Open Europe : Cut through the chatter

[Politics.be]

Bild: Greek government considers calling snap elections if talks with creditors are unsuccessfulBild quotes a Greek minister as saying, “We have nothing to lose. If the EU remains tough, we must show that we remain tough too. The Greek people are behind us.” Meanwhile, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported that, at last week’s meeting of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), Eurozone officials were disappointed at Greece’s failure to detail its structural reform plans. According to sources cited by the paper, the Greek representative behaved “like a taxi driver” – as he just asked where the money was. The Greek Finance Ministry has denied the report. Kathimerini reports that technical discussions between Greek and EU/IMF/ECB Troika officials are expected to resume today. Separately, the ECB has expressed reservations about a planned Greek law that would make it more difficult to evict low-income debtors from primary homes – arguing that the proposed new rules could encourage strategic defaults.Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Bild Reuters Reuters 2 Kathimerini The Times

Former Dutch Foreign Minister: Brexit would alter EU power balance and harm the Netherlands
Ben Bot, former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, has warned that a British EU exit would harm the Netherlands. Dutch daily Het Financieele Dagblad quotes him as saying, “the Netherlands has always pursued equilibrium where we can still play a certain role. If Great Britain is gone, Germany becomes almighty, without a decent counterweight. That’s not an attractive prospect for us.” He added, “Just like Great Britain, the Netherlands would like to see a number of reforms of the EU. The British like to implement this through Treaty change, but we don’t believe in that. It would be too much of a mess. But we are siding with the British with regards to banking supervision, migration and agricultural reform.”

He also said that, while the Netherlands “may be quick and positive” about putting in place a successor UK-EU trade agreement following Brexit, “There could be countries who think: ‘now we’ll get them. If they want to enter the market, they will need to pay for that.’”

Meanwhile, Spanish daily El Pa�*s yesterday cited Open Europe’s study on the economic consequences of Brexit – which shows that the UK’s prosperity outside of the EU would mainly depend on whether Britain embraces free trade and deregulation after leaving.

Source: Het Financieele Dagblad Open Europe Intelligence El Pa�*s
May: Changes to welfare to cut migration will be a key part of our renegotiation with the EU
Writing in The Sun on Sunday, ahead of the launch of the Conservative manifesto tomorrow, Home Secretary Theresa May argued that “changes to welfare to cut EU migration will be a key part of our renegotiation with the EU”, reiterating that under Tory plans EU migrants will not be able to claim in-work benefits until they had been in the UK for at least four years. The paper cites Open Europe’s calculations that a migrant worker with two dependent children earning the minimum wage can currently have their basic income of less than £200 a week topped up with an extra £330 in tax credits and other forms of state support.

Source: Open Europe Intelligence The Sun on Sunday
Cable: Opponents of EU membership will not accept referendum result and demand re-run
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable reiterated that the party was “not entertaining the idea” of holding an EU referendum unless there is a treaty change, warning that it would become an “EU never-endum” with opponents of membership refusing to accept the result and demanding a re-run much like the Scottish nationalists. However, he did not go as far as describing it as a red-line issue in potential coalition talks with the Conservatives, claiming that, “We are not talking about red lines; we have been very careful to avoid getting into that position.”

Source: The Sunday Times
ECJ General Court doubles number of judges to speed up cases
The number of judges at the General Court of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – the court’s second highest chamber – is set to double to 56 in an attempt to speed up decision making. The Financial Times reports the ECJ had originally only wanted an additional twelve judges, but disagreements among the member states meant the court decided to give one extra judge to each country.

Source: The Financial Times
New poll: European business leaders want UK to say in the EU
More than four-fifths of business executives in Europe want Britain to stay in the EU, according to an RSM-European Business Awards survey. Of 437 business leaders surveyed across 32 countries, 76% said a British exit would hurt the UK economy, while 56% said it would damage their own business.

Source: The Financial Times
Germany to face EU legal action over privacy rules which could have contributed to air disaster
The Sunday Times reported that the European Commission is preparing legal action against Germany over its non-compliance with EU rules requiring airlines and doctors to share pilots’ medical data with the regulators that issue flying licences. Since last month’s Germanwings disaster it emerged that a number of aviation doctors and private psychiatrists were aware of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz’s history of mental illness but could not notify the licensing authority because of Germany’s stringent data protection rules.

Source: The Sunday Times
Labour to unveil manifesto with emphasis on ‘budgetary responsibility’
Ed Miliband will today launch the Labour Party’s election manifesto, which will include a “budget responsibility lock” to guarantee the deficit will be cut in every year.

Source: The Financial Times The Guardian
Merkel calls on EU to resume trade talks with India
Speaking at the opening of the world’s largest industrial trade fair in Hannover on Sunday evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for the resumption of stalled negotiations on an EU free trade agreement with India.

Source: Reuters Deutschland
France's National Front founder pulls out of regional elections amid family row
Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right National Front, has told Le Figaro that he is pulling out of regional elections amid a row with his daughter Marine Le Pen who is the party leader. He said the best replacement candidate would be his grand-daughter Marion Marechal-Le Pen. Meanwhile, TV channel France 2 has accused Marion Marechal-Le Pen, who became the country’s youngest member of parliament four years ago, of having a parliamentary assistant illegitimately paid for by the European Union.

Source: Le Figaro The Guardian Reuters BBC
Hungarian neo-Nazi party wins parliamentary by-election
Hungary’s neo-Nazi Jobbik party yesterday won its first ever directly elected seat in the Hungarian parliament, narrowly taking the Tapolca constituency in western Hungary in a by-election. The win comes amid sliding popularity for Victor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party following allegations of corruption and opposition to unpopular measures such as the ‘internet tax’.

Source: BBC

Bron: politics.be