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New poll: 75% of Europeans want a referendum on any treaty increasing EU powers

23 March 2007

EMBARGO 22:00 GMT 23 March

Open Europe has today released a poll of all 27 EU member states, showing that 75% of people in the EU want a referendum on any new treaty which gives more powers to the EU. In the UK, 83% would want a vote to be held. A majority in all 27 countries would want a referendum. If there was a referendum on a treaty giving new powers to the EU, on average 41% of people in the EU would vote for it, with an exactly equal 41% voting against. But UK voters would vote more than three to one against such a new treaty (67% - 21%). Majorities would also vote “no” in 16 EU countries, including Germany.

 

The poll also finds that, while the Berlin Declaration is to cite the euro as one of the great achievements of the EU, a majority of citizens in the eurozone want to go back to their old national currencies. For the eurozone as a whole, 47% wanted to keep the euro, but 49% wanted to go back to their old currency.

 

For more information, view the full press release: http://www.openeurope.org.uk/media-centre/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=31

 

Berlin Declaration divides EU members;

Prodi says that Europe will be “dead” without unification – insists project is “absolutely irreversible”

Reuters reports that the definitive version of the Berlin Declaration will fix a 2009 deadline on the reform of EU institutions. A German official said that the text would make explicit reference to the 27 member states being “united in the objective of placing the EU on new foundations by 2009”.  FT Deutschland notes that whilst Angela Merkel remains firm on the inclusion of the 2009 deadline, she faces open opposition from the Czech Republic.

 

BBC Today notes that no-one other than the Germans – who are drafting the Declaration - have seen the text, a situation which, according to Czech President Vaclav Klaus, is “ridiculous”. Mark Mardell interviewed Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who said that more “common rules” for Europe would be necessary. Concerning institutional change, he remarked that, “we have to have it before the European elections in 2009”.  He described this as a “fundamental of the new reality… If we have a united Europe we survive, if not we are dead. So I’m actually convinced that this is a project that is irreversible. Absolutely irreversible.”

 

Asked whether referendums should be necessary, Prodi said, “If the UK wants a referendum, why not? They will decide however to stay in or not.” When pressed on what he meant by this, Prodi said, “there is a basic rule, that is fundamental. With our rules, if you say no, no, no you are having a moment in which you have to take a decision.”

 

Vaclav Klaus was then interviewed from Prague.  Klaus criticised the efforts of the German Presidency, saying, “the problem is that we are permanently shifting European integration more and more towards a supranational entity. I’m absolutely sure there will be sentences in the Declaration which will be ex-poste interpreted: ‘look, this is what you agreed to in Berlin’, even if it is not a binding document.”

 

Klaus argued that “A normal person would not understand” the “eurospeak” surrounding the so-called ‘institutional settlement’ in the Berlin Declaration.

 

Mardell predicts that over the coming months, “the subject of the Constitution will return in earnest, and the disharmony will be deafening.”

Economist Telegraph Telegraph - leader El Pais - Barroso FT Deutschland FAZ Le Figaro Les Echos Gazeta Wyborcza – constitution Gazeta Wyborcza - declaration  Gazeta Wyborcza  El Mundo BBC Today Reuters

 

Merkel calls for “EU army”

According to the German press, Angela Merkel has called for an EU army. “We must move closer to a European army,” she told the Bild Zeitung. She went on to say, “The European Commission would become more capable of acting, within clearly defined competencies.”

Die Welt Sueddeutsche FAZ

 

Cost of Single Market regulation

Open Europe board member Stuart Wheeler appeared on BBC Radio Five this morning, arguing that the costs of the Single Market – with regulation costing European business €600bn a year – are outweighing the benefits.  He argued that the UK’s EU membership presently costs £40bn a year, the equivalent of £3,000 per family, per year.

No link

 

Mandelson to give up Trade Commissioner post in 2009: “Brown can’t fire me”

Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner has announced that he is planning to retire from the EU when his current term ends in November 2009 after speculation that Gordon Brown would be keen to remove him, and perhaps even try to fire him before his term ended. The pair allegedly fell out when Mandelson backed Blair over Brown in the Labour leadership contest in 1994.

 

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s ‘The World at One’ Mandelson said, "I don't know whether this is going to come as a disappointment to him [Mr Brown] but he can't actually fire me so, like it or not, I'm afraid he will have to accept me as a Commissioner until November 2009. But I will not be seeking a nomination for a further term after that time."

Telegraph Independent

 

Open Skies deal prompts expectations of merger flurry

Several of the papers cover the next ‘Open Skies’ deal between the EU and the US, which will mean that from March 2008 EU airlines will be able to fly to any US airport and US airlines will be free to fly to all EU airports, ending the current ‘closed shop’. However, many predict severe disagreements and threats of withdrawing US rights if Washington does not agree to more radical reforms by 2010. The FT suggests the US and the EU are heading for a “collision course”, whilst the Times suggests the British Government “reluctantly signed” and is now being accused of “caving in”. 

WSJ Times Telegraph Guardian Sun FT AFP

 

An analysis piece in the FT on the EU at 50, argues that “the remarkable successes of the EU have never translated into popular appeal”.

FT

 

Controversy over German judge citing the Koran in divorce refusal

Deutsche Welle reports on controversy in Germany following the decision by a German judge to refuse to allow a Moroccan-born German woman to file for divorce from her abusive husband. The judge justified the decision on the grounds that the Koran permits husbands to beat their wives.

Deutsche Welle

 

The French magazine involved in a court case over its decision to reprint a controversial set of Mohammed cartoons has been cleared.

El Pais

 

The FT has an analysis piece on the Galileo project, describing how European technology co-operation has become “lost in space”.

FT

 

IHT survey of EU in 50 years’ time – predicts Russian and Turkish membership

A poll commissioned by the IHT on Europeans’ expectations for the next 50 years shows people expect Russia and Turkey will be EU members, English will be the dominant language and the euro the sole currency, but suggests the EU will still not have a President or Foreign Minister in 2057.

IHT

 

Ofcom defies Brussels on mobile price controls

Ofcom, the UK media and telecommunications regulator, is to defy Brussels and press ahead with plans that will let telecom companies recover some of the £22.5bn they spent on third-generation mobile phone licences in 2000.

FT

 

Brussels delays in enforcing ‘sensitive’ infringement cases against France

Le Monde reports that the European Commission will hold off pursuing “sensitive” dossiers on France dealing with infringements of EU law.

Le Monde

 

World

 

US moves to prevent “disastrous” Turkish intervention in Iraq

The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail Washington’s Baghdad troop ‘surge’, and open up a third front. Senior Bush administration officials have assured Turkey in recent days that US forces will increase efforts to root out Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) guerrillas enjoying safe haven in the Qandil mountains, on the Iraq-Iran-Turkey border.

Guardian

 

Columbia has followed Ecuador in lodging a complaint with the WTO against the EU’s discriminatory banana import rules.

AFP

 

UK

 

Brown under attack from left-wingers and Conservatives over ‘anti-poor’ budget

Chancellor Gordon Brown has come under attack from both the Conservative Party and the Left, who argue that poorer people will be left worse-off following a budget that was presented as a tax-cutting move. 

Times Times - Sieghart Telegraph Telegraph 2 Economist Economist 2 Le Monde Guardian