Open europe Press panorama

[Politics.be]

Open Europe: ECJ insurance ruling illustrates that the UK doesn’t have an ‘opt-out’ from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental RightsWriting on Guardian Comment is Free, Open Europe’s Stephen Booth argues that yesterday’s European Court of Justice ruling to ban the use of gender in determining different insurance risks “trivialises human rights”. He adds that, “With a growing body of EU rights legislation, and the EU institutions and law expected to fall under the jurisdiction of the [European Court of Human Rights], the controversial cases will keep on coming as the concept of human rights is driven into new areas where it does not belong. The risk is that, in the growing confusion and interference, we lose all perspective on what constitutes a fundamental human right.”

On Conservative Home, Open Europe Director Mats Persson argues that the ruling “combines everything that is wrong with the EU's judicial system.” He notes that the Labour government’s claims to have secured an ‘opt-out’ from the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights when negotiating the Lisbon Treaty have proven to be false. “There never was such an opt-out and this case clearly illustrates why,” he writes. “The Court draws heavily from the Charter in its ruling – and there's no question whatsoever of the UK not being affected by it. In fact, it impacts on the UK the most, as it is home to Europe's largest insurance industry.” Citing Open Europe on his Economist blog, Bagehot notes that the he has been “told” that although the ECJ references “the Charter of Fundamental Rights several times…the substantive point of law on which the ruling is based is the 2004 Gender Directive”, therefore “the Charter remains untested”.



CNN quotes Stephen saying, “Unaccountable EU judges have ruled to overturn long-held national rules and increased costs for consumers in the process. To do so in the name of equality just adds insult to injury.” Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe appeared on Scottish TV.



Open Europe’s calculations that the ruling will cost the insurance industry nearly £1bn in extra capital requirements and, on average, an extra £4,300 for a 17-year-old woman driver by the time she is 26 are cited in the Sun, Mail, Express, Scotsman, Huffington Post, French magazine Nouvel Observateur, Romanian finance paper Ziarul Financiar, the WSJ’s Source blog, Dutch news site Nieuws.nl, Euractiv,Swiss news site 20min, The Parliament and several regional papers and consumer websites.Stephen was also quoted by the Evening Standard and appeared on Irish radio TodayFM.

Comment is Free: Booth Conservative Home: Persson Open Europe blog Open Europe research Open Europe press release Sun Mail Express Scotsman Evening Standard Huffington Post Forbes 20min Nouvel Observateur Ziarul Financiar Nieuws.nl WSJ: The Source blog Euractiv The Parliament Western Mail Telegraph: Hannan’s blog IFAonline Independent: Leader Mirror: Leader Guardian Times: Leader Times City AM EUobserver FT WSJ Irish Independent City AM Telegraph Economist: Bagehot’s blog STV FAZ: Leader HLN



EU Commissioner calls for Europe-wide ban on fish discards

EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki yesterday called for an end to the controversial practice of throwing back dead fish if EU quotas have been exceeded. "I consider discarding of fish unethical, a waste of natural resources and a waste of fishermen's effort. But I would like to go further – since our stocks are declining, these figures are not justifiable anymore," she said. The Independent notes that the UK, Denmark, France and Germany have also signed a joint declaration demanding that outlawing discards be made a priority and the current EU quota system be reformed.



Writing on Conservative Home, UK Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon notes that a ban on fish discards is only the first stage of a radical overhaul of the EU’s “failed” Common Fisheries Policy and argues in favour of introducing a catch quota scheme similar to the one being developed in the North Sea.

Independent Guardian Times Conservative Home: Benyon Guardian: Fearnly-Whittingstall



Van Rompuy calls emergency summit on Libya;

EU considering asset freeze on Libyan firms

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy yesterday announced that the EU will hold an extraordinary European Council Summit on 11 March to discuss Libya. Euractiv notes that the planned eurozone meeting will now be held on the sidelines of this summit. AFP reports that according to diplomats, the EU is considering extending its plans for sanctions to include an asset freeze on Libyan firms linked to the regime.



Deputy UK PM Nick Clegg will speak today in Brussels about the Libyan crisis, saying it’s a “precious moment of opportunity” and that “2011 is certain to be a defining moment for North Africa. But it is a defining moment for Europe, too. I hope together we can rise to the challenge", reports the Guardian.

EurActiv European Voice Guardian El Mundo BBC Economist: Charlemagne’s blog EUobserver BBC: Today Le Monde: Kahn RFI Marianne 2 RP online Focus Stern Irish Times Guardian Telegraph Wiener Zeitung: Czarnowska



Fund managers: Portugal may need a bail-out within weeks
Bloomberg reports that Christopher Iggo, CIO for fixed income at Axa, France’s fourth-largest fund manager, said in an interview that he expects Portugal to need a bail-out within weeks. The Portuguese government continues to deny that it needs a bail-out. The FT Alphaville blog notes that no one is buying Portuguese debt apart from the ECB and argues that a bail-out will not solve Portugal’s problems, which stem from lack of competitiveness. Portuguese PM José Sócrates and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to meet today, amid continued disagreements between the two leaders over whether the eurozone bail-out fund should be given the mandate to buy debt straight from struggling member states.



Les Echos reports that Standard & Poor’s has warned that a further downgrade for Greek and Portuguese debt is possible, depending on the characteristics of the permanent rescue mechanism to be agreed by EU leaders. Meanwhile, El Pais reports that while Spain’s central government exceeded expectations by cutting its deficit to 9.24% of GDP last year, regional governments overshot their target by 0.43% of GDP collectively.

FT FT 2 FT 3 European Voice City AM CRI Le Monde EurActiv Les Echos El Pais Le Monde Irish Independent Irish Independent 2 Independent: McRae WSJ RTE El Pais 2 Knack: leader Jornal de Not�*cias Jornal de Not�*cias 2 Correio da Manhã Reuters Irish Independent: Molloy Irish Independent: McWilliams Telegraph: Evans-Pritchard FT Alpahville Bloomberg



Commission set for power grab under new comitology rules
EUobserver reports that the Commission is set to gain considerable power as new rules on decision-making in the 300-odd EU committees dealing with the detailed implementation of EU laws – a procedure known as ‘comitology’ – came into force yesterday. The article notes that, under the new rules, a qualified majority of experts from EU member states will now be needed to block a Commission proposal on technical issues, while the experts’ ability to transfer controversial decisions to the Council of Ministers has also been restricted. An EU official is quoted saying: "The Commission is in control of the agenda and can push its own interests. It can now adopt its own proposals unless there is a qualified majority of member state experts against it.”

EUobserver Open Europe blog



Resignation of German Defence Minister a blow to Chancellor Merkel

The resignation of Germany’s Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg over allegations of plagiarism has come at a critical time for the governing CDU party as it faces a series of regional elections. Die Welt reports the impact is already evident as the CDU’s poll lead over the SPD has narrowed by 2%. Der Tagesspiegel comments the resignation has left Merkel “exposed” during the toughest stage of her chancellorship, with the ongoing negotiations on the future of the eurozone.

FT WSJ Le Figaro Tagesspiegel Welt Irish Times: Scally



In the FT, John Kay argues: “The EU is ploughing ahead with its Solvency II Directive for insurers, which – incredibly – is explicitly modelled on the failed Basel II agreements for monitoring bank solvency. Solvency II requires that businesses develop models that show the probability of imminent collapse is below 0.5%. Insurance companies do fail, but not for the reasons described in such models…Multiple sigma outcomes do not happen in real life.”

FT: Kay



The Irish Independent reports that Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore, has dismissed the notion of coalition at any price, stating that Labour will join the opposition if the ongoing coalition negotiations do not succeed.

Irish Independent



New on the Open Europe blog


The Charter of Fundamental Rights: It's alive!

Open Europe blog


Bron: politics.be