Open Europe press summary: 5 August 2009

Europe

Lord Patten declares he is "available" for job as EU Foreign Minister
The FT reports that former EU Commissioner Lord Patten has said that he would be "very positive" about the idea of becoming Europe's first Foreign Minister, a position which would be ceated if the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. "I'm not campaigning for the job," said the former Conservative Party Chairman. "But if I was approached, which I think is unlikely, I would certainly be very positive about it."

The article notes that if the Lisbon Treaty is approved, EU leaders are expected to begin horse-trading over the choice of a new EU President and Foreign Minister ahead of the Brussels summit at the end of October. A leader in the paper notes that the latter role "may well be the most important. He or she will have a seat in both Council and Commission, a big budget, and a fully-fledged diplomatic service to provide analysis, representation, and early warning. Of all the jobs to be decided this autumn, it looks the most attractive."

The paper reports that the "British effort" will go into supporting Tony Blair for the job of European Council President, noting that if Blair was rejected in favour of a lower-profile candidate Lord Patten might then feature among the list of potential foreign ministers. Lord Patten lacks an obvious supporter in the UK, although he reportedly has good relations with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.

Meanwhile, in the Telegraph, Irwin Stelzer writes that Blair "has no taste for the day-to-day management of a large bureaucracy, a fact that Gordon Brown used to shift massive tranches of power from No 10 to No 11. That can be left to the anonymous European Commission President, whom Blair would be quite content to see buried under a pile of paper and directives while he, the real 'President of Europe', as far as he and the world would be concerned, jetted about, shaping Europe into a global player."

The Irish Times reports that other potential candidates for the EU Foreign Minister post include Wolfgang Schüssel, former Austrian Chancellor; Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner; and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, former Nato Secretary-General.

Meanwhile French Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit has suggested former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer as a good successor to Jose Manuel Barroso as Commission President, Trouw reports.
FT FT: Leader Irish Times AFP EUobserver Telegraph: Stelzer Trouw Nieuws Open Europe: A guide to the constitutional treaty

EU AIFM Directive would restrict pension funds to only investing in Europe
The Telegraph reports on research by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) which estimated that the European Commission's draft directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers will cost the pension fund industry €25 billion. The article quotes Kathryn Graham, Director of Hermes Pension Fund Management, the executive arm of the BT pension fund, saying: "It is our view that there are unintended consequences that would directly impact investments." She added "We have two big concerns. First that the directive's passport system will restrict our choice of funds we can invest in. It seems we could only be able to invest in European based funds, for the first three years at least. The second concern is that regulatory costs will increase sharply and will be passed directly onto us."

City AM reports on AIMA's research and notes the response to an FOI request by Open Europe which revealed that "the Treasury refused to carry out a study into the cost of the EU directive, in direct contravention of its own guidelines which state it should carry out a so-called 'impact assessment' into EU regulation that could hurt British business."

Global Pensions also cites Open Europe's FOI request and quotes Open Europe's Mats Persson saying, "This is quite extraordinary given the impact the directive will have both on the financial sector and the wider economy." He added, "We support more transparency for this industry, but we believe the directive is mis-targeted, poorly drafted, inconsistent with previous EU law and quite protectionist."
City AM Guardian Telegraph Pensions & Investments Reuters blog Financieele Dagblad FondsNieuws FINalternatives OE blog

Legal & General CEO: EU Solvency II rules in current form would represent a "betrayal of savers"
The FT reports that insurers Legal & General have criticised the EU's current Solvency II rules, arguing that UK pension savings could face a sharp cut of 10 - 20 percent unless the rules are changed. Tim Breedon, the CEO of Legal & General, criticised the current rules which were approved by the European Parliament in April and called for amendments. He said "There is still time for common sense to prevail, but a sudden devaluation of 10-20 per cent is a threat," adding that "Allowing Solvency II to go through in its current form would be a betrayal of savers. We have got basically to the end of this year to get this right." He emphasised that regulators and politicians, including the Chancellor, have similar concerns.

A separate article in the FT notes that Legal & General will be one of the hardest hit companies by current Solvency II rules, "which mainly affect the UK because other European countries do not have similar private annuity markets." It adds that the rules are due to be implemented in 2012 and that they "oblige insurers to be more aggressive in marking annuity liabilities to market, increasing volatility on balance sheets and forcing them to raise capital levels."
FT FT Sun Reuters

On his blog, the FT's Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Gideon Rachman, suggests an Open Europe blog piece on the European Arrest Warrant as one for further reading.
FT: Rachman blog OE blog

EU Communications Commissioner set to become a Euro millionaire
Swedish daily Dagens Industri reports that EU Communications Commissioner Margot Wallstrom has earned almost €1.9 million during her ten years as a Commissioner and will receive another €1.9 million in retirement payments if she lives until she is 85. In addition she will receive €450,000 after taxes in a one-off payment before cashing in €8,000 a month after taxes as a pension for the rest of her life. Open Europe calculated the cost of EU Commissioners' pensions and golden payoffs in March this year.
Dagens Industri SR OE Press Release OE blog

EU working time rules force NHS in Scotland to hire extra staff
The BBC reports that the NHS in Scotland has had to employ more than 150 extra staff to help cope with a reduction in the number of hours junior doctors can work due to the EU's Working Time Directive (EWTD). On 1 August, rules within the EWTD reducing junior doctors' hours to a maximum of 48 per week came into force. NHS Grampian said employing 60 extra staff was part of the reason it was facing a £900,000 financial deficit this year.

Open Europe has calculated that, combined with the existing regulations on doctors' working hours, handed down by the European Court of Justice, the new cap on junior doctors' hours could cost the NHS the equivalent of 5,400 new doctors, or between £143 million and £293 million.
BBC Open Europe press release

New poll shows a majority in Iceland against joining EU
A new Capacent Gallup poll published in the Icelandic daily Morgunbladid has found that, in a poll of 1,273 people, a majority of 48.5 percent is now opposed to entering the EU, 34.7 percent of people are in favour and 16.9 percent are undecided. In May, 38.6 percent was opposed to EU membership, 39 percent of people were in favour and 22.4 percent were undecided.

Meanwhile the Telegraph reports that the Serious Fraud Office in the UK has intensified its enquiries into the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing, following the leak of its loan book to the Wikileaks website over the weekend.
Telegraph: Hannan blog EUobserver Morgunbladid Telegraph

Business urges Government to rethink EU Directive with no additional benefits
The Telegraph reports that the manufacturers' organisation EEF has asked Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper to press the EU to think again about the Artificial Optical Radiation Directive. The Directive is due to be introduced in April 2010, but the Health and Safety Executive has said that it will bring no additional benefits to British companies, and could cost business £50 million to implement.
No link

German Green Party backs CSU approach in law to protect German Parliament
Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports that the German Green Party is supporting the CSU position in requiring a tough law to protect the German Parliament in the EU decision making process, as required by the German Constitutional Court. Green parliamentary spokesperson on EU matters, Rainder Steenblock, said that the parties are "close to one another". The Greens in particular back the CSU demand that Bundestag statements should be generally binding on the German government, except in the case of "key foreign and integration policy reasons".

Steenblock also underlined that a strengthening of the German Parliament's powers over EU politics has always been important for the Greens. However, in contrast to the CSU who demand to enshrine the binding nature of parliamentary statements in the German constitutional law, Steenblock pointed out: "we don't think an amendment of the constitutional law is necessary".
Sueddeutsche

EU investigates €650 million cash injection for a German savings bank
According to the FT Deutschland, the EU is investigating the Sparkasse Köln/Bonn bank over €650 million in financial support received in December from shareholders including the cities of Koln and Bonn. FTD cites insiders from the Commission saying, "The Commission wants to ensure that the capital injection does not distort competition and the Sparkasse has a sustainable business model".
Financial Times Deutschland

60% of Irish MPs and Senators believe corruption is present in Irish politics
The Irish Independent reports that more than sixty percent of Irish MPs and Senators believe that corruption is present in Irish politics, according to a survey by the University of Delaware. 25.3 percent of MPs and Senators surveyed believed that "a few" of their fellow politicians are involved in corruption, and 37.3 percent felt that a greater number than a few, being "some", were cynically in politics for what they could get out of it for themselves. 28.2 percent thought "almost none" were involved in corruption.
Irish Independent

Bruno Le Maire announces support plan for fruit and vegetable industry;
Farmers still refusing to pay back subsidies
Les Echos reports that Bruno Le Maire, French Minister for Agriculture, affirmed yesterday that French farmers must pay back the subsidies received between 1992 and 2002, but also announced a new plan for short and longer term support for the industry. He commented saying, "I will fiercely defend the interests of producers; however, I will not make any decision which is not compatible with European legislation".

Meanwhile, Les Indiscrets reports that, despite Le Maire's promise, farmers are still refusing to pay back the estimated €500 million in subsidies and that they are maintaining pressure on the French government.
Le Figaro Le Figaro Le Monde Les Indiscrets Bloomberg Les Echos Liberation Liberation 2 Liberation 3

Liberation reports that the European Commission has also asked that the French fishing industry pay back €65 million in subsidies. These subsidies were given between 2004 and 2006 to help fishermen absorb the raise in fuel prices.
Liberation

GP Dr Sarah Wollaston won the Conservatives' open primary contest to select a parliamentary candidate in Totnes, Devon yesterday. PA reports that during her campaign, Dr Wollaston said she was "fiercely opposed to Britain becoming swallowed up by a European super-state".Mail Independent

The Irish Independent reports that former Irish MEP Kathy Sinnott, who lost her seat in the June elections, has insisted that a golden handshake worth more than €50,000 would help her "put food on the table". The article also reported that the former MEP received expenses worth €351,389 on top of her €100,191 MEP salary last year.
Irish Independent

An opinion piece in the Independent considers whether Hugo Chavez is guilty of wielding excessive power in Venezuela and writes "Opponents criticised him for having a second referendum on the subject after the first one failed. (A trick he perhaps learned from the EU's second plebiscite in Ireland over the Lisbon treaty)."
Independent

EUobserver reports that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called for EU and US help to prevent a renewal of fighting with Russia, three days before the one year anniversary of the war between the countries
EUobserver Le Figaro BBC

The WSJ reports that Northern Rock will fall £1 billion short of its target for mortgage lending in 2009, and said its increased lending, on commercial terms, couldn't start until it received a new Government loan after its restructuring, which is waiting on EU approval.
WSJ Independent

An analysis in the FT looks at the upcoming German elections and suggests that, while victory for Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party is likely, a third of voters are expected to make their decision on who to vote for in the final week of the campaign.
FT: Benoit

The Irish Times reports that the Professional Insurance Brokers' Association (Piba) has said that despite the European Commission publicising the existence of a €1.1 billion Europe-wide fund in June to support small and medium size businesses, no Irish business had been able to avail of a loan with the backing of the fund and Piba Chairman Michael Hoare said the fund was "non-existent".
Irish Times

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