Open Europe : ^persoverzicht"

[Politics.be]

Germany rejects Greek calls for official sector to take part in restructuring plan;China mulls contributions to eurozone bailout fundsGreek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will hold a meeting with the leaders of the three largest Greek political parties today or tomorrow, in an attempt to garner support for a new programme of austerity measures laid out by EU/IMF under the planned second Greek bailout. The strengthening of the austerity demands came after the EU/IMF found a new €15bn budget gap, due to weakened growth prospects, according to the Telegraph.

Die Welt reports that Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has called for Greece’s official creditors, such as the ECB and national central banks, to take part in the restructuring of Greek debt, something German Economy Minister Philip Rösler insisted was “not currently on the agenda”. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that "no additional contributions from the public sector are necessary”. Separately, German magazine Focus reports that the Greek government has stopped paying out over 63,000 ‘phantom’ pensions, a move which ought to save around €450m a year.

The OECD has said that the current eurozone bailout funds are not large enough, particularly since they have “not found it easy to raise funds with low yields”. The OECD argued for the ECB to be given license to lend to the eurozone bailout funds or the IMF. The treaty establishing the ESM, the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, was signed yesterday confirming that it will enter force in July this year.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said yesterday that China is “investigating and evaluating concrete ways in which it can, via the IMF, get more deeply involved in solving the European debt problem through ”, although he stopped short of offering a firm commitment to a cash injection. It is likely that China will demand some concessions in exchange for financial support of the eurozone.

Spanish banks will have to raise €50bn in additional buffers to protect against poorly performing real estate loans over the next year. They will not receive any public money, but can apply for high-interest loans from the bank restructuring fund, which had its capital increased by the government. El Pa�*s notes that the €50bn figure could be an underestimate, as it is based on bank exposures from last June. PWC estimates that European Banks are looking to unload €2.5 trillion in non-core assets, suggesting Europe is set to face a massive deleveraging which could hit lending to the rest of the economy.

Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann has stated that his bank would not access the ECB’s long term lending, as it is tantamount to asking for state aid. Separately, the Irish Central Bank yesterday cut its growth forecast to 0.5%, down from a previous estimate of 1.8%, but maintained that Ireland would meet its deficit target for this year.
FT CityAM WSJ EurActiv Welt Welt 2 Süddeutsche Focus Telegraph Welt 3 Guardian IHT WSJ 2 WSJ 3 EUobserver FT 2 CityAM 2 WSJ 4 IHT El Pa�*s ABC Expansión El Pa�*s 2 FT 3 WSJ 5 FT 4 Irish Independent CityAM 3 EUobserver Le Monde Le Monde 2 Handelsblatt FTD FTD Handelsblatt

Chris Kelly MP joins campaign to end “outrageous EU money-go round”
Conservative MP for Dudley South, Chris Kelly, has joined the cross-party campaign for EU regional policy to be devolved back to richer member states like the UK. Mr Kelly cited figures from Open Europe’s report on EU regional spending published last week which showed that the West Midlands, which has the lowest disposable income per capita in the UK, paid £3.55 into the EU’s structural funds for every £1 it received back in grants. Mr Kelly argued that if the savings from Open Europe’s proposed reform “invested into UK regions, the West Midlands would benefit from an additional £137 million”. The report was also covered by the Southern Daily Echo.

In an op-ed in yesterday’s Yorkshire Post, Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope wrote that “Much has been made of the recent Open Europe on regional funding and, in particular, its conclusion that we, in Yorkshire and the Humber, would be better-off without a European funding mechanism at all. I do not agree with that contention… I am quite clear that the funding process, though flawed, is a vital ingredient in building future prosperity for our region.”
Open Europe research Southern Daily Echo Yorkshire Post: Kirkhope

Polish EU Commissioner: Poland was pressured to join fiscal treaty
Speaking to Polskie Radio yesterday, EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski said that Poland had come under pressure to sign up to the inter-governmental fiscal treaty, and that he had “enormous doubts as to the point of the enterprise, but it has come to pass because alongside the attempted repair of public finances there was a disgraceful strike on the current form of the EU, it was an evident attempt to divide the EU, even to exclude certain countries, as if to turn back the tide of enlargement.”

Meanwhile, the Irish Times quotes Trinity College Professor Gerry Whyte, according to whom the debt brake “of binding force and permanent character” envisaged by the new European fiscal pact could be unconstitutional in Ireland.

Separately, an article in the Economist runs with the headline, “The veto that wasn’t”, and notes that David Cameron “sometimes neglects strategy and long-term planning…It is an approach that works much of the time. But in areas of profound importance and complexity, such as European diplomacy, it can be inadequate to the task.”
Polskie Radio Open Europe research Economist Irish Times Economist Irish Independent Irish Independent: Coleman

On Conservative Home, Lord Flight argues, “It looks as if the coming major row between the UK and the EU will be about the EU’s attempts to damage Britain’s major industry – financial services…It is self-evident that no UK Government can afford to see this industry materially damaged by EU initiatives. This was the real significance of the Prime Minister’s veto – he was putting down an extremely important marker.”
Open Europe research Open Europe blog Conservative Home: Lord Flight

The Economist’s Charlemagne notes, “The EU’s decision-making is unintelligible to most people…Citizens are thus left feeling impotent. Their governments are eviscerated at home, yet voters lack the means to throw the bums out of Brussels. This is dangerous. Bringing debt under control and, more importantly, promoting reforms to boost growth will take years of sacrifice and suffering. It can be sustained only with a strong national mandate.”
Economist Economist: Charlemagne Express: Forsyth Telegraph: Warner WSJ: Fidler FT Editorial

A poll for ARD and Die Welt has found that 69% of respondents believe that Angela Merkel is performing well as Chancellor, while 61% believe she has taken correct and decisive action during the eurozone crisis, an increase of 11% compared with last month’s poll.
Welt

EurActiv reports that, in a letter to EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, the House of Lords’ EU Committee has argued that, in the 2014-2020 EU budget, direct payments to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be cut and the money re-directed towards the CAP’s ‘second pillar’ – which provides support for rural development.
EurActiv

A new study published on Thursday by environmental NGOs Friends of the Earth and Bankwatch, argues that 33 EU regionally funded projects in Central and Eastern Europe are “environmentally harmful,” reports EUobserver.
EUobserver

EUobserver reports that EU Foreign Minister Baroness Catherine Ashton has predicted that a big pro-democracy rally in Moscow this weekend is likely to have a strong anti-Putin message.
EUobserver

EurActiv reports that Connie Hedegaard, EU Climate Action Commissioner, has rejected calls to introduce a price floor in the Commission’s Trading Scheme, saying she does not want a “politically regulated system.”
EurActiv

MEPs are divided over whether the European Parliament should continue to handle requests for public hearings via committee filtering, or on a case-by-case basis, when the European Citizen’s Initiative comes into force on 1 April, European Voice reports.
European Voice

MEPs yesterday backed a report calling for national sports teams to wear the EU flag on their shirts. The document also proposes that the EU flag be flown at big international sporting events across Europe, although neither of the measures would be compulsory, reports the BBC.
BBC Express

The European Space Agency has signed contracts to purchase and launch eight satellites that will use the satellite navigation system company Galileo, which intends to become an alternative to the US GPS system.
European Voice Open Europe Research



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