Open Europe : Cut through the chatter

[Politics.be]

Greek Finance Minister proposes debt swap to Eurozone partners and ECBIn an interview with The Financial Times, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he will propose to other Eurozone countries that their outstanding loans to Greece be swapped for new bonds linked to nominal GDP growth – without giving further details as to how this solution would work in practice. Greek debt held by the ECB would be replaced with “perpetual bonds”, he added. Varoufakis also said that Greece intends to maintain a primary budget surplus of up to 1.5% of GDP – even if that means reneging on spending pledges made during the election campaign. In a separate interview with Le Monde, Varoufakis said of the privatisation plan agreed by the previous Greek government with the EU/IMF/ECB Troika, “As many other people in the world, we believe that, in the midst of a deflationary crisis, it’s not very clever to sell out the family jewels for peanuts.”Meanwhile, Kathimerini reports that the Greek government has submitted a request to issue an additional €10bn of T-bills – short-term government debt – to help plug a funding gap and buy itself time for the upcoming debt negotiations. The limit for T-bills is currently set at €15bn. Open Europe’s Mats Persson appeared on Channel 4 News noting that if the ECB cut off funding to Greek banks, Greece would likely be forced to leave the euro. Open Europe’s Vincenzo Scarpetta appeared on Irish public radio RTÉ’s Drivetime programme yesterday, discussing the options for a deal between Greece and its Eurozone partners.Source: Open Europe Blog RTÉ The Financial Times Le Monde

Timmermans: Culture change in the Commission ‘very hard work’
Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commissioner charged with cutting EU red tape, has told EUobserver that his first 100 days in the European Commission have been, “very, very hard work…in terms of changing around the culture of an organisation…we need to change the attitude that only if I make law am I contributing.”

Source: EUobserver
French Economy Minister receives death threats for plans to liberalise closed-shop professions
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron revealed to French MPs yesterday that he received “death threats from certain public ministerial officials” for his plans to liberalise a number of closed-shop professions, such as notaries and lawyers.

Source: Le Figaro Libération
ECJ expert opinion: German nuclear fuel level compatible with EU law
Maciej Szpunar, an Advocate General at the European Court of Justice has this morning advised the Court that Germany’s nuclear fuel levy is compatible with EU law. The Hamburg Tax Court referred the tax levy, with estimated annual revenues of €2.3bn for the German government, to the ECJ following a complaint by utilities firms RWE and EOn. The nuclear energy industry is hoping for a refund of the tax.

Source: Strom Magazin
US considering arming Ukraine
A United States official has told CNN that the US military leadership now supports supplying “defensive lethal aid” to Ukraine. Separately, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that “Germany will not support Ukraine with guns and weapons … we are putting all our bets on sanctions and doing our best to find a diplomatic solution”.

Source: CNN
Lucke pushes through plan to concentrate power in Germany's anti-Euro AfD
Bernd Lucke, co-chair of Germany’s anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) faced criticism from colleagues at the AfD party conference this weekend after he pushed through a plan to reduce the leadership of AfD from a ruling tripartite to one Chairman from December 2015. Frauke Petry, current co-chair, said that Lucke had “snubbed” the wishes of many party members, while Alexander Gauland, AfD’s Federal Spokesman, called Lucke’s proposal “nonsense”.

Source: Handelsblatt
Pegida co-founder sets up new movement called Direct Democracy for Europe
Die Welt reports that Kathrin Oertel, one of co-founders of Pegida who has since left the ‘anti-Islamisation’ movement, has announced that she is setting up a new association called Direct Democracy for Europe which argues that “every citizen of an EU member state ought to have a say in government”.

Source: Die Welt
EU funding given to TV series “inspired by Europol agency”
The Daily Telegraph reports that the European Commission is partly funding the creation of ‘The Team’ a cross border TV series “directly inspired” by the EU’s Europol crime agency.

Source: The Daily Telegraph
Janan Ganesh: Best argument for EU membership is lack of viable alternatives

At a reception yesterday evening marking the launch of his guest essay for Open Europe entitled, “From a Reluctant European: A memo to the Prime Minister”, Financial Times political columnist Janan Ganesh argued that the single best case for the UK’s EU membership was the lack of viable alternatives on the outside. Paraphrasing Churchill, he claimed that the EU was the worst possible way for the UK to engage with Europe except for all the others, although the cost-benefit analysis could change in the next ten to fifteen years, for example if closer Eurozone integration left the UK marginalised in terms of decision-making. Janan’s guest essay is cited at length by EurActiv.

Bron: politics.be