Open Europe: The EU’s budget is unmanageable
13 November 2009
Open
Mats concludes, “As Commissioner Kallas himself points out: ‘One cannot reasonably expect an EU official from an office in the Commission's headquarters in Brussels to know what best fits the needs of a small town in the West Midlands - this is for the local authorities to say.’ Exactly, but this begs the question why in the world the EU is involved in regional spending and rural development in the first place?”
Meanwhile, Open Europe’s “50 new examples of EU waste” continues to receive coverage across
EUobserver: Persson Dziennik TVN24 Transindex Mail: Utley
ECJ President accused of bias in judgement on British couple’s property case
PA reports that the
However, it was alleged at the Court of Appeal that Judge Skouris had close links with the President of Cyprus, who had bestowed the island's highest honour on him, and this may have coloured his judgement.
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Estonian President throws his hat in the ring for EU top jobs;
Simon Jenkins: The EU’s intellectual insecurity means it treats anyone “but the most craven sycophant as an enemy”
EUobserver reports that Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has formally offered his name as a candidate for the top jobs created by the Lisbon Treaty, saying he is interested in both the EU President post and that of the EU Foreign Minister. El Mundo quotes
The Telegraph quotes an eastern European diplomat saying: “Trying to work out who is going to be President of the EU Council is not dissimilar to decoding who was in or out in the Kremlin in the 1970s. It seems strange to many of us that 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall we have to dust off our Kremlinology skills here in
Meanwhile, writing in the Guardian, Simon Jenkins suggests Gordon Brown should become EU President. He argues, “He [Brown] is clearly unhappy with the rough and tumble of democratic politics, with the daily grind of public appearances, glad-handing and schmoozing. But these are not required in
He goes on, “An inability to think laterally has long been the curse of the European movement. A sign of its intellectual insecurity is that it cannot handle scepticism, treating any but the most craven sycophant as an enemy… Nothing in recent constitutional history has been more cynical – or more dangerous – than the fact that referendums voting yes to euro-integration are accepted and those that vote no are rejected…The language of the
Guardian: Jenkins Irish Times Telegraph Economist: Charlemagne notebook EUobserver EurActiv ElMundo
EU funds for wind farms in the hands of the Sicilian mafia
Le Monde reports that four people were arrested and more than €153 million confiscated yesterday in
Le Monde Open Europe press release Open Europe research
Hedge fund managers subject to stricter remuneration restrictions than banks under revised AIFM Directive
The FT notes that last minute changes to the AIFM Directive, on the initiative of the Swedish Presidency, will see hedge fund managers subject to stricter remuneration restrictions than those proposed for banks. The Council of Ministers’ draft Directive now includes a three page annexe of provisions restricting remuneration policies, the article reports. “Whilst the new proposed remuneration policies look a lot like those that apply to the biggest banks, even medium-sized banks or big broker/dealers are not caught by the details in the way that hedge fund managers will be,” said Rob Moulton, a partner at the London law firm Nabarro Nathanson, according to FT. The Telegraph notes that the new rules could force managers to defer as much as 60pc of their annual pay.
This is Money cites Open Europe’s recent report on the AIFM Directive, showing that the hedge fund industry contributed £3.2 billion in tax revenues to the Exchequer in 2008. Meanwhile, the Evening Standard looked at growing fears that hedge fund managers will leave
Open Europe research FT City AM WSJ This is Money Telegraph This is London
EU state aid rules delaying Government funding to
The Guardian reports that EU rules on state aid are delaying the completion of a crucial £140m Government loan to allow manufacturers to help build nuclear reactors at home and abroad. The article notes that Sheffield Forgemasters International is one of only three companies in the world able to make the special forgings for new reactors but
Lord Myners warns EU Solvency II rules could discourage pensions saving
The FT reports that City Minister Lord Myners has said that new EU Solvency II capital rules for insurance companies could discourage people from saving for retirement by cutting the value of pensions. “The government has a social duty to the pensioners and future pensioners of the
Commission delays overhaul to ‘fair value accounting’ rules
The FT reports that the Commission has delayed the introduction of an overhaul of ‘fair value accounting’ rules for banks and insurers which yesterday came into force across most of the rest of the world, except the
Fraser Nelson: Cameron should unilaterally refuse to implement burdensome EU directives
In the Spectator, Fraser Nelson looks at “how David Cameron can win in Europe”, saying that, instead of going the “slow diplomatic route” by seeking to repatriate powers, a Conservative government could simply unilaterally refuse to implement certain directives deemed particularly burdensome, or “stop making the situation worse” by adding to the original requirements in an EU law. Looking at the strength of feeling on
Times: Not a penny of EU money should make it to the BNP - or any other parties
There is continued coverage of the news that the BNP is set to receive EU funding for forming a new far-right alliance with other parties, including
Times: Leader Times Guardian: Muir Mirror BBC EUobserver
MEPs yesterday demonstrated how their new powers over justice and home affairs may work under
EP press release Open Europe press release Open Europe research
The Economist’s Charlemagne column notes that former EU Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti has been commissioned to write a study of the single market and notes that he talks of curbing tax competition, with minimum tax rates in exchange for deepening the single market. It suggests that such a bargain would require “political good faith… European politicians admitting that both [liberalism and social safety nets] are needed to create a fair, just society: a tall order.”
When asked whether he supported the creation of an EU army, in an interview with El Mundo, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said, “I believe that it is necessary [to have an EU army]”.
Four member states stall EU data sharing with US on bank transactions
Euobserver reports that opposition from four member states to a draft agreement between the EU and US allowing the use of banking data in anti-terrorist investigations is likely to delay a decision until after the Lisbon Treaty enters force on 1 December, which would draw the EP into the decision making process. Citing data privacy concerns,
In a letter to the Economist, leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, Timothy Kirkhope MEP, defends the party’s new grouping in the EP writing, “British Conservative influence is growing in
Euractiv reports that MEPs this week urged EU member states to step up their efforts to ensure the Services Directive is implemented into national law within the agreed deadline of 31 December 2009 and that they implement it correctly.
The
The Irish Times reports that the Irish government has set its sights on the budget and innovation portfolios in talks over
EUobserver reports that EU members who are signatories to the
The IHT notes that many European banks are vulnerable to “increasingly dubious shipping industry loans” worth more than $350bn, the risk highlighted by the recent bankruptcy of US shipping firm Eastwind.
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The Times reports that a study by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers says that