Bulletins

• Ireland to vote again on exactly the same text of the Lisbon Treaty
• New poll shows 77% of German voters want a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
• Open Europe responds to EU proposals for financial supervision

• News in brief

• Open Europe in the news
  

Following the European Council meeting last week, Open Europe has published a briefing on the so-called 'guarantees' offered to Ireland in exchange for holding a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

In the conclusions of the summit, EU leaders agreed on a series of statements which seek to address what EU leaders perceive to be Irish concerns about taxation, ethical issues, workers' rights and neutrality. They also reiterated an agreement reached in December to postpone the reduction of the size of the Commission laid down in the Lisbon Treaty.

However, despite promises from the Irish government that they would not force people to vote on exactly the same text a second time around, the deal reached at the summit made no change whatsoever to the text of the Treaty, meaning Irish people will be forced to vote on exactly the same text they rejected last year. 

As an editorial in the Wall Street Journal today notes, "So the Irish will vote on the same text they previously rejected by a seven-percentage-point margin despite assurances by their government as recently as last month that this would not happen." (WSJ, 26 June)

EU leaders agreed to attach the statements as a protocol to the Treaty after the Irish referendum and once it is already in force, but the text of the conclusions is clear that: "The Protocol will clarify but not change either the content or the application of the Treaty of Lisbon."

The EU Presidency confirmed that: "the text of the guarantees explicitly states that the Lisbon Treaty is not changed thereby" and several other EU leaders have since said the same.  PA quoted Gordon Brown saying, "The summit conclusions set out the fact that the protocol does not change the relationship between the European Union and the member states, and that the protocol clarifies but does not change the content and application of the Treaty...The Treaty assurances have made explicit what was implicit in the Treaty already." (PA, Czech EU Presidency statement, Council conclusions, 19 June)

Czech Europe Minister Stefan Fuele told a Czech Senate committee, "The guarantees do not change the Lisbon treaty itself in any respect. They have the character of explanatory assurances. In other words, the Irish guarantees only confirm and explain what is already in the text of the Lisbon treaty". Czech PM Jan Fischer also added that the guarantees were, "an explanatory clarifying text which changes not a dot nor comma of the Lisbon Treaty."(Irish Times, 20 June; Ceskenoviny, 25 June)

To read Open Europe's briefing on the Irish guarantees, click the link below:

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/research/irishguarantees.pdf

Please leave your comments on our blog:

http://openeuropeblog.blogspot.com/

On 30 June, judges at the German Constitutional Court are due to rule on the compatibility of the Lisbon Treaty with the German Constitution.

Ahead of the decision, Open Europe, in collaboration with the Institute for Free Enterprise in Berlin, has published a new poll which shows that 77% of Germans want to be given a say on the Lisbon Treaty in a national referendum.

Click here to read the press release:

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=114

Following the European Council meeting, Open Europe has issued a response to the EU proposals for financial supervision, agreed at the summit, which included plans for a European Systemic Risk Board to monitor EU economies, warning against threats to the stability of the financial system as a whole, and a European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS).

The proposal for the ESFS outlined plans for the creation of three new authorities overseeing banking, insurance and securities. Controversially, the new authorities would have legally binding powers over national supervisors on supervisory standards. The UK Government had previously opposed giving these authorities such powers, but gave way in negotiations. The European Court of Justice would have the final say in disputes between national supervisors.

Following the summit, Gordon Brown claimed that the powers of the new bodies had been limited, in line with the British position. However, when asked if London had succeeded in its efforts to limit the transfer of powers to the EU, French President Nicolas Sarkozy contradicted Gordon Brown, saying "This is a point of departure. In the future there will be an evolution. Institutions end up doing more than foreseen."  He went on to say, "We could have gone further, but I believe that it will widen [its powers] through experience and practice, the way it's always happened." (WSJ, Telegraph, 20 June)

In addition, the summit conclusions state that the chair of the European Systemic Risk Board should be elected by the General Council of the European Central Bank, where eurozone members outnumber non-eurozone members.  This means that the UK Government can be easily outvoted on whether or not the ECB President should be chairing the Systemic Risk Board, which the UK Government has consistently opposed.

To read Open Europe's response to EU proposals for financial supervision, click the link below:

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=112

Europe Minister Glenys Kinnock and her husband pocketed £8m in EU pay. Open Europe has calculated that Glenys Kinnock, former MEP and newly appointed Europe Minister, and her husband Neil, former Labour leader and EU Commissioner, have amassed a total of £8m in pay and allowances from their work in EU institutions. In addition, Glenys Kinnock can expect £67,835 a year from two pensions as an MEP and Neil Kinnock's pension as a former Commissioner is worth more than £80,000 a year. The Kinnocks did not dispute the figures when showed them by the Sunday Times. (Sunday Times Sunday Times: Leader Sunday Express Mail on Sunday, 14 June; Wales Online Telegraph Sun United Press International Mail: Leader Mail Mail 2 Express, 15 June)

Cowen says he has now read the Lisbon Treaty. Irish PM Brian Cowen has said that he has now read the Lisbon Treaty cover to cover. He came under fire last year when he admitted he had not read the document despite asking the Irish people to approve it in a referendum. Cowen said "I have read the treaty since last asked that question. I negotiated 90 percent of it and saw about 16 different versions of it as it went through. So you can take it I know a fair bit about it." (Irish Independent Open Europe blog, 23 June)

German Interior Minister reaffirms commitment to European army. When asked about his previous comments in favour of a common European army, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told BBC's Hard Talk this week: "We had polls in different European countries and the question was 'would you prefer a national army or a European army?' and the outcome was about two-thirds for a European army.  In Germany it's quite clear, we don't want the use of humanitarian force unilaterally, only together with our partners." (BBC: Hard Talk, 23 June)

EU rules could see pensions cut by up to 20%. British workers could see their pensions cut by up to 20 percent under the EU's proposed Solvency II rules, which are set to be introduced in 2012.  The rules are expected to increase costs for insurers, which are likely to be passed on to pensioners.

John Pollock, an Executive Director at Legal & General said, "At the widest corporate spread levels during the credit crisis, the impact would have been much more than 20 per cent. Now that markets are somewhat better it has come down, but would still be between 10 and 20 per cent." (FT Express, 23 June)

EU libraries cost taxpayer £570 for each book loan. It has been revealed that libraries for EU staff are so rarely used that each visitor costs the taxpayer £580 and each loan costs £570. There are 52 libraries serving the EU institutions at a total cost of £16m. Shadow Europe Minister Mark Francois said, "With libraries in the UK closing for lack of funds it is astonishing that the EU is spending these large amounts of money on its own underused libraries". (Metro, 22 June)

MEPs launch legal bid to oppose reform of controversial second pension scheme. Dozens of MEPs, including Britons, are taking legal action to try to block reforms of their second pensions.  The reforms are intended to cut the controversial scheme's cost to Europe's taxpayers. The European Parliament's Additional Voluntary Pension Scheme is a controversial perk that comes on top of national pensions already paid for their work as an MEP. (Telegraph, 16 June; Open Europe blog Open Europe press release)

EU recruits French architect to turn Brussels into "a city of Europe". The EU has recruited a French architect, Christian de Portzamparc "to devise a comprehensive, 15-year plan" for Brussels "that would not only create new office space but also provide an architectural framework symbolizing the European Union."  He said: "I thought of a big and beautiful idea that took this historic axis linking the old and the new. It would be a city of Europe." (IHT Open Europe blog, 23 June)

As EU leaders met in Brussels last week to discuss the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Open Europe held an event in partnership with The Centre and the Bertelsmann Foundation, entitled "The second Irish referendum and the fate of the Lisbon Treaty".

Newly elected Irish Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins described the process going on behind closed doors at the European Council as "an elaborate charade" to make people think they will be voting on a different text a second time around. He noted, "It is exactly the same text, word by word, not even a comma has been changed", and stressed that none of the Irish people's real concerns have been addressed.

Other speakers included Elmar Brok, German MEP for the CDU Party; Paddy Smyth, Brussels correspondent for the Irish Times; and Bruno Waterfield, Brussels correspondent for the Telegraph.

To read a summary of the event, click on the link below:

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/events/

Many areas of foreign policy will be affected by Lisbon Treaty

25 June Conservative Home

An article by Sally McNamara for the Conservative Home blog cited Open Europe's findings that "12 areas of foreign policy, including the election of the EU foreign minister and proposals emanating from the foreign minister will move from unanimity voting to a qualified majority under the Lisbon Treaty."

"Lord and Lady Expenses" received up to £8 million in EU taxpayers' money over 15 years

20 June Sunday Telegraph 15 June Sunday Times Mail on Sunday Wales Online Telegraph Sun United Press International Mail: Leader Mail Mail 2 Express Sunday Express LBC Radio

The front page of the Sunday Times reported on Open Europe's findings that the new Europe Minister and outgoing MEP Glenys Kinnock, and her husband, the former EU Commissioner Neil Kinnock, have received up to £8m of taxpayers' money in pay and allowances from the EU since 1994. 

Open Europe's Mats Persson was quoted in The Sunday Times, saying "The Kinnocks are Brussels' very own Lord and Lady expenses".

The findings were reported by Christopher Booker in the Sunday Telegraph, and received coverage in the Sunday Express, News of the World, Telegraph, Sun, Mail, Express, United Press International, Wales Online and the Western Mail. Mats also appeared on LBC Radio discussing the findings.

Irish guarantees on Lisbon Treaty are an "elaborate charade"

19 June Irish Independent Irish Times

Open Europe's debate held at The Centre in Brussels on 18 June was reported in both the Irish Independent and the Irish Times. Irish MEP Joe Higgins said "What we will witness at the European Council today is an elaborate charade. The so-called guarantees are simply designed to throw dust in the eyes of ordinary people in Ireland to give them the impression that something fundamental has been changed in the Lisbon Treaty compared to 12 months ago. It is exactly the same text, word by word, not even a comma has been changed".

MEPs take legal action to block reform of their pensions

17 June Global Pensions

Following news that MEPs are taking legal action to block steps by the European Parliament Bureau to reform their controversial second pension scheme, Open Europe's Sarah Gaskell was quoted by Global Pensions magazine saying, "This pension scheme has already been shown to be an unacceptable waste of taxpayers' money and now some MEPs are trying to protect their golden payouts through a legal challenge shrouded in secrecy."

Cost of MEPs is five times higher than MPs

16 June Hansard

In a debate in the Public Bill Committee in the House of Commons Conservative MP Greg Hands cited Open Europe's findings that the cost of the European Parliament is five times higher than the UK Parliament and quoted an Open Europe briefing which said, "The huge gaps in pay will tempt the most talented people away from national politics."

EU commissioners leaving office this year will receive £1 million in pensions and pay offs

16 June Dziennik

Polish paper Dziennik quoted Open Europe's findings that EU Commissioners leaving office this year can expect to receive £1 million in pensions and transitional payments.

A Conservative government and the Lisbon Treaty

14 June Politics Show

Lorraine Mullally appeared on the BBC's Politics show, discussing the future of the Lisbon Treaty and the possibilities for a Conservative government.

Eurozone membership is not the answer to beating the recession

13 June Express

The front page of the Express quoted Open Europe's Vice Chairman, and former economic advisor to Tony Blair, Derek Scott, reacting to Lord Mandelson's comments that Britain should join the Euro to help beat the recession. Scott said, "We're seeing German output falling by six per cent and Spain's unemployment heading for 25 per cent - definitely not success stories."

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