging at 19 percent.
Reuters Guardian El Pais Independent BBC Sun Guido Fawkes blog Telegraph: Hannan blog EurActiv BBC 2

New poll shows 70% of Germans want the Lisbon Treaty to be re-negotiated
Neues Deutschland reports that there is some speculation that judges on the German Constitutional Court might decide to call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. According to a poll of voters initiated by the Left party in the German Bundestag, 70 percent of the respondents want the Lisbon Treaty to be re-negotiated and another poll undertaken by the Institute Forsa says that 73 percent of Germans agree that "the EU takes too many powers from Germany".
Neues Deutschland

Irish MEP: EP has equal say with member states on 80% of legislation
The Irish Times has an article looking at the European Parliament, and quotes Irish Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle saying, "We have far more say than media commentators or much of the public think we do. About 80 per cent of European legislation is now passed via co-decision, which means we have an equal say with member states." The article reports that if the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, MEPs will extend their reach to cover 90-95 percent of policy areas, including the sensitive areas of justice and home affairs.
Irish Times Open Europe research

New poll: 60% of Germans and 64% of Britons don't trust the EU to combat the economic crisis
A new YouGov/E!Sharp poll reveals that neither the German nor the British public have much faith in the EU taking "the right decisions to tackle the current recession". 60% of Germans do not trust the EU to combat the economic crisis, while 64% of Britons agree.

Meanwhile, El Mundo and the FT report that Germany is suffering its deepest recession since the Second World War. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has announced the deficit will exceed €50bn in 2009, rising to €90bn next year. Meanwhile, EUobserver reports that the eurozone economies "will contract by twice as much this year as previously predicted", and that Spain has been one of the worst affected by the economic downturn, with unemployment at 17.4% in March.
E!Sharp Le Figaro El Pais El Mundo EUobserver FT BBC WSJ

Open Europe's Stephen Booth is quoted in Portugal's Diario de Noticias discussing the allegations surrounding the head of the EU's judicial co-operation body Eurojust, José Luís Lopes da Mota.
Diario de Noticias

Barroso: Abstention in EP elections allows "eurosceptics and extremists to take over our debate"
El Mundo reports that during a conference in Madrid yesterday José Manuel Durão Barroso, the President of the European Commission, expressed his concern over low turnout in the elections, saying "the risk of abstention is that it allows eurosceptics and extremists to take over our debate and our future".

Barroso said he was confident that Ireland would vote Yes in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum and that Spain would be implementing the Treaty during its Presidency of the EU, which starts in January 2010.

He also discussed the relationship between the EU and Turkey, adding that "Turkey isn't ready to be integrated into the EU, and nor is the EU to accept it" and that Turkey's entry into the EU "will not occur during the next Commission mandate"
El Mundo ABC ABC 2

EU Commissioner: Lisbon Treaty could lead to EU sports programmes worth "tens of millions of euros per year"
Euractiv features an interview with Jan Figel', the EU Commissioner responsible for sport. The article notes that when asked about the scope of the upcoming EU sports programme that will be developed if and when the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, he said, it was difficult to say now, but that the programme could run into "tens of millions of euros per year".
EurActiv

Juncker to resign as President of the Eurogroup in despair at France and Germany
President of the Eurogroup, Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker, is expected to announce his resignation from the office within a month, Challenges reports. The article notes that Juncker is particularly dissatisfied with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's desire for member states to direct monetary policy, as well as the German initiative to place Luxembourg on the OECD 'grey list' of tax havens.

Le Monde reports that if French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde remains in her position and does not become a European Commissioner, there is a strong possibility that she will take over from Juncker to become President of the Eurogroup.
Challenges Le Monde

New EP Conservative grouping could include Libertas, according to ODS
The Times reports that a senior MEP confirmed yesterday that the Conservatives had signed up pledges from the requisite seven countries to form a new group in the European Parliament after next month's elections, to be called the "European Conservatives and Reformists". The paper reports that the grouping is set to include the ruling Czech ODS party, the Polish Law and Justice party and the Latvian, For Fatherland and Freedom party.

Jan Zahradil, the head of the Czech ODS delegation in Brussels, reportedly told EUobserver that the new group is also interested in taking in MEPs from the Libertas party, if Libertas politicians did not have enough MEPs to form a new grouping after the elections. He is quoted saying, "I believe we can negotiate on some of the political issues that are now being discussed within Libertas. My feeling is, they will not make it in seven countries. If they cannot establish their own group, in my opinion this [taking in Libertas MEPs] is perfectly negotiable".
Times EUobserver

Commission will not take action against France over internet piracy law
EUobserver reports that the European Commission will not launch any legal action against Paris after the French Senate approved the government's 'three strikes' bill on internet piracy this week. The law allows authorities to cut off internet access to users found to be repeatedly downloading copyright content without the permission of the owner without a legal hearing.

On 6 May the European Parliament attached an amendment to a piece of legislation dealing with the liberalisation of telecommunications in the EU requiring that cut-off to the internet only be imposed after the acquisition of a court order. However, because the EU legislation has not yet been passed by member state governments Paris is not in contravention of EU law.
EUobserver

Commission proposal could "stifle" video games industry
The BBC reports that the future of video games development has been called into question after the EU Commission suggested developers provide a two year guarantee. EU Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva reportedly want to expand the EU Sales and Guarantees Directive. At present, licensed software is exempt from EU legislation that forces firms to offer "a minimum 2-year guarantee on tangible movable consumer goods".

"If there is an onus on developers to have software that is 'near perfect' then it could stifle new ideas as people could end up just playing it safe," said Dr Richard Wilson, head of the video games developers' association Tiga.
BBC

Declan Ganley: "Our aim is 100 MEPs"
In an interview with FAZ, Libertas Chairman Declan Ganley has spoken with confidence regarding a victory for Libertas in the European elections: "Our aim is to provide 100 MEPs. No matter whether they are passionate Europeans according to Brussels' definition or Euroliberals or Eurosceptics, they all end up at Libertas. In Brussels, they all say the democratic deficit had to be bridged. Libertas is the bridge".

When asked by FAZ whether he wants to enter the European Parliament as "Mr No", Ganley replied "No. I want to become Mr. Democracy or Mr. Europe. At the moment, there is a tyranny of the mediocrity in Europe". Ganley also said, "It is definitely undemocratic, if governments annul a democratic vote, such as in France and the Netherlands, where countries rejected the Constitutional Treaty and are then not even asked on Lisbon anymore. It is definitely undemocratic to tell the Irish in a Hugo Chávez manner: You have to vote again because we didn't like the result".
FAZ

According to an article in Stern titled "suing for luxury", several MEPs are legally challenging the European Parliament's decision to raise the age, from 60 to 63, when MEPs can take their controversial 'second pension'.
Open Europe blog

Charlemagne: Commission freezing aid to Bulgaria was "deeply political"The Economist's Charlemagne column looks at the European Commission's decision to unfreeze €115 million in aid for Bulgaria, suspended last year over Sofia's failure to properly tackle corruption. The article argues that this "was a deeply political experiment--nothing less than an attempt to claw back leverage over governments after they entered the union", while warning that "plausible political consequences could range from a reformist revolution to a slide into nationalism".

Meanwhile, Bulgarian daily Sega, comments that, "if there is anything valuable at all about Bulgaria's EU membership, it's not the foreign money but the common rules. No matter how much European money now flows into the country, Bulgaria won't be able to alter its Mafiosi reputation because the money always falls into the same stealing hands. Brussels has failed in its attempt to bind these hands. It should accept this disgrace and not mock citizens who still want to believe in the rule of law".
Economist: Charlemagne Eurotopics Sega Novinite

Danish MEP: Sweden, Denmark and Finland are more clever than Bulgaria and Romania
On his FT blog, Tony Barber outlines the basic role of the EP, and also quotes Danish MEP and Deputy Leader of the UEN EP grouping Mogens Camre saying, "When I look at the voting rules, I see that countries like Bulgaria and Romania have many more votes than Denmark and Sweden and Finland, and I think - honestly speaking - that we are more clever than they are. We have much more transparency, democracy and social welfare. And we don't think that people who did not create healthy societies should decide for us."
FT: Brussels blog E!Sharp

In a study commissioned by the Dutch government, six European Professors have urged for reforms to the EU budget, ending direct aid to farmers and sending EU money to poor regions in rich EU countries.
NRC Handelsblad Copenhagen Consensus Center

Former President of the European Parliament Pat Cox has emerged as the new favourite to replace Charlie McCreevy as Ireland's EU Commissioner this autumn.
Irish Independent

The Irish Independent reports that Irish European Affairs Minister Dick Roche yesterday insisted the government would not repeat the "fundamental mistakes" of last year's referendum campaign on the Lisbon Treaty.
Irish Independent

A leader in the FT argues in favour of a US-style 'stress test' for Europe's banks, asserting that a clean bill of health for Europe's sound banks will attract private investment.
FT: Leader

A leader in the Economist accuses MEPs of being "breathtakingly hypocritical" in their decision to ban the trade in seal products, and argues that if they were really interested in animal welfare, they might "look rather more closely at the farming industry that the European Union so lavishly rewards with subsidies."
Economist: Leader

Vodafone has abolished roaming charges for British customers travelling in Europe in the first move in an expected price war between mobile phone companies following EU Commission caps on roaming charges for phone calls.
Times

The European Commission has warned several budget airlines that it will fine companies that continue to mislead customers over the full prices of fares on their websites.
Irish Independent EUobserver
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