Open Europe : Cut through the chatter
 

Deputy Greek PM: Snap election or referendum are possible options if talks fail Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragasakis told To Vima yesterday that the option of holding a referendum or snap elections exists “in the back of our minds…in the event of an impasse” in talks with creditors. “There’s no way we would cross the red lines that we have set,” he added. Greece is being increasingly urged to speed up the implementation of key reforms. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told French TV channel i-Télé this morning, “What’s really needed now, and there’s no time to waste, is that the Greek government delivers the reforms it’s being asked for.” IMF Chief Christine Lagarde also made similar remarks in an interview with The Financial Times. Meanwhile, asked about the possibility of a Greek exit from the Eurozone, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told reporters in Washington, “If something damaging happens, it will be for Greece that it will be serious, for the Greek people, not for the other countries of the Eurozone.” Eurozone officials in the Euro Working Group will meet on Wednesday ahead of Friday’s meeting of Eurozone finance ministers in Riga. German magazine Der Spiegel reported over the weekend that Russia was ready to sign a €5bn gas pipeline deal with Greece. However, a Kremlin spokesman denied the report. Separately, in a new book about the Greek crisis entitled, ‘The debt colony’, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias accuses Germany of “financial nationalism which has led to financial racism against countries like Greece”, and draws parallels with the militarism of 19th century Prussia and Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Source: The Wall Street Journal The Financial Times AFP Le Figaro: Noyer Reuters France Reuters Die Welt Bild

Wohlgemuth: Brexit “far more dangerous” for Germany than Grexit
In an op-ed for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Michael Wohlgemuth, Director of Open Europe Berlin writes, “A potential Greek euro-exit has unleashed panic discussions and questionable action to save it. However, a plausible UK exit from the EU is far more dangerous.” He argues that “Germany would lose an important ally…and the German taxpayer, in particular, would need to compensate for the loss of the second largest net contributor to the EU budget.” Wohlgemuth points out that, “For Greece one is prepared, in the name of ‘solidarity’, to pay out massive sums of taxpayer money and also to push the boundaries of European law. However, when the UK in the name of solidarity calls for a fundamental review of the division of competences within the EU, Brussels sees this as outrageously ‘un-European’.”

Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Stubb ousted as Centrists win Finnish elections – eurosceptic Finns could enter government
The Centre Party (KESK) won the Finnish elections on Sunday with 49 of 200 seats – ousting Prime Minister Alexander Stubb’s National Coalition Party, which only garnered 37 seats. The Eurosceptic and anti-bailout Finns party won 38 seats becoming the second largest party in parliament. The Social Democratic Party; the Greens; the Left party; the Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Democrats won 34; 15; 12; 9 and 5 seats respectively.

The leader of KESK, Juha Sipilä, will now have to form a coalition – and has not ruled out joining up with the Finns. Finns leader Timo Soini said that if his party enters government, “I believe Finland’s policy towards Greece will change. It will change for the better, because it can’t get any worse.” Writing on the Open Europe Blog, Open Europe Director Mats Persson comments, “The new Finnish government is likely to be forced to make some unpopular choices given the state of the economy, and Soini may be forced at the very least, to compromise over Europe. Therefore, the Finns may fall victim of the “Lib Dem effect,” becoming the party that is seen as having sold out in power. Soini’s strong desire to enter government may thus actually weaken the Finns party in the long-term.”

Source: Open Europe blog Helsingin Sanomat Yle Spiegel Online EUobserver
EU ministers meet for crisis summit after 700 migrants believed to have drowned in Med
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has called for an emergency EU summit this week to address the migrant crisis following the sinking of a refugee ship in the Mediterranean with more than 700 suspected deaths. If the death toll is confirmed, it would be the deadliest in a succession of such shipwrecks – including one with 400 casualties last week. The tragedy is set to dominate a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg today amid what has been criticised as an inadequate EU response. A proposal released by the EU’s Latvian Presidency on Monday to launch a fully-fledged EU search and rescue operation may meet with opposition from national governments.

Source: Latvian Presidency press release Handelsblatt Reuters Deutschland The Guardian La Stampa The Times
Former IMF official: ECB acted ‘outrageously’ in Irish crisis
The Irish parliamentary committee conducting an inquiry into the country’s banking failures at the height of the Eurozone crisis will ramp up efforts to persuade the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to engage with it in the wake of comments from Ajai Chopra, the IMF’s former mission chief to Ireland, that the European Central Bank (ECB) pressed Ireland into committing to austerity. Mr Chopra, said the ECB acted in an “outrageous” manner. “The IMF staff right from the beginning was very much in favour of imposing losses on senior bondholders. The EU partners were dead against it, especially the ECB,” he said.

Source: Irish Independent Irish Independent 2
German Vice Chancellor: No one wants EU-US free trade deal "at any price"
Thousands of people in Germany took part in protests over the weekend against the EU’s planned free trade agreements with the US and Canada ahead of the latest round of EU-US negotiations in New York today. Speaking to Welt am Sonntag, Germany Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) argued that “No one wants TTIP at any price. And there will be no private and un-transparent arbitration panels.”

Source: Die Welt Welt am Sonntag
“If Ireland was given the choice of a country to drop from the European Union, Britain would be bottom of the list”

Writing in Ireland’s Sunday Independent, columnist Colm McCarthy features Open Europe’s research on the impact of Brexit on Ireland and notes that “with Britain out, a protectionist bloc led by France would enjoy a blocking minority under the EU’s weighted voting system. In the past, Britain, Germany and others favourable to freer trade have prevailed. Freer trade, particularly in the context of the deal on Transatlantic trade currently under negotiation, is important to Ireland. If Ireland was given the choice of a country to drop from the European Union, Britain would be bottom of the list.”

Meanwhile, Open Europe’s research is also cited by Stephen Collins in the Irish Times and by Bloomberg. To read Open Europe’s briefing, please click here.



Bron: politics.be