New EU President to cost taxpayers €6 million a year
19 November 2009
Belgian daily De Netto reports that, according to a document from the European Council, the new EU President will earn €350,000 a year, taxed at 25 percent, and will have a staff of 22 press officers, assistants and administrators, in addition to 10 security agents. The paper notes that this is double the current salary of the Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, who is the current frontrunner for the post. It also notes that it is significantly more than US President Barack Obama’s salary, which is around $400,000 a year or €269,000. The total cost of the President and his team will be €6 million a year.
Angela Merkel backs Belgian PM for EU President job;
Opposition grows to German-French “stitch-up” for Van Rompuy
The Times reports that the German Ambassador to
Jean Quatremer’s Coulisses de Bruxelles blog reports that, in a telephone conversation, Angela Merkel herself told her Latvian counterpart Valdis Dombrovskis that she and Nicolas Sarkozy continued to support Herman Van Rompuy’s candidacy for EU President. However, the blog notes that, having justified her support for Van Rompuy, “at no point did Merkel seek to kill [former Latvian President Vaira] Vike-Freiberga’s candidacy, which leaves Riga with a glimpse of a possible rallying of Berlin if the Belgian Prime Minister comes up against a blocking minority organised by the Brits.” It notes that, at the moment,
The Guardian reports that Angela Merkel has also said: “
The Telegraph reports that the attempted “stitch-up” has angered
Open
In an op-ed in Belgian daily De Morgen, Pieter argues that “the appointment of Van Rompuy would not be a good thing for small countries”. He says that “talk of an EU tax on financial transactions distracts from the problem that the EU’s accounts have not been signed off for 15 years in a row, while countries such as
Le Monde reports that Herman Van Rompuy is attracting opposition within
The Irish Times reports that the name of former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, was circulating last night as an alternative to Mr Van Rompuy.
The WSJ reports that Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, in charge of the selection process, said yesterday there had been little progress on a decision despite marathon phone calls. The FT reports that three teams of interpreters have been booked for the summit, each expected to work for seven to eight hours, with the meeting starting at 5.15pm. PA reports that it is still unclear how a decision will be reached, and that if Mr Reinfeldt cannot broker a compromise, he might even “pass round bits of paper for everyone to write a name, gradually eliminating those that don't get enough support. There may be a show of hands. Maybe he'll stick all the names in a hat and draw lots.”
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reports that Mr Van Rompuy is an opponent of
The front page of the Express reports that Mr Van Rompuy’s sister Christine, of a rival political party, produced a poster showing her brother posing as a clown during a recent election. Ms Van Rompuy is quoted saying: “We have not spoken since.”
Le Monde Coulisses de Bruxelles Times Irish Times Guardian Telegraph Telegraph 2 Telegraph 3 EUobserver Express WSJ Times: Walden Sun Sun: Leader Mail FT IHT Guardian 2 Independent Independent: Chalmers BBC BBC 2 BBC: Hewitt blog EUobserver EUobserver 2 EurActiv EUobserver European Voice FT: Barber FT: Delors Economist: Charlemagne notebook Terzake De Morgen: Cleppe OE blog OE blog 2
New EU Foreign Minister to control £45bn foreign policy
The Express reports that the new EU Foreign Minister will gain control of a £45bn budget and a staff of 7,000, designed to be “the biggest diplomatic staff in the world”. It is planned that the EU will have embassies around the world, plus military command structures. The article notes that the Foreign Minister and the new EU President will operate from a new £280million HQ in
EU seeks to upgrade its status and presence at the UN
The Times reports that the EU is pushing to upgrade its status at the United Nations to put it on a par with quasi-states such as the
David Cameron: EU budget negotiations and future EU treaties on enlargement will provide “leverage” for repatriation of powers
Speaking to the BBC Today programme about Conservative plans to try and repatriate powers from the EU in areas of criminal justice, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and social and employment policy David Cameron said: “I would argue they are realistic goals. Why? Well there are other countries that have bigger opt-outs than we do over criminal justice. There are other countries that have made clear they don’t want the Charter of Fundamental Rights to apply to them and in the past we ourselves had an opt-out in the Social Chapter…they are very realistic powers I am seeking the return of…there will be many opportunities during that [future Parliament], when for instance Europe is discussing its future financing, when it’s discussing future Treaties to enlarge the European Union, when the UK will have a significant amount of leverage.”
Meanwhile, writing in Prospect magazine, Anne Mcelvoy argues that while David Cameron’s tone on
Today programme Open Europe briefing Prospect Magazine
45% of 2010 EU budget will go to agricultural subsidies
Swedish Radio reports that EU ministers and MEPs yesterday agreed that the EU budget for 2010 should be €122.9 billion, with 45% of this amount going to agricultural subsidies in various forms. €300 million has been earmarked in support for dairy farmers. In European Voice, Jack Thurston of farmsubsidy.org looks at the controversial document from the Commission, leaked earlier this month, which proposed a re-orientation of the EU budget away from agriculture. He warns that the “good draft set of proposals” set out in the document stand the risk of being watered down, amid strong political pressure from member states such as Spain and France, as well as from within the Commission itself.
European Ombudsman issues strong sanction against Commission over Intel case
The WSJ reports that the European Ombudsman has said the European Commission had committed “maladministration” in their antitrust case against Intel by not documenting an interview with a witness that could have helped Intel’s defence. The finding of maladministration is the most serious sanction the Ombudsman can issue. The HT notes that a lawyer for Intel said the finding called into question the unchecked nature of the Commission’s investigative power.
Member states desperate to reach fisheries agreements before MEPs gain new powers
European Voice notes that the Commission and member state governments are desperate to reach an agreement on a complex regulation that sets the technical EU rules on how to catch fish, before MEPs get equal powers to national ministers on all fisheries laws, which would complicate negotiations further. Under the Lisbon Treaty, to come into force on 1 December, the European Parliament will have so-called ‘co-decision’ with the Council of Ministers on fisheries policy. The article notes, “The law will have a big impact on how fishing crews work. The detail extends to the thickness of net twine down to the millimetre and the minimum catch size for 11 kinds of fish down to the centimetre, starting with cod all the way down to anchovy, as well as minimum sizes for molluscs, octopus and scallop. The fact that so many species are involved adds to the complexity of the negotiations.”
Trichet wants stricter EU rules for insurance companies
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday called for stricter regulations for insurance companies, warning that these companies could pose a “systemic risk”. The comments come as a committee of insurance and pension-fund regulators from EU national governments is studying the so-called Solvency II Directive – setting out a series of regulations for the insurance sector to come into force in 2012 – and considering watering down the capital requirements. The
EU reaches deal on energy labelling;
Consumer groups warn new system is confusing
EUobserver reports that the European Parliament and member states reached a deal after closed-door talks on Tuesday that will see the EU's Energy Labelling Directive extended to cover all energy-related products, like windows and outer doors that do not directly use energy but help to save it. Euractiv notes that the deal will add more classes to the closed A-G format for determining energy efficiency, with three additional 'A' classes added on top of the traditional best-performing 'A' category. Consumer and environmental groups have criticised the scheme saying that will confuse consumers.
CBI Director General: EU must obtain strong guarantees on emissions reductions from other nations
In the Times, Richard Lambert, Director General of the CBI, notes that the EU has undertaken to cut emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, or 30 per cent in the event of a successful global agreement at the
An article in Irish regional paper the Southern Star cites Open
Southern Star Open Europe press release Open Europe research
The Mail reports that engineers have warned that energy saving light bulbs designed to replace the incandescent variety, which are banned under EU regulations, will lose up to 40 percent of their brightness long before their advertised lifespan of five or six years is reached.
The Guardian reports that EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton has said that Latin American countries and the EU are approaching a deal to end the “banana trade war”, which could see prices reduced for British consumers. However, campaigners argue that the deal would be “devastating” for growers in African,
The largest centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, the EPP, has said it will attempt to block prospective EU Commissioners if they are considered to have collaborated with repressive Communist regimes or with governments “tainted by corruption.”
City AM notes that the European Commission yesterday approved restructuring plans for Lloyds Banking Group, Dutch firm ING and Belgian banking and insurance group KBC. The Commission has forced lenders to divest assets, close branches, reduce market share and temporarily stop paying dividends.
In the WSJ, former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt argues that the EU should be leading efforts to stabilise the economies of central and eastern Europe rather than the IMF.