Open Europe : Daily Press Summary

[Politics.be]

Cameron would be “delighted” if EU referendum could be held before 2017 Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, David Cameron hinted that a Conservative government could bring forward his planned 2017 EU referendum. He said that, “The referendum must take place before the end of 2017. If we could do that earlier, I would be delighted.” UKIP leader Nigel Farage yesterday ruled out a coalition deal with Labour or the SNP, but suggested that he might back a minority Conservative government. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said that Cabinet ministers would have to take the Government line and campaign to stay within a reformed EU. Cameron also rejected claims that he had scaled down his ambitions in the renegotiation, arguing that he remained committed to securing “proper, full-on treaty change.” Guardian BBC BBC: Andrew Marr show Times Reuters Telegraph Mail FT

The Sunday Times reported that David Cameron’s proposal to ban EU migrants from claiming in-work benefits for four years – a policy drawing from proposals set out by Open Europe and LSE Professor Damian Chalmers – has won the annual YouGov knockout policy contest in which 16 potential policy proposals are pitted against each other to find which one is the most popular with the public
Sunday Times Open Europe research: Saving free movement

German government refutes reports it is willing to let Greece exit euro;
Poll gap between SYRIZA and New Democracy narrowing in Greece
Following a report in Der Spiegel on Saturday, saying that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is willing to consider a Greek exit from the Eurozone, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said that the “goal” of the EU, Germany and the current Greek government is to keep the country in the Eurozone. However, he added that it must “abide” by its commitments and that Germany cannot be “blackmailed”. Meanwhile, Greek Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said that, in 2011, German Finance Minister Woflgang Schäuble offered to help Greece leave the euro in a coordinated manner.

Separately, a Rass poll published Sunday in the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, showed the gap between SYRIZA and New Democracy narrowing – the former on 30.4% and the latter on 27.3%. The poll showed that 74.2% agreed that Greece should stay in the Eurozone “at all costs”.

Open Europe’s blog analysis of Greece’s political and economic outlook in light of the upcoming snap election was reproduced by ZeroHedge and cited by the Guardian’s live blog, Spanish news agency EFE and Greek news site Capital.gr.
Open Europe Blog EFE Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: von Altenbockum Süddeutsche Zeitung: Beise Kathimerini WSJ WSJ 2 FT City AM Reuters Bloomberg Times Euractiv Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 3 Le Figaro La Repubblica Handelsblatt Welt ZeroHedge Capital.gr

German media report on AfD power struggle
German media report on a power struggle within Germany’s anti-euro AfD party with several senior figures calling on party leader Bernd Lucke to shelve his plans to take sole control of the party. In a letter, the senior party members criticised his "despotic style of leadership". It has also been widely reported that the party leadership is deeply split over how to engage with the recent wave of ‘anti-Islamification’ protests that have taken place across the country.
FAZ Süddeutsche Zeitung

Open Europe’s Pawel Swidlicki appeared on CNBC on Friday discussing Italian President Giorgio Napolitano’s resignation announcement and whether the process of finding a successor could lead to similar political instability as in Greece.
CNBC

German food producers and politicians have reacted angrily after Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt (CSU) told Der Spiegel that in terms of the EU-US negotiations over the TTIP trade and investment agreement, “If we want to gain from the opportunities of free trade we can no longer protect every sausage and every cheese as a speciality”.
Spiegel Bild Welt

The Euro fell to $1.186 this morning, its lowest level against the dollar since March 2006, on the back of concerns over Greece leaving the Eurozone and expectations that the ECB will purchase government bonds soon. The currency rebounded slightly but remains at the lowest levels seen for some time.
FT City AM WSJ Bloomberg BBC

An FT survey of 32 Eurozone economists found that 26 expect the ECB to launch purchases of government bonds this year, however, a large majority also said they do not expect growth or inflation to pick up much in the Eurozone – suggesting bond purchases would not aid the Eurozone much. Separately, Greek opposition leader Alexis Tsipras has said that any bond purchases by the ECB must extend to Greece.
FT FT 2 Reuters

New data released this morning show that the number of registered unemployed people in Spain went down by 253,627 in 2014, marking the biggest annual decrease since 1998.
Expansión El Mundo

French President François Hollande told France Inter this morning that he wants a European Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in place “by 2017 at the latest”. Eleven EU member states have so far agreed to introduce the FTT under so-called ‘enhanced cooperation’.
La Tribune Les Echos FT


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