Open Europe : Daily Press Summary

[Politics.be]

US voices concern about potential UK exit from EU;FT: New relationship with EU should be put to in/out referendumOn a visit to London, Philip Gordon, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe, signalled US concern about UK exit from the EU. “We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU...We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it.” He added that referendums tend to “turn countries inwards”.

Meanwhile, the FT’s editorial argues that “The national interest may well dictate that Mr Cameron – or a future government – codifies the relationship between the UK and a new bloc led by Germany and France. This should be put to a referendum on the basis of ‘in or out’.” In the Spectator, James Forsyth argues, “If Cameron is going to persuade a majority of his party to campaign for Britain to remain in the EU (there is as yet no majority for that position), he must bring back terms of membership very different from Britain’s current ones. Exempting the NHS from the working time directive, as William Hague has suggested, or limiting residency rights to those with a job or other means of support, would be the bare minimum.”
Times Telegraph Euractiv BBC Sun Sun: Leader EUobserver Independent Guardian FT FT 2 FT: Editorial City AM: Vinson Mail Spectator: Forsyth Spectator: Coffee House blog New Statesman: Behr New Statesman Observations: David Miliband Rzeczpospolita

Merkel warns that Cyprus will not receive “special conditions” on its bailout
Handelsblatt reports that the German government could look to delay any approval of a Cypriot bailout until after the Cypriot Presidential elections in mid-February, as the current communist President Dimitris Christofias has rejected any privatisation of public assets. Speaking yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that there would be no “special conditions” for Cyprus and that discussions on the terms of the bailout were “by far not over yet”. In response to Merkel’s comments, Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said that Cyprus was not looking for special treatment, only an “expression of solidarity – which is a basic EU principle,” according to Reuters.
EUobserver La Tribune Deutschlandfunk Reuters RP Finanzen.net Handelsblatt Zeit CityAM

Berlusconi: I’d re-negotiate the fiscal treaty in case of victory;
Monti: Talk of post-election alliance with the centre-left is “premature”
Silvio Berlusconi told Italy’s public broadcaster Rai Uno yesterday that, in case of victory for his centre-right coalition in the upcoming Italian elections, he would re-negotiate the fiscal treaty – even if that required a new vote in the Italian parliament. Meanwhile, Mario Monti has said that talk of a post-election alliance between his centrist coalition and the centre-left is “premature”, since many in the centre-left disagree with all or part of his proposed reform agenda. A new ISPO poll on the Italian elections puts the centre-left coalition led by Pier Luigi Bersani on 38%, followed by Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition on 26.7%. Monti’s centrist bloc is third on 15.1%, and Beppe Grillo’s Five-Star Movement is fourth on 13.2%.
Il Sole 24 Ore Repubblica Il Sole 24 Ore 2 Corriere della Sera 3 Corriere della Sera 4 TGcom ASCA Corriere della Sera Corriere della Sera 2 FT ISPO poll

Barroso and Van Rompuy signal support for Irish debt deal
In an interview with the Irish Times, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has signalled general support for a deal to reduce the burden of the Irish bank bailout. European Council President Van Rompuy’s similar comments after meeting with Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday.
Irish Times Irish Times 2 Irish Independent

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said yesterday, “The possibility of having treaty changes in the near future or present is not very high.”
Times Le Figaro Expansión
Handelsblatt reports that at the meeting of EU finance ministers on February 12, eleven member states will proceed with plans for a financial transactions tax through the ‘enhanced co-operation’ procedure, with a view to having it in place in 2016. The paper reports that all EU member states including the UK will take part in the negotiation process.
Handelsblatt

The WSJ reports that industrial output in Germany rose by only 0.2% in November, below expectations of 1%, suggesting growth towards the end of the year was limited.
WSJ

The Telegraph reports that Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury has revealed the cost of an MEP is £1.79 million compared with £590,000 per UK MP.
Telegraph

Spain has sold over €5.8bn of medium and long-term debt in its first bond auction of the year, with very strong demand and lower interest rates than in the previous auction.
El Mundo Expansión

Negotiations on French labour market reform are expected to come to a head today as the largest French unions meet with employers and the French government makes its final bid for a consensus backing broad labour market reforms.
FT WSJ

A new poll produced by TNS for Le Figaro has shown that only 35% of respondents trust French President Francois Hollande, down from 55% in June 2012.
Le Figaro
The WSJ reports that Portuguese borrowing costs have risen slightly this week as investors look to book profits from 2012 but also potentially to make space for new debt issued by Portugal as it considers returning to borrowing from the markets sooner than expected.
WSJ

The Greek parliament yesterday approved legislation which could see hundreds of state bodies closed in order to fulfil the requirements of the country’s bailout.
WSJ Kathimerini

Die Welt reports on the Czech Presidential campaign where two former Prime Ministers – the centre-left candidate Miloš Zeman and independent candidate Jan Fischer – are leading in the race to succeed Vaclav Klaus.
Welt
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said yesterday that he would offer his resignation after the Slovenian anti-corruption commission found irregularities in his bank account.
EUobserver

Bron: politics.be