Europe
UK Government accused of caving in over proposals for single European financial regulator
EU finance ministers yesterday agreed to proposals for three new EU authorities with binding powers over national regulators to supervise the bloc's financial markets, amid growing fears that the new EU regulators will move key powers away from national supervisors and impinge on national fiscal sovereignty.
Several papers report that the UK Government gave in on some of the most controversial aspects of the proposal, including reversing the 'burden of proof' to justify actions in inevitable disputes over national sovereignty. Despite British objections, finance ministers agreed that in the event of a challenge over a decision made by the EU authorities, the complaining country must first get the support of a majority of Europe's 27 governments in order to block the EU's ruling, the Telegraph reports. The paper quotes an EU official saying, "The real concession is that burden of proof will rest with Britain, or the complainant country. It has to get a majority against the supervisor. It will not be a question of the supervisor having to get a majority to support it in a dispute with a national government. This tips the balance."
Qualified majority voting or simple majority voting will also apply along the decision-making chain, except following an appeal in cases where an 'emergency' has been called. However, this mechanism is only invoked when a crisis has been declared, meaning that in normal circumstances the European regulator can overrule national regulators. The existence of an emergency or a crisis will be decided by EU ministers through simple majority.
The Mail and This is Money quote Open Europe's Mats Persson saying, "The UK has lost out badly in the negotiations. The key thing is the UK can be outvoted at any time." Mark Hoban, the Conservatives' Shadow Treasury Minister is quoted in the Telegraph saying "Does the Government have a veto over any decisions made by the ESA [the new EU authorities] in an emergency that have a fiscal impact on Britain, or do they have to make an appeal against these decisions? This is another example of the Government failing to stick to its red lines." A lawyer at CMS Cameron McKenna is quoted in the FT saying, "We should not agree to more Europe until there is a fundamental change in the way regulatory policy is made and deployed in the EU."
Alistair Darling insisted that he had secured "safeguards" ensuring that Britain would be able to appeal measures that it regarded as "impinging on the fiscal responsibilities of member states." The French press quotes French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde saying, "It's been a laborious process, but I think that today Europe has made real progress in banking and finance matters... We are in the process of creating a real European supervisor." The proposal will now be considered by the European Parliament, which has to agree before the proposal can become law. Criticising yesterday's decision, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe leader Guy Verhofstadt MEP accused the Council of "trying to impose its own views and its own agenda" and said the proposal didn't go far enough, according to Euractiv.
Meanwhile, the 'war on words' between France and the City of London continues, following Sarkozy's comments last week that the British were "the big losers" in the new European Commission given the appointment of Michel Barnier as Internal Market Commissioner. Angela Knight, the Chief Executive of the British Bankers Association said yesterday that "Monsieur Sarkozy must surely recognise that he has undermined the EU with his statements and put a question mark over the impartiality of his nominated commissioner that will not be easily dispelled." An article in Le Figaro notes that Sarkozy's comments may have undermined Barnier's position, by casting doubt on the impartiality of his appointment. The Mail reports that Nicolas Sarkozy has cancelled a meeting with Gordon Brown, originally planned for tomorrow, while the FT says the meeting will go ahead.
Le Figaro Independent: O'Grady Independent International Herald Tribune Mail 2 Times Mail: Leader Mail: Oborne Guardian: Elliott Times: Letters Conservative Home: Lea Times: Fraser Economist: Charlemagne's notebook Euobserver BBC EurActiv European Voice Telegraph Telegraph-Warner Telegraph-Reece This is Money Europaportalen FT FT2 Guardian
EU social laws will cost £71 billion over next decade
The Mail reports on Open Europe's recent briefing which showed that EU social laws, including health and safety rules, will cost the UK economy £71 billion over the next ten years, even in the unlikely scenario that the EU will not introduce any extra social legislation over that time period. The cost comes on top of the estimated £37 billion cost of European social legislation over the previous ten years - representing 25% of the total cost of regulation in the UK over that time period.
The article notes that earlier this week Conservative leader David Cameron pledged to cure the 'national neurosis' caused by Labour's expansion of health and safety rules, and quotes Open Europe saying, "David Cameron is absolutely right to push for a more common sense approach to social and health and safety laws. However, any meaningful effort to tackle overly prescriptive rules must focus overwhelmingly at the EU level for the simple reason that a clear majority of our laws in this area now stem from Brussels, and without any change the cost of these laws will continue to go up. In addition to renegotiating existing EU rules which are deemed unnecessary, a Conservative government must also commit to stemming the steady flow of new regulations coming from Brussels every year which impose unnecessary burdens on frontline public sector workers and businesses."
Mail Open Europe research
EU outlines police exchange scheme to create "common culture" of policing
The BBC reports that the EU is planning "student-style exchanges" for European police and judges as part of its new five year justice and home affairs blueprint, known as the Stockholm Programme. EU leaders are expected to approve the Stockholm Programme at a summit in Brussels next week. The funding arrangements and other details are yet to be worked out.
In its policy brief on the Stockholm Programme, the European Commission said that the EU should aim "to train one third of European police officers and border guards in European affairs over the next five years." Meanwhile, an informal group of home affairs ministers, the so-called Future Group, whose recommendations laid the foundations for the Stockholm Programme, said the EU should create a "common culture" of policing.
BBC Open Europe press release Open Europe research
Ashton: EU Foreign Minister role is "brand new...I inherited a blank piece of paper";
Lord Mandelson reveals that he would have liked to be EU Foreign Minister
The EU's newly appointed Foreign Minister, Baroness Catherine Ashton, appeared before the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday for a question and answer session, before her official confirmation hearing in January. EUobserver reports that Lady Ashton often avoided giving any clear answers on foreign policy issues like the post-war situation in Georgia or the recognition of the newly elected president in Honduras. German Liberal MEP Alexander Graf Lambsdorff commented: "I do have to say we want more specific answers when you come back to us".
Lady Ashton said in her closing remarks: "This is brand new. I do not have an office, I do not have a Cabinet, I do not have a team. I inherited a blank piece of paper and at the moment I have written one or two small things on it." This is despite saying in the House of Lords, when she was responsible for guiding Lisbon through the House, that, "The proposal is that we have a high representative who becomes the vice-president of the Commission with very specific functions. That is a defined role within the treaty which is vested in one person."
Ashton added: "My office base will be in the Commission building. For two simple reasons: I know where the coffee is, and I know how that building functions, so I don't have to think about the logistics of that."
The Irish Times quotes her saying: "I won't pretend that I've got considered detailed views on everything because it was only last Thursday I discovered I was going to be doing this job and it's a day and a half in."
EurActiv reports that, when asked to comment by Lithuanian MEP Vytautas Landsbergis on the Nord Stream gas pipeline projected, Ashton left the impression that she was unaware of the fact that the pipeline was considered a pan-European project under the EU's 'Trans-European Networks' energy guidelines. Her performance caused an MEP from the Socialist grouping, Hannes Swoboda, to intervene and set the record straight.
A leader in Sueddeutsche Zeitung argues: "Ashton is still too weak to bolster EU foreign policy and to protect the EU external action service from going in the wrong direction."
Meanwhile, speaking to the BBC Today programme, Lord Mandelson revealed that he did want to become the EU's first Foreign Minister: "in other circumstances I would have liked to have done that job". He added that "it combines my interests in Europe and foreign affairs". He denied that President Sarkozy had blocked him from the job, adding: "Nobody blocked me, I'm afraid we didn't get to that happy stage."
EUobserver EurActiv International Herald Tribune Telegraph Guardian EP press release Irish Times FT Mail Times BBC Guardian Today programme OE blog
Javier Solana: EU External Action Service will have military as well as civilian personnel
In an interview with Le Monde, outgoing High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Javier Solana, defends the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton. Asked whether the new EU External Action Service, which he has previously described as "the world's biggest diplomatic service", will be complicated by rivalries between the Commission, the Parliament and the member states, Solana replies: "The service will be a new institution situated between the Commission and the Council. It will be made up of civil and military personnel." Asked about the priorities of the service, he says it will be interested first and foremost in neighbouring regions, in the Mediterranean, the East and Russia. However he adds: "It must also have in mind global action. We are not only an economic or trade organisation. I want, I hope, to put forward a political will to play a role in international affairs."
Asked if there is a growing gap between Europe and America over Afghanistan, Solana says: "I don't think that one can talk of a big gap with the United Sates: there are 30,000 Europeans deployed over there under the NATO umbrella. It is unfair to say that Europe's involvement is too modest."
Le Monde
Barnier pledges to interfere in EU Agriculture Commissioner's job
Euractiv reports that French Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier has said he will keep a close watch on the work of his colleagues in the European Commission, citing in particular the new Agriculture Commissioner, Romania's Dacian Cioloş. Barnier said: "He will be independent but I will give him my opinion," insisting on the need to "preserve farm regulations because feeding people is not a service like any other". The appointment of Dacian Cioloş, a Romanian who has claimed France is his "adoptive country," is seen as a victory for Paris, which supported his nomination.
Euractiv
French PM tries to designate 2 MPs to become 'ghost' MEPs
On his blog, Jean Quatremer reports that French Prime Minister François Fillon has asked the leader of the National Assembly to choose one MP from the ruling UMP party and one from the opposition Socialists to become MEPs, given that the Lisbon Treaty increases the number of French MEPs from 72 to 74. Quatremer notes that "the public authorities 'forgot' to alert voters" to the fact that under Lisbon they would get two extra MEPs when they went to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June. He says that, unlike the majority of other countries, France did not work out a method for determining which French regions would benefit from the extra 2 MEPs, hence the decision to pluck two deputies from the National Assembly.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Deputy Leader of the Green group in the European Parliament, has attacked the decision as a "stitch-up" between the UMP and the Socialist Party, while British Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff has said that the move is against the 1976 rules on the election of MEPs, which rule out designating MEPs from national parliaments. EurActiv reports that French Green MEP Sandrine Bélier criticised the plan saying, "It is a democratic aberration...How will these new MEPs be chosen? For their merit or because they are useless at the National Assembly?"
The Coulisses de Bruxelles blog notes that, because Germany stands to lose 3 MEPs under the Lisbon arrangements, and since it is difficult to 'deselect' MEPs that have already been elected, Germany will keep all its MEPs until June 2014, meaning the total number of MEPs will be 754 instead of the 751 envisaged by the Lisbon Treaty. Quatremer notes that, just to complicate things further, the decision to have more MEPs than envisaged by Lisbon requires a change to treaties and therefore must be ratified by all 27 member state parliaments. In December, EU leaders decided to add an ad hoc annex to the next accession Treaty, which will say that the new MPs cannot sit until 2012. In the meantime, the 'ghost' MEPs will have 'observer' status but will not be able to vote.
Meanwhile, EurActiv reports that the additional 'ghost' MEP for the UK has still not been decided, but sources indicate that the extra seat will go to the West Midlands region, meaning Conservative candidate Anthea McIntyre would be appointed. However, EP sources indicated yesterday that a row could still break out, because Scotland and London are seeking an exception to the existing rules so that their region would receive the new MEP.
Coulisses de Bruxelles EurActiv
Conservatives see donations surge from the City as concern grows over EU financial regulation
The FT reports that the Conservatives claim that the party has received a boost in donations following the Government's poor response to the slew of proposals for more regulation and supervision coming out of Brussels, which has been reinforced by the poor handling of the European Commission appointments. "There may have been from time to time issues [of Conservative policy] that some people felt uncomfortable about ... but the City is so appalled by the government now that they just want these people out," said Richard Spring, a Conservative MP, according to the FT.
FT
New report: EU's biofuels policy "borders on economic madness"
PA reports that a new report from the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has found that the EU is subsidising the biofuels industry to the tune of €4bn. The report's author Fredrik Erixon said, "Europe's biofuels policy borders to economic madness. It is costly and protectionist. It is designed to support European farmers rather than to shift Europe's energy consumption away from fossil fuels".
ECIPE report Open Europe research
Tim Montgomerie: Cameron's rating fell after he announced his new Europe policy
A survey of UK voters for Politics Home shows that David Cameron's approval rating fell from +36 on 18 September to +21 on 27 November. On Conservative Home, Tim Montgomerie notes that the fall in Cameron's rating coincided with his announcement that a Conservative government would not hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Conservative Home: Montgomerie Politics Home
Swedish unions ordered to pay damages after blockade against foreign EU workers
Swedish unions have been ordered to pay around €55,000 in damages to Latvian construction company Laval, a Swedish court has ruled, following a decision two years ago by the ECJ that the Swedish unions were breaking EU law when they engaged in a blockade against the Latvian firm which was refurbishing a school outside Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish unions claimed that Laval undercut local wages, but the ECJ ruled that the unions' demands were arbitrary and the strike therefore illegal.
Europaportalen Open Europe research
Nato foreign ministers are meeting today in Brussels to discuss Afghanistan, amid calls for Nato allies to pledge more than 5,000 additional troops, following President Obama's commitment for 30,000 more troops next year. Several members, including France and Germany, are thought to be reluctant to do so.
EUobserver BBC Sun
The FT Deutschland has a leader with the title "Punish Greece!" arguing that "Greek governments have disregarded the EU stability pact for years and thereby endanger Monetary Union. Because of that, harder punishments are now needed."
FTD: Leader FT WSJ
In an interview with LabourList former Europe Minister Caroline Flint comments: "One thing I became really aware of when I became Europe minister is that we have had a constant change of ministers in that role; what are we up to now, 12, 13? We've had two even since I resigned. I don't think that constant change is helpful."
Labour List
After a 'conciliation' agreement between the European Council and the European Parliament, the total 2010 EU budget has been set at €141.453 billion in commitments and €122.937 billion in payments.
EP press release
European Voice reports that MEPs are split along party lines over the EU's Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, with the Socialists and Greens pushing for tougher amendments and the Liberal and European Conservatives and Reformists groups saying they want to scale back some of the proposals in the report prepared by the EPs rapporteur Jean-Paul Gauzès.
European Voice Open Europe research
FT Deutschland reports that both Italy and France have expressed reservations about the reappointment of Luxembourg's PM Jean-Claude Juncker as Head of the Eurogroup.
Eurointelligence
EU import duties for shoes from Vietnam and China will remain in place despite fierce protest from Lord Mandelson and British shoe retailers. The tariffs usually add an extra £1.60 to the cost of an imported pair of shoes, with annual duties costing UK retailers £330m.
Independent Times
Euractiv notes that a report from the World Health Organisation has said that the Lisbon Treaty furthers the scope for EU action in health policy, for example by introducing legally-binding legislation where it identifies safety concerns in public health.
Euractiv
EurActiv reports that business groups have 'slammed' national parliaments for their failure to fully implement the EU's Small Business Act. They argued that the EU institutions must put more pressure on member states to comply.
EurActiv
The IHT reports that yesterday the French government won €700 million of EU support for farmers suffering from sharp price drops during the economic downturn. Farmers will be able to claim up to €15,000 each.
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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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