Polish Parliament to vote next week on Lisbon Treaty and referendum
19 March 2008
The Polish Parliament will vote next week on the Lisbon Treaty. Former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is demanding special guarantees on Polish sovereignty as a condition for backing the Treaty. "I'm convinced that we have enough votes to block (ratification), but I also want to stress that we don't want to do that," Kaczynski said. If ratification is blocked in Parliament, the Polish Government has said it will seek approval of the Treaty by referendum.
The FT notes that Jaroslaw’s twin brother Lech, the President, issued a televised address on Monday, which was interspersed with clips showing a sinister pre-war map of
IHT AFP FT Bloomberg Spiegel Euractiv BBC AFP YouTube
EU investigating Northern Rock plan after Danish banks complain
The European Commission said yesterday that it is investigating the UK Government's business plan for the recently nationalised mortgage lender Northern Rock to see whether it falls foul of EU state aid rules. A Commission spokesperson said that EU officials had received the plan from the
There is further coverage of Northern Rock’s plans to cut at least 2,000 jobs in the next three years as it shrinks itself to pay back £25bn of loans from the Bank of England and comply with European state aid rules.
EUobserver Times FT Independent IHT AFP Mirror
French Foreign Minister: new majority voting on foreign policy will lead to ‘harmonisation of positions’
During a press conference yesterday French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner looked ahead to majority voting in foreign policy as proposed in the Lisbon Treaty. Asked whether
Court overrules Government’s deportation of EU citizen
The Sun reports that Gordon Brown’s pledge to deport foreign criminals has been further damaged after the
Brown’s Black Wednesday: 17 March 2008
Open Europe has calculated that as of Monday the pound has fallen by more during Brown's premiership than it did on Black Wednesday, but argues that due to the UK's monetary independence, “At least in 2008 the authorities have the ability to respond if things do get worse: with a free hand on fiscal policy; a flexible exchange rate; and ultimately even control over the monetary target.” The findings are reported on a number of leading
Open Europe blog Telegraph Three Line Whip Spectator Coffee House Iain Dale Conservative Home
EU Development Commissioner: Africans making ‘simplistic excuses’ over EU trade deals
In an interview with EUX.TV, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said that opposition to the EU’s Economic Partnership Agreements with countries in Africa, the
Michel responded to such arguments, saying "I don't accept these excuses, or this pretext. The time is now. If they want really to profit from globalization, they have no choice. They have to create the conditions for integrated markets. If they don't succeed in integrating markets, they will not succeed and they will not take profit of the added value of globalization… In fact, what we did with success in Europe, has to be done in
No link
WSJ on
A leader in the WSJ argues that “With all the effort put into avoiding referendums, it's hard to escape the conclusion that EU politicians are trying to pull a fast one on their voters. On the one hand, they're selling
European Voice notes that Gordon Brown’s proposal to cut VAT on environmentally-friendly items resulted in nothing but a “face-saving formula” inserted into the conclusions of last week’s Council meeting – a vague promise that the Commission will investigate whether the measure could play a role in future.
Human rights NGOs have criticised the EU's "tepid" response to the crisis in
Le Figaro reports that 4 in 10 French people still count in francs. 60% think in terms of francs when buying a car.
Nicolas Sarkozy has brought six new Secretaries of State into his government, as part of a minor post-election cabinet reshuffle.
Following a riot by the Serbs in the area, NATO has put the northern Kosovo town of
In an article in Europe’s World,
Europa-Nytt reports that the “snus-row” in the Finnish semi-autonomous island of Åland, over which the islanders have threatened to block ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, may lead to the Treaty not becoming legally binding on Åland.