Europe
Conservatives warn EU of "five year war" with Britain if Blair is appointed President;
Miliband declares "I'm not a candidate" for EU Foreign Minister
EU leaders are meeting in Brussels today for a two day summit at which climate change, ratification and implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, and the new roles of President and Foreign Minister created by the Treaty will be at the top of the agenda. Le Monde reports that France and Germany are seeking to "reassert their alliance", noting that President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel met over dinner at the Elysée Palace yesterday, to discuss their priorities for the summit.
Under the headline, "I'm your man", the Times reports that Tony Blair will stand for the Presidency of the European Union if its leaders agree that the role is a substantial one requiring clout on the world stage. In what the paper describes as "the clearest indication so far" that Mr Blair wants the job, allies acknowledged last night that he would be a "highly interested spectator" as European heads of government meet tonight and tomorrow in Brussels.
The FT notes however that no announcements are expected at the summit, and the formal selection process is likely to be put off for a special meeting of the EU's 27 national leaders, perhaps in the second half of next month after the Czech Republic has completed ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. On his BBC blog, Gavin Hewitt writes "There can't be many campaigns like this. There is a job out there with a great title, but no-one has yet decided what it means, and there is a fierce argument being fought over a man who is not yet a candidate."
The Mail reports that Conservative sources have warned Europe it will face a "five-year war" with Britain if Mr Blair is installed as President. The paper notes that one shadow Cabinet minister said there was no question of a Conservative government working happily with a President Blair. "The message is clear: you can have President Blair and five years of internecine warfare with Britain over Europe; or you can have another president and a good working relationship," he said.
Writing in the Telegraph, Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the Conservatives in the EP, argues "By his very nature, Tony Blair will turn the post of President of the European Council into something that the overwhelming majority of Britons do not want and have been denied the opportunity to vote for."
In the Spectator, Charles Moore argues that a Tony Blair candidacy would be excellent news from the point of view of the Conservatives, because "if they succeeded in blocking it, by indicating to European leaders that a new Tory government would find it very hard to work with Mr Blair, that would show their power. If they failed, they would at last unite their own party against the European bureaucracy. Even the few remaining Eurofanatics in the party would be galvinised to oppose whatever President Tony wanted."
The BBC reports that Germany has "cooled" on Blair, with the chief whip of Germany's Free Democrats - the junior partner in the country's new coalition - saying he would prefer someone from a smaller country. The Evening Standard reports that a German diplomat said that Chancellor Angela Merkel does not like the idea of "having to listen to Mr Flash all the time".
Open Europe's Sarah Gaskell was quoted by Slovak paper HN on the prospect of Blair being appointed EU President.
Meanwhile, on his FT Brussels blog, Tony Barber notes that, despite having no power over the decision, the European Parliament's socialist group has drawn up a list of six candidates to become the EU's new Foreign Minister, which includes Foreign Secretary David Miliband. However, asked by the FT about the possibility of him taking on the EU Foreign Minister role, Foreign Secretary David Miliband responded saying, "I'll be very clear - I'm not a candidate."
On his Die Zeit blog, Jochen Bittner describes the appointment of the EU top jobs as being as transparent as political appointments in Pyongyang.
Times Times: Poirier Independent Conservative Home: Centre right BBC: Gavin Hewitt's blog Times 2 Le Monde Mail Telegraph 2 Telegraph: Kirkhope Telegraph: Gardiner BBC Express Independent: Clarke Guardian: Garton Ash Evening Standard: McElvoy Irish Times FT FT: Leader Spectator Evening Standard HN FT: Brussels blog El País FT 2 WSJ BBC: Gavin Hewitt's blog 2 IHT Le Figaro AP Zeit Blog
EU leaders prepare to give Czechs Irish-style 'guarantees' on Lisbon Treaty;
French Europe Minister offers to take Klaus a "magnum of champagne" if he signs
The Irish Times reports that Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer has said that President Vaclav Klaus has promised to sign the Lisbon Treaty if EU leaders give his country an 'opt-out' from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Fischer said: "Yes I have this guarantee, I have this assurance from the president, from our meeting late yesterday afternoon. I have no reason not to trust him." European Voice says he will sign it if he gets the 'opt-out' and the Czech Constitutional Court rules in favour of Lisbon next week.
The Irish Times reports that Swedish diplomats will table a solution that closely follows the model of the 'Irish guarantees', which Taoiseach Brian Cowen was given in June. Under this scenario EU leaders will take a political decision to offer the 'opt-out', which will later be enshrined in the EU treaties when the next country joins the union in 2011 or 2012. However a separate article notes that "EU diplomats said yesterday that a deal on an opt-out was being negotiated but that it was still not certain given the extremely sensitive issues being discussed."
European Voice reports that Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced that Slovakia will not insist on an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights if one is granted to the Czech Republic. However, in the Irish Times Jamie Smyth writes that "Hungary is anxious about any opt-out that refers to property rights because some of its citizens were expelled from Czechoslovakia after the war. The fear in Brussels is that discussing opt-outs relating to sensitive historical issues will raise emotions and block a deal."
Meanwhile, in a speech in Ljubljana, French Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche said: "Everyone is committed to this Treaty being in place by 1 December... I hope we will have good news in the coming days and that in November we will get the President's signature. If the Czech President signs, I am supposed to be going to Prague anyway in mid-November, and I hope to take him a bottle of champagne. A magnum of champagne."
EU ministers will also discuss the establishment of an EU External Action Service, on the basis of a paper put forward by the Swedish EU Presidency last week.
Irish Times Irish Times European Voice Le Figaro WSJ French Foreign Office Euractiv
Germany and Poland the biggest obstacles to EU commitment to finance UN climate agreement
EU Ministers are set to face difficult discussions at the EU summit today over the financing of the fight against climate change. Euractiv reports that as the Copenhagen climate summit, to be held in December, draws nearer it seems less and less likely that the heads of state and government are going to be capable of presenting concrete sums to help finance emission reductions and climate adaption measures in developing countries.
AP quotes Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt saying "emerging economies are searching for the finances and without these they cannot take on the required engagements for emissions reductions". Whilst the UK argues that the EU should be spending €10 billion a year to help less developed countries go green, Germany does not want to commit to figures before Copenhagen. The Times notes that a group of nine eastern European countries led by Poland are also blocking the move, demanding to know exactly how much it will cost each nation before they sign up.
El País La Razon Lesechos Euractiv AP FT Times: Analysis
Senior EU Commission officials working for Mandeslon given tickets to rugby match by sportswear firm
European Voice reports that the European Commission has admitted that it should not have allowed two senior officials working for Peter Mandelson, the then EU Trade Commissioner, to accept VIP tickets from sportswear maker Nike to watch a rugby match in Paris. In September 2007, Nike offered two officials working in Mandelson's private office VIP tickets to see the opening game of the rugby world cup in Paris. The officials informed Simon Fraser, the head of Mandelson's office, who allowed the two to accept the offer. The two officials also travelled in a car provided by Nike staff from Brussels to Paris.
Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth brought a complaint to the European Ombudsman, saying that the two officials could be involved in a conflict of interest because they had been working on anti-dumping duty cases involving sports shoes made in China and Vietnam. Friends of the Earth pointed out that the Commission's own guidance for staff states that "as a general rule of thumb you decline all such offers that have more than merely symbolic value". The Ombudsman found that while there was no actual conflict of interest, there was an "apparent conflict of interest", and offered the Commission, as an alternative to a verdict of maladministration, a "friendly solution" that involved the Commission admitting that it should not have allowed the two officials to accept the invitation.
European Voice
EU Commission approves Northern Rock split
The European Commission has approved the restructuring and increased government support for Northern Rock, which will allow the bank to split off its toxic assets into a bad bank. But British taxpayers will have to inject a further £8bn to achieve the separation, the Independent reports.
Meanwhile, the Commission is expected to announce in the next couple of days what penalties it will impose on the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group for the state support these banks have received. Both RBS' and Lloyds' shares have dropped in the last week, amid fears that the Commission will land a tougher verdict than expected, following the penalties it imposed on ING which were widely regarded as unexpectedly harsh.
Times Express Guardian Independent Telegraph-Osborne FT FT 2
ECB's former chief economist: "The challenges facing the ECB are tremendous"
In the Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard looks at the contraction in the supply of so-called M3 broad money and the decline in loans to the private sector within the eurozone. He quotes Otmar Issing, the ECB's former chief economist, who told an Open Europe debate in London on Tuesday that "Nobody can be sure that we have a self-sustaining recovery. The challenges facing the ECB are tremendous. Money multipliers have collapsed everywhere. What M3 is telling us is that confidence is missing. I don't see any way to stabilise M3 in such circumstances," he said. At the same debate, Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research called on the ECB to buy state bonds to insure against a 'double-dip' recession. However, Ambrose notes that "any move to purchase EMU state debt would erode ECB independence and be viewed in Berlin as a monetary bail-out of Club Med countries."
Telegraph: Evans-Pritchard Open Europe events
A communication by the French Immigration Ministry reports that Eric Besson, France's Immigration Minister, met with his British counterpart Phil Woolas on Tuesday to inaugurate the creation of a joint French-British operational intelligence centre in Folkstone, UK.
French Foreign Ministry
The EU and the US have adopted a "statement" which signals a common will to deepen cooperation between the USA and the EU for "strengthened freedom, security and justice", with particular emphasis on cooperation between each other's law enforcement agencies, according to the Swedish Presidency.
Swedish Presidency Open Europe press release Open Europe research
Head of the EPP: Cameron should quit new group in the European Parliament
Commenting in the Guardian, Wilfried Martens, Chair of the European People's Party says David Cameron's decision to switch political groupings had left the Conservatives working "with a weak and very marginal group that has no influence". Meanwhile, reporting on the BBC's Today Programme, Political Editor Nick Robinson predicted disappointment for Conservative 'eurosceptics' as, once in power, Cameron will be forced to work with the EU to get anything done.
Guardian BBC Today Irish Times
MEPs try to block free EU carbon permits to heavy industry
European Voice reports that a group of MEPs is making a last-ditch attempt to block the special help that is being offered to heavy-polluting industries under the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS). Free permits to pollute under the ETS are envisaged for manufacturers of chemicals, iron and steel, cement, and lime. National governments, fearful that Europe's climate policy will damage competitiveness, asked the Commission to draw up the list of beneficiaries. The article notes that a majority of MEPs is required to overturn the list, which seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, the IHT reports that the European Commission yesterday proposed emissions limits for light trucks and vans, saying that that carmakers would not be permitted to use them as loopholes to increase production of sport utility vehicles as has happened in the US.
IHT European Voice Irish Times EUobserver
On her Mail blog, Mary Ellen Synon reports that according to accounts from the European Court of Auditors, the 26-week French Presidency of the EU cost £154 million, or £900,000 a day. The French Foreign Office has defended the spending, saying it was necessary to "bring the European Union closer to French citizens".
Mail: Synon French Foreign Office
The Austrian Press Agency reports that the Austrian State Secretary of Finance, Andreas Schieder, said that the EU Commission's plans for the new European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) do not go far enough.
APA
Der Spiegel reports that German EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen has described the nomination of Günther Oettinger as next the German EU Commissioner as an act of "disposal".
Spiegel Reuters
European Voice reports that Michael Izza, Chief Executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has warned the EU that it risks scuppering attempts to create a single, global set of accounting rules. It said "political interference" from some of the EU's national governments in the work of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) risked alienating the US, Japan, Australia and China.
European Voice
UK
The Telegraph reports that the Constitutional Reform Bill will make it possible - and plausible, say his supporters - for Lord Mandelson to one day become Prime Minister.
Telegraph
Lord Mandelson said yesterday that he intends to press ahead with controversial measures to cut off the internet connections of people caught downloading pirated music, films or television programmes.
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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