Open Europe Fortnightly Newsletter

[Politics.be]

Liam Fox and Boris Johnson point to emerging public consensus on a new EU-UK relationship centred on the single market;Speaking at a joint Open Europe-RUSI event, formerDefence Secretary the Rt. Hon Dr Liam Fox argued that:“I believe that a new consensus is beginning to buildinside the UK… politicians are [increasingly] beginning to catch up with the public’s attitude which points towardsa new, looser and largely economic relationship with the European Union.” The event was covered by the Mail, the IHT and the Spectator’s Coffee House blog

Writing in the Times, Lord Leach, Chairman of Open
Europe, set out a new vision for the EU which would be “a
neighbourly alliance, partly federal, partly by treaty between independent states, in which those who want to share a currency and economic sovereignty and those who just want co-operation would be equally welcome.” He argues that “If Britain pulls out of the EU, that will be as much due to our condescending Eurozealots…as to UKIP. Both alike tell us that radical change in the European structure is out of the question.”

Meanwhile, ahead of David Cameron’s long-awaited speech on Europe, London Mayor Boris Johnson also called for a "pared down" UK-EU relationship. Open Europe’s Christopher Howarth argued in City AM that: "The single market, not the euro, is the EU’s ‘core’ project.” BBC Newsnight cited Open Europe research on UK-EU trade and Open Europe’s finding that EU regulation cost the UK economy £19bn in 2009.

Banking Union deal sets precedent that eurozone should not write the rules for the rest - as proposed by Open Europe
The UK, Sweden and the Czech Republic have made it clear they will not take part in eurozone plans for a banking union, following EU finance ministers’ deal to allow the European Central Bank to become an EU bank supervisor. Open Europe’s flash analysis of the deal noted that the move to new ‘double majority’ voting rules in the European Banking Authority – an idea first proposed by Open Europe in a report published in December 2011 – illustrates “that the UK and other eurozone ‘outs’ aren’t faced with an ‘all or nothing’ choice, there is a road between joining the euro and ‘isolation’.” Open Europe’s analysis was cited by the FT, while Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel was quoted by AFP as saying the deal on voting at the EBA was favourable to the UK.

Open Europe research, published before the agreement on ECB supervision, notes that with bank assets in the EU totalling over €47 trillion, or 366% of EU GDP, there are huge challenges in reaching agreement on a common fiscal backstop for the banking union – the crucial next stage, which EU leaders have put off until next year. Open Europe Director Mats Persson was quoted by the IHT as saying that the eurozone “continues to operate on a hopelessly optimistic time scale.”



Mats also discussed the banking union on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight, BBC Radio 5
Live’s Wake up to Money, BBC Radio 5 Live’s Drive show, on his Telegraph blog and was
quoted by the Times, while Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe was interviewed by ITV. The report
was also cited by Capital.gr and DWN.

Open Europe events: Britain, Germany and the EU
At an event held jointly with the German Embassy in London, Otto Fricke, German FDP MP and budgetary spokesman, Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MP, Dr. Markus Kerber, Chief Executive of the German Federation of Industry (BDI), and Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of TheCityUK discussed the role
Britain and Germany could play in the future of
Europe. Click on the 'Play' button to watch a
round-up of the event.
In Brussels, Open Europe hosted a
separate discussion with and Friedrich Naumann Foundation on UK-German approaches to the EU, featuring FDP MP and foreign affairs spokesman Rainer Stinner, and Conservative MEP Vicky Ford.

Berlusconi’s manoeuvring sees political uncertainty return to Italy
Following his party’s withdrawal of its parliamentary support for Mario Monti’s caretaker administration, Silvio Berlusconi announced that he could again run for Italian Prime Minister in next February’s general elections. Open Europe’s Vincenzo Scarpetta appeared on Al-Jazeera English’s Inside Story, and was quoted in the Times discussing Berlusconi’s potential strategy. Vincenzo also had an op-ed in City AM, while Open Europe’s blog post on the subject was cited by the Telegraph and the Telegraph and Guardian live blogs.

Tobias Ellwood MP: How to improve Parliament’s say in EU affairs
In a new report published by Open Europe, Tobias Ellwood MP – Parliamentary Private Secretary to Europe Minister David Lidington – makes a number of recommendations on how to improve Parliamentary scrutiny of EU issues, allowing the UK could better influence or indeed reject proposed EU legislation. Tobias outlined the report on Conservative Home.

EU foreign service’s influence on global affairs “limited”
Open Europe Director Mats Persson last week gave evidence to a House of Lords inquiry into the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic corps. Mats was quoted by the BBC as saying that “When it comes to hard power and high politics, the influence of the EEAS is very limited.”

Check out our website for all our media appearances.

And finally...
The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of France, deciding that MEPs’ attempts to cancel one of their monthly commutes from Brussels to Strasbourg – a move which could save EU taxpayers around £14m per year – are illegal under the EU Treaties.




Bron: politics.be