EU pressure on Greece sparks Deputy PM into rant at Germany’s WWII record
25 February 2010
The Times reports that protesters and police clashed in Greece yesterday as a strike against government austerity measures turned violent amid signs that delegations from the European Commission and International Monetary Fund currently visiting Athens will demand extra cuts amounting to at least €2 billion (£1.7 billion), as early as next month.
The Guardian notes that the pressure for greater cuts, particularly from
Andreas Peschke, a spokesman at the German Foreign Ministry, replied, “A discussion about the past is not helpful to solve the problems…facing us in
Mr. Pangalos also hit out at
In an interview with the BBC World Service, Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe discussed the strikes in Greece, saying: “citizens in Greece need to understand that taxpayers in other countries don't feel like paying for the mistakes of governments they couldn't punish. However the crisis is not just due to the Greek government, but also to the concept of monetary union which led to artificially low interest rates and accompanying high public and private debt in periphery economies such as
In a letter to the FT, Open Europe supporter Sir Peter Marshall writes that the EU should concentrate on a practical outcome to the Greek crisis rather than using it as an excuse to move further toward ‘political union’, arguing “No democratic international organisation of any consequence” should allow itself to be “reduced to such a state of inflexibility.”
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that the Commission has said it will take
German daily Handelsblatt quotes ECB Board Member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi saying: “The [growth] and stability pact should perhaps be tightened up…especially for countries that are experiencing a rapid rate of growth but cannot sink their deficits”.
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EP Budget Control Committee says lax spending “threatens EP’s reputation”
The European Parliament’s Budget Control Committee has criticised the European Parliament’s lax spending controls, saying that they threaten the EP’s reputation. Belgian Green MEP Bart Staes, who presented the report on the EP’s 2008 spending, said it continued to suffer from “a disastrous atmosphere of scandalitis”. He added, “I'm asking the Parliament to improve its management and transparency”.
Finnish Liberal MEP Ville Itälä said that “The Parliament's reputation is ruined. Skiing trips of employees. It's something that makes us lose our reputation…We are using taxpayers' money here. It is something we sometimes forget.” Véronique Mathieu, a French centre-right MEP, said that she had received numerous complaints from her constituents in Alsace over how envelopes of hundreds of euros in cash were routinely given out to visitors groups to cover their travel and food costs, without them being asked to produce receipts, admitting that it “damages our image.”
Spanish Defence Minister regrets absence of Cathy Ashton at key EU defence meeting
EUobserver reports that Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon said she “regretted the absence” of EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton at yesterday’s meeting of EU defence ministers in
On his Twitter page, Dutch Defence Minister Jack de Vries wrote: “We now have an EU President and an EU High Representative, but the latter one, Ms. Ashton, is conspicuous through absence. [Javier] Solana was always there.” Le Figaro reports that French Defence Minister Hervé Morin described Ashton’s absence as “delicious”, adding: “this morning, talking about relations between NATO and the EU, there was the Secretary General for NATO [Anders Fogh Rasmussen] and not the High Representative, for the first meeting since the
An editorial in European Voice argues that Ashton’s decision to skip the meeting “reinforces the impression that she is ill at ease with the hard-security aspects of EU foreign policy…The dual role of the EU foreign policy chief who is also a member of the European Commission is still evolving. Ashton risks discrediting the concepts.
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Danish Farm Minister embroiled in conflict of interest over EU subsidies
The CAP Reform blog notes that, in
Eurostat uses Greek crisis to call for increased powers over government’s accounts
The WSJ reports that Eurostat, the EU’s statistical authority based in the Commission, yesterday cited “incomplete” information provided by the Greek government regarding a derivatives transaction in 2001, as evidence that it needs greater auditing powers to “directly examine public accounts.” The article notes that the European Commission formally proposed last week to give Eurostat the power to access “the accounts of government entities at central, state, local and social security levels”. The Commission launched a similar initiative in 2005 but was rejected by European finance ministers. Cinzia Alcidi, of the Centre for European Policy Studies, comments that the proposals “give to the EU reasons to interfere in matters that are usually the competence of sovereign governments.”
72% of Conservative MP candidates think it is a priority for
A ComRes poll for the New Statesman of 101 Conservative Parliamentary candidates has found that 72% agreed with the statement, “As a matter of priority,
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EU Justice Commissioner to push for controversial Consumer Rights Directive
The FT reports that Viviane Reding, the EU Justice Commissioner, is committed to pushing ahead with the controversial Consumer Rights Directive. The Directive, which has stalled in the European Parliament, has been criticised by consumer groups because it would impose maximum standards on all member states, thereby undercutting existing consumer rights in countries, such as the
Commission indicates
The European Commission gave its formal backing yesterday for
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In the Telegraph, Benedict Brogan argues that a Conservative government must rescue
Speaking in the European Parliament yesterday, former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, told EU President Herman Van Rompuy that he had the “charisma of a damp rag” and the “appearance of a low grade bank clerk”. In response, Joseph Daul, head of the EPP grouping, suggested the
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La Stampa notes that the European Commission yesterday launched a set of proposals aimed at strengthening the role of its border control agency Frontex. However, the budget will remain unchanged at €80 million a year.
La Stampa Times of Malta EUobserver
The Telegraph reports that the European Commission will start a series of preliminary investigations, in response to complaints, to examine if Google has violated the
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AFP reports that the Danish government has announced it will stick to its plan to hold a referendum on Euro entry.
The Mail reports on the European Parliament’s Women’s Rights Committee’s vote in favour of increasing maternity pay to a minimum of 20 weeks on full salary, and notes that Labour's only MEP on the Committee, Mary Honeyball, has refused to say which way she voted - despite previously speaking up in favour of the measure.
Europolitics reports that EU President Herman Van Rompuy has told MEPs that, although under the Lisbon Treaty he has to appear before the EP four times a year, it will be more like “five or six times, or even ten times a year”.
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An agreement on how to finance the cost of overruns on the A400M military transport aircraft has finally been reached 'in principle', according to
Le Figaro Investir Nouvel Obs L’Express Le Parisien
In a comment piece in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash writes: “The agonies of the eurozone reflect a far more significant hidden deficit…The spirit that once led Europeans into union has vanished, just as we now face the euro's widely predicted flaws. Joking apart, we need to recognise that this is not just the first great test of the eurozone but also a defining moment for the whole project of a European Union. Since this is
The Irish Independent reports that the Commission is expected to give the go-ahead to the NAMA ‘bad bank’ scheme by tomorrow evening, but it is not yet clear what conditions they will attach to it.
The Sun reports that Spanish MEPs are trying to reintroduce the ban on “irregular shaped” fruit, which was scrapped last July.
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The EU’s economic development plan, known as Strategy 2020, will be released on 3 March.
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The Times reports that three Google executives were convicted in Italy yesterday of violating a boy’s privacy by allowing a film featuring a bullying incident to be posted online, in a ruling that could profoundly change the way in which video clips are put on the internet.