03 SEP 2010

EurActiv

The United States is behind the wall of secrecy surrounding global trade talks to combat counterfeiting, say EU policy sources, who claim that American officials are refusing to let their European counterparts publish the draft agreement online.

American officials blocked European attempts to publish the latest draft of the global Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on an EU website after a Washington-based round of negotiations in August.

The European Commission, which has been feeling the heat from lobby groups and the European Parliament for greater transparency in the negotiations, debriefed MEPs on the August negotiations yesterday (1 September).

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03 SEP 2010

The European Union last night took its first major step towards the creation of three super regulators that could eventually take direct responsibility for the oversight of individual member states’ financial systems.

By Harry Wilson | Telegraph

In what constitutes a complete overhaul of European financial regulation, politicians agreed to the creation of new regulators to oversee the region’s banks, insurers, pensions funds and broader financial markets.

The three European Supervision Authorities (ESA) will sit above individual national regulators and will in time gain sweeping powers that will allow them to intervene in the running of national financial institutions and markets.

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03 SEP 2010

By Leigh Phillips

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After months of tough negotiations, the three sides of the EU triangle came to agreement on Thursday on the creation of financial supervisors intended to put an end to economic crises such as those of the last three years before they appear.

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU member states reached a political deal to set up a European Systemic Risk Board and three separate agencies to monitor securities, banks and insurance companies.

Internal market commissioner Frenchman Michel Barnier called the deal "a crucial milestone".

With the new supervisory bodies, the bloc will have "the control tower and the radar screens needed to identify risks, the tools to better control financial players and the means to act fast, in a co-ordinated way," he said.

The deal reached by representatives of the three sides of the European triangle must still be approved by finance ministers of the member states, who are expected to give the go-ahead next Tuesday, and the full sitting of the European Parliament, who are likely to themselves sign off later this month.

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See also:
Deal struck on financial reform (European Voice)

03 SEP 2010

By Matej Hruska | EUobserver

Despite raising its GDP expectation for this and next year, the European Central Bank decided at its meeting on Thursday (2 September) to keep the benchmark interest rate at one percent for the 16th consecutive month and to continue with unlimited lending until the end of the year.

The ECB raised its growth forecast for 2010 and 2011 after a better than expected second quarter performance from the euro area. The EU's statistical office reported on Thursday in its first estimate that GDP went up by 1.0 percent in both the 16-nation euro area and the EU27 in the second quarter of 2010.

According to the updated ECB estimates, annual real GDP growth will range between 1.4 percent and 1.8 percent in 2010 and between 0.5 percent and 2.3 percent in 2011. A June forecast estimated GDP would rise 1 percent this year and 1.2 percent in 2011.

Despite the positive GDP growth expectations, the ECB will keep offering banks unlimited one-week and one-month loans to raise their liquidity until at least 18 January 2011. Previously, the ECB had committed to lend banks unlimited cash until at least mid-October.

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03 SEP 2010

By Martin Banks | The Parliament

Commission president José Manuel Barroso is to give an annual ‘state of the union’ address as part of a revamped communications policy, it has emerged.

The first address will be next Tuesday in Strasbourg before MEPs at their parliamentary plenary.

The move, which was announced by the commission, is said to be part of an attempt to “personalise” the image of Barroso.

However, it has come under immediate fire from eurosceptics who say the ‘state of the union’ address is usually used by heads of state, for example US president Barack Obama.

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03 SEP 2010

Joanne Harris | Hegde Funds Review

Negotiations on the European Union’s (EU) alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) directive are resuming with a revised compromise proposal from the Belgian government, holding the EU presidency.

The compromise, which is yet to be agreed by the European council, would replace the general approach agreed earlier this year when Spain held the six-month rotating presidency.

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03 SEP 2010

By Tom Brady | Irish Independent

IRELAND has forced the withdrawal of a controversial EU plan to allow Israel access to sensitive personal data on Irish citizens.

The proposal was taken off the table at a European Commission meeting in Brussels yesterday following an objection lodged by the Government.

The Irish representative, a senior official from the Department of Justice, had intended to vote against the proposal at the meeting.

But as the talks got under way yesterday morning, the commission indicated that the proposal was being withdrawn because of the concerns raised by the Irish.

In Dublin yesterday Justice Minister Dermot Ahern admitted that he had been somewhat surprised by the commission's decision, but said it was recognition of the good work that had been done by his officials since he had first highlighted the concerns at a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in July.

He said the Irish objection was justified in the wake of the discovery that agents of the Israeli state had tampered with the details on Irish passports.

Read entire article

See also:
Data sharing plan with Israel dropped after Irish objections (EUobserver)

03 SEP 2010

By Valentina Pop

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission has in an internal report called into question the legality of France's recent dismantling of Roma camps and repatriations of roughly one thousand Romanian and Bulgarian citizens.

"The Commission is seeking detailed information from the French authorities on whether and to which extent the safeguards required by the Free Movement Directive have been applied in recent cases," reads the report, seen by EUobserver.

The 25-page long document, signed by three commissioners responsible for justice, home affairs and social affairs, requests "full clarification" on the voluntary repatriations, under which adults are paid €300 and children €100 to return home.

"The fact alone that a lump sum is paid to EU citizens in case of return is (…) not sufficient for taking these returns out of the scope of the EU's free movement principles."

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03 SEP 2010

EurActiv

The European Commission is preparing a new Single Market Act designed to boost job creation and stimulate growth, according to an internal paper seen exclusively by EurActiv.

The overhaul of the single market contains a raft of around 30 proposals, including new legislation in areas like taxation, counterfeiting and helping small businesses.

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier chaired a subgroup of nine EU commissioners which met twice in June to finalise the report. The final document is expected on 6 October.

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03 SEP 2010

CNBC

The world’s most developed economies, which have been racking up spending since the mid-1960s, face record levels of debt as a result of the 2008-9 financial crisis and have little room for maneuver, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday.

Despite the stark warning and the prospect that the wealthiest nations face years of belt-tightening, the fund also said that the risk of default by heavily indebted European countries like Greece, Ireland and Portugal had been significantly overestimated.

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03 SEP 2010

By Howard Schneider | Washington Post

Will the U.S. government ever default?

It's not a pleasant thought for anyone holding some of the roughly $9 trillion in U.S. government bonds and notes currently in public hands - or for anyone hoping the global economy can stay on an even keel.

But the economists at the International Monetary Fund are paid to ponder the improbable, and in papers published on Wednesday fund staff examined where the U.S. and other developed countries fit on a continuum between easy living and disaster.

We're farther along than you might think.

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03 SEP 2010

Times of India

BRUSSELS: The European Union began to disburse on Thursday 264 million euros in aid to help 19 of the most vulnerable African, Caribbean and Pacific countries cope with the global economic crisis.

The funding is the second part of a 500-million-euro (640-million-dollar) programme launched last year to help countries "most affected by the crisis due to their poor resilience to external shocks," the European Commission said.

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03 SEP 2010

Telegraph

The Bundesbank said in a statement that its six-member board "unanimously agreed" to ask Christian Wulff, the German President, to remove Mr Sarrazin, 65, from his post. It said the bank's corporate governance commissioner "unreservedly supports" the decision.

Mr Wulff's office said he had received the request from the Bundesbank and was considering it. It did not say when he was expected to make a decision.

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03 SEP 2010

By Jim Brunsden | European Voice

Commission fails in bid to get postal firm to repay €572 million in state aid to the German government.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) today ruled that Deutsche Post, Germany's national postal operator, does not have to repay €572 million in state aid to the German government.

The ECJ rejected an appeal brought by the European Commission against a decision by the General Court in July 2008 annulling a Commission decision that the money was illegal state aid and should be repaid.

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03 SEP 2010

By Augustin Palokaj | WAZ EUobserver

Croatia is doing its best to meet the last outstanding criteria in order to conclude the marathon accession talks for membership in the European Union. Yet, the question is still in the air whether its own citizens really want to join that club.

According to the results of a survey by Eurobarometer, published last week, only 26 percent of Croatian citizens are of the opinion that their country's membership in the EU would be "a good thing." Croatian scepticism is second only to Iceland, the latest candidate country that started accession talks recently. In Iceland, a paltry 19 percent of citizens consider EU membership a good thing. The EU average stands at 49 percent - also down by a few percentage points from last year's figure, but still higher than the number of citizens who take a negative view of membership.

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2 SEP 2010

By Shawn Pogatchnik | Bloomberg Businessweek

It's the world's biggest banking black hole -- and it's in Ireland, one of Europe's most troubled economies.

The debt disaster at Anglo Irish Bank means that Ireland is tasked with carrying out the continent's most ambitious bank-bailout program at a time of surging deficits and welfare lines. The unrelenting tide of red ink has analysts and Dubliners alike asking: How on earth will Ireland keep paying its bills?

"Every man, woman and child walking down that street out there has been put in a deep, dark hole by the bankers. We've all been given a bill we can't pay for a hundred years," said John Doyle, a car mechanic patching a flat tire at his backstreet Dublin garage.

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2 SEP 2010

By Harry Wilson

At a meeting today of the governing council of the ECB members are widely expected to agree an extension to the support schemes for the European banking system.

The ECB had originally planned to end a scheme by which it provides three-month loans to European banks at the end of this month, however it is now likely to extend the borrowing window.

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2 SEP 2010

Matej Hruska | EUobserver

Default in today's advanced economies is unnecessary and unlikely and the risk of debt restructuring is currently significantly overestimated, economists from the International Monetary Fund wrote in a report published Wednesday (1 September).

The IMF tried to downplay the likelihood of a default by some EU member states, while also warning that the debt burden in many wealthy countries may be close to its limits.

"Although the fiscal fundamentals look challenging, current market indicators of default risk seem to reflect some market overreaction," the IMF economists wrote.

According to their assessment, due to the long maturity of public debt in advanced countries at the beginning of the crisis, their debt service is still relatively contained. The means the problem is not the debt burden, but the primary deficit. In eight cases since 1980 when an advanced economy with government debt of at least 60 percent reduced its deficit to zero, none defaulted.

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2 SEP 2010

By Michael Casey | WSJ

NEW YORK--Ever since its inception 66 years ago, the International Monetary Fund has fancied itself at the center of the global economy.

But only now does the prospect of a multilateral monetary authority providing stability to the international financial system seem even remotely possible. That's because for the first time in decades there are legitimate uncertainties surrounding the one institution that does play that role: the U.S. dollar.

In that context, a couple of recent IMF-related announcements are more important than they normally would be.

On Monday, the IMF said it would dramatically increase lending to a wide array of ...

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2 SEP 2010

BreakTheMatrix.com

Germany has banned the cultivation of GM corn, claiming that MON 810 is dangerous for the environment. But that argument might not stand up in court and Berlin could face fines totalling millions of euros if American multinational Monsanto decides to challenge the prohibition on its seed.

The sowing season may be just around the corner, but this year German farmers will not be planting gentically modified crops: German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner announced Tuesday she was banning the cultivation of GM corn in Germany.

Under the new regulations, the cultivation of MON 810, a GM corn produced by the American biotech giant Monsanto, will be prohibited in Germany, as will the sale of its seed. Aigner told reporters Tuesday she had legitimate reasons to believe that MON 810 posed “a danger to the environment,” a position which she said the Environment Ministry also supported. In taking the step, Aigner is taking advantage of a clause in EU law which allows individual countries to impose such bans.

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2 SEP 2010

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Two senior MEPs have indicated that the European Parliament will leverage its legal powers to make sure Catherine Ashton gets the "right balance" of top people in the diplomatic corps.

Ms Ashton, the EU foreign relations chief, is getting ready to unveil her nominations for 31 heads of mission and deputy heads of mission for EU embassies abroad, as well as a further 80 senior diplomatic postings and the top 20-or-so administrative jobs in the European External Action Service (EEAS).

EUobserver understands she plans to reveal the first tranche of 31 names, which cover important missions such as Brazil, China, Georgia, Japan and South Africa, shortly after coming back from her trip to China on 5 September.

The follow-up round of 80 nominations, including a new head of mission in Belarus and deputy heads in Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Palestinian territories, will not be ready until November. It is unclear when the 20-or-so administrative nominations will come out. But Ms Ashton has set herself a deadline of 1 December, a symbolic date one year after the entry into life of the Lisbon Treaty, to get the EEAS up-and-running.

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2 SEP 2010

By Honor Mahony | EUobserver

Ex-UK prime minister Tony Blair has burst back onto the media landscape in the UK after a three-year absence with the publication of his keenly awaited memoir in which he also reveals his regrets about the EU and other titbits such as former US President George Bush not recognising the Belgian prime minister at a G8 meeting.

Entitled "A Journey" and responsible for a media frenzy in the UK, the memoir chronicles much of his domestic political struggles but also his fateful decision to go to war in Iraq and his close relationship with Mr Bush, the instigator of the global war on terror.

It also dips into his unfulfilled relationship with Europe. When he came to power in 1997, Brussels was quick to note that he was the most pro-EU British leaders ever, leading to high hopes that he would take his country into the euro.

But he admits in his book that he could not sell the idea, lacking supporting in his cabinet and surrounded by an aggressive UK press.

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2 SEP 2010

European Voice

Not for the first time, the European Commission has succumbed to hubris. By styling the contribution of Commission President José Manuel Barroso to September's first session of the European Parliament as his “State of the Union address”, he is inviting unfavourable comparisons between the EU's political culture and that of the United States.

The term “State of the Union” is a direct steal from the US, whose constitution lays down that the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress information on the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”. By tradition, the US president uses his State of the Union address to survey the foreign policy challenges and set out his legislative agenda. The event has become a fixture in the political calendar, given on the last Wednesday evening in January or the first in February.

But the EU is not the US and Barroso should show more respect for the differences.

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2 SEP 2010

Telegraph

Two Yemenis arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of terrorism have been released for lack of evidence, Dutch prosecutors have said.

The men, identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi of Detroit, Michigan, and Hezam al-Murisi, were apprehended on a stopover to their destination, Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

They were arrested after US security spotted suspicious-looking items, including a mobile phone taped to a plastic bottle, in Mr Soofi's luggage which was on a plane bound for Washington Dulles airport while he was on a flight to Amsterdam.

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See also:
EU anti-terror tzar calls for 'vigilance' in wake of terror alert (TheParliament.com)

2 SEP 2010

FBC

The European Union has committed $4.5m to help fight global warming in Fiji by addressing solid waste management issues.

European Union Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation in the Pacific Wiepke Van Der Goot say poor solid waste management is causing serious restraints to our health and environment.

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1 SEP 2010

By Macer Hall | Daily Express

MAVERICK Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi provoked outrage last night by demanding £4.1billion a year from the EU to stop illegal immigration “turning Europe black”.

Colonel Gaddafi, in a speech in Italy, claimed his country needed the money for security measures to stop thousands of Africans heading across the Mediterranean.

[...]

Sir Andrew Green, of the pressure group Migrationwatch, said: “Co-operation with Libya over illegal immigration to Europe is clearly very important but £4billion sounds a bit steep.” And UK Independence Party Euro MP Nigel Farage said: “This is blackmail from a delusional dictator.

“It is outrageous that after calling for us all to convert to Islam, he is now threatening to send us Africa’s poor benighted masses.” Libya and Italy have already agreed a deal that allows the Italian navy to intercept illegal immigrants and return them to Libya.

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1 SEP 2010

By Brian Blackstone | WSJ

FRANKFURT—Germany's top central banker, Axel Weber, was once viewed as a shoo-in to become the next president of the European Central Bank.

But Mr. Weber's stock is falling now after divisive utterances that have raised doubts about whether he is the right person to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as ECB head next year.

Mr. Weber's blunt criticism of the ECB's controversial decision to buy the government debt of Greece, Ireland and other vulnerable European countries has led to lingering tension with others on the ECB governing council, according to people familiar with the matter.

Analysts say Mr. Weber made another misstep when he said in a recent Bloomberg Television interview that the ECB should extend special lending facilities into 2011, declaring his preference publicly before the ECB could decide the matter, which it is set to consider Thursday.

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1 SEP 2010

EUbusiness

(BRUSSELS) - Europe warned on Tuesday of moves to rein in commodity derivatives trading under a French-led drive to tame price distortions for raw materials ranging from oil to grain.

France launched the onslaught, calling on the European Union and the Group of 20 countries to take urgent steps to draft new common rules after a summer of fears about the fallout from soaring grain prices.

Simultaneously, the EU commissioner responsible for writing the rules governing all financial trading, former French foreign and agriculture minister Michel Barnier, said he "shares fully" the concerns in Paris.

Barnier told AFP that the "sometimes brutal" evolution of prices in commodities markets would be tackled in a series of proposals he will table to EU member states and the European parliament next month.

He said derivatives trading in energy, metals and agricultural products needs to be controlled "at a European level and a world level."

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1 SEP 2010

By Valentina Pop

Faced with a plunging popularity of the EU institutions, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has blamed national capitals for not defending the European project during the economic crisis.

The devastating results of a Eurobarometer published last week showing that support for EU institutions is waning across the continent are due to the economic crisis, argued Mr Barroso in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. He said it is "normal" that citizens' confidence is dropping during such times.

According to the survey carried out in May and published last week, fewer than half of Europe's citizens (49 percent) think that their country's membership of the EU is a "good thing" – a seven-year low - while trust in the bloc's institutions has dropped to 42 percent, six points down compared to autumn 2009.

"I admit that we should do more together in order to give confidence to citizens and consumers. But I also want to tell the truth: We won't solve the problems unless each nation sees the European project as its own," the Portuguese politician said.

Read entire article

See also:
EuroBarometer results, published August 2010 (pdf)
 

1 SEP 2010

Dipankar De Sarkar | Hindustan Times

Britain’s former foreign secretary David Miliband, frontrunner in the contest to be the leader of the opposition Labour party, says British government plans to place a cap on non-European migrants to the UK are “stupid” because current migration is mainly fuelled by Europeans. “Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants to build good relations with India and that’s good but then he has this silly, dangerous and misguided immigration cap. The cap doesn’t fit,” Miliband told HT in an exclusive interview ahead of the September 25 leadership vote.

Miliband, whose main rival in the contest is his brother and ex-climate change secretary Ed, described the ruling Conservative party’s immigration campaign before the May general election as “disgraceful.”

“Immigration was a real people’s issue. But above all, it was an intra-European Union issue. The A8 accession undoubtedly caused difficulties,” he said.

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1 SEP 2010

By Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski urged European Union governments on Wednesday to preserve large EU funds for poor regions when the bloc overhauls its 130-billion-euro ($164.3 billion) annual budget.

The EU's 27 countries will launch negotiations next year on the shape of the 2014-2021 budget. Many politicians are calling for austerity following the global economic crisis, which has emptied government coffers and increased national debts.

"We expect the (EU) cohesion fund to be maintained," Komorowski said, referring to the main EU aid fund.

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1 SEP 2010

By Leigh Phillips and Valentina Pop

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - French government ministers in Brussels on Tuesday (31 August) to defend the country's Roma expulsion policy lashed out at what they described as "grotesque" attacks and mischaracterisations of the country's round-ups launched in July.

Immigration minister Eric Besson, speaking to journalists in Brussels after the meeting with EU commissioners, attacked such criticisms of the French policy calling them "needless and scandalous accusations."

His colleague, Europe minister Pierre Lellouche, described the meeting with the EU executive as "frank, far-reaching and constructive," but hit out at the "numerous unacceptable caricatures" of France.

"There has been no ‘collective' expulsion put in place," Mr Besson continued, stressing that individuals are being expelled for theft, for "aggressive begging" and other crimes and that other EU citizens who are not Roma have also been expelled in the past.

"There is no so-called ‘Roma Plan'. This is absurd," he said, insisting that French policy respected EU laws.

Read entire article

See also:
France accuses Romania of dumping its Roma (EurActiv)

1 SEP 2010

By Catherine Airlie | Bloomberg

European Union carbon permits are poised to post their steepest monthly gain since April as supplies of United Nations’ offsets have been halted while the UN Executive Board reviews HFC-23 destruction projects.

EU permits for December slipped 8 cents to 15.38 euros ($19.50) a metric ton at 10:45 a.m. on London’s European Climate Exchange. The contract has gained 8.6 percent this month, the biggest increase since April.

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1 SEP 2010

By Ewa Krukowska | Bloomberg

The European Union regulator wants to offer carbon markets a quick response on restrictions that could be imposed on United Nations offset credits for use in the bloc’s cap-and-trade system, the EU’s climate chief said.

The EU is working on a draft measure introducing further quality restrictions on offsets from industrial-gas projects after 2012. The European Commission, the bloc’s regulatory arm, has said it is concerned that credits related to hydrofluorocarbon-23 and nitrous oxide may be generating “windfall” profits for some developers.

“It will have to go through a lot of consultation procedures, but the aim is that it is for a swift reaction, because there’s something in the system that simply doesn’t work well enough,” Hedegaard said in an interview in Brussels today.

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1 SEP 2010

By Matej Hruska | EUobserver

Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini has said the EU will in November discuss a proposal by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that the 27-nation bloc pay the north African country €5 billion a year to stop immigration.

"The issue of the 5 billion has never been examined or discussed. We will tackle it at the European level and I imagine it will be dealt with at the November Euro-African summit in Libya," Italian foreign minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday (31 August) by AFP.

Mr Gaddafi suggested Monday during his speech to business representatives in Italy the EU should pay his country "at least €5 billion a year" to stop African migrants crossing the Mediterranean and avoid Europe becoming "black."

"Gaddafi is thinking what all north African leaders are thinking: they can't and don't want to be the keepers of Europe," Mr Frattini said, adding that: "Europe needs to finally get a migration policy, giving plenty of funds to the migrants' countries of origin and helping transitory countries face a huge burden."

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31 AUG 2010

An antiques dealer has attacked “scandalous” European extradition laws which led to his attempted deportation over claims that he broke a Greek bylaw at his home in London 11 years ago.

Richard Edwards and Jackie Williams | Telegraph

Malcolm Hay, who runs a business from his Kensington town house, sold hundreds of broken pottery pieces to a visiting dealer from Athens in 1999.

Eight years later, he was arrested by armed police at City airport in London. He was detained for two days after a European Arrest Warrant was issued claiming the items he sold had been stolen from the Greek state.

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31 AUG 2010

By Tyler Durden  | Comment | Zero Hedge

A Bloomberg TV report looks at a troubling and all too expected trend developing currently in Greece: namely the overabundance of easy credit provided to Greek consumers to fund unprofitable business, and which loans the recipients have no intention of every paying back. Sounds familiar - the ECB has now directly taken a page from the official PBOC playbook on how to keep the ponzi dreams alive for one more day. As the narrators points out simply: "more and more Greeks are finding themselves unable to pay back their loans."

Read entire article

See also:
European economic mood improves further (EUobserver)

31 AUG 2010

AFP

BRUSSELS — The unemployment rate across the 16 countries which share the euro stuck at a record 10 percent in July for the fifth month running, European Union data showed on Tuesday.

Almost 16 million people were out of work in the common currency area with the eurozone unemployment rate at its highest level since the euro's creation in 1999, seasonally-adjusted Eurostat figures showed.

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31 AUG 2010

Euractiv

Discussions on the possible introduction of a bank levy and an EU tax on financial transactions are expected to dominate the first meeting of EU economy ministers since the summer break, according to the meeting's draft agenda.

EU economy ministers will meet in Brussels on 7 September to discuss introducing an EU-wide Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) and a Financial Activities Tax (FAT), "on the basis of a non-paper" presented by the European Commission, according to the draft.

"We will present a very objective and neutral discussion paper," EU Tax Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta's spokeswoman confirmed to EurActiv.

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31 AUG 2010

By Valentina Pop

Libya's eccentric ruler Muammar Gaddafi has caused outrage in Italy by saying Europeans should convert to Islam and pay billions for him to stop African migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

"Tomorrow Europe might no longer be European and might even be black, as there are millions [of Africans] who want to come in," he said, amid other remarks, at a business leaders' event in Italy on Monday (30 August).

The EU should consider paying Libya "at least €5 billion a year" for it to stop the migrants, he added.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2008 signed a readmission agreement with Mr Gaddafi aimed at stopping migratory flows and involving a contribution of €5 billion, with Italy keen to Europeanise the financial commitment in the current age of austerity.

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31 AUG 2010

By Honor Mahony

Germany's Guenter Verheugen, one of the top baggers of lucrative private-sector lobbying posts among ex-EU-commissioners, has now gone one step further by setting up his own public relations consultancy, directly drawing on his EU experience.

With Brussels already suffering a reputation for having a culture of revolving doors in which officials move directly to private sector jobs related to areas they were responsible for regulating, German weekly Wirtschaftwoche has reported that Mr Verheugen in April, two months after he officially left his Brussels job, set up a firm with the name "The European Experience Company."

The company's website says that it will "not engage in any kind of lobbying activity." However, it offers "intensive management seminars for institutions and enterprises" with experts from European institutions. It also offers "analytical background papers and strategy recommendations" on EU policy.

"Small and medium-sized enterprises can be sure that we will fully take into account their special interests and needs," says the "values" section of the website.

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31 AUG 2010

By Mark Deen | Bloomberg

France asked the European Union to consider creating a new commodity regulator and setting position limits in raw-material markets, laying the groundwork for its presidency of the Group of 20 next year.

France takes “effective regulation of all financial markets very seriously and will make this a priority,” Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said today in a letter to the European Commission. “We consider European regulation of trading in commodity derivatives to be insufficient.”

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31 AUG 2010

VOA

An international coalition of environmental groups says European demand for biofuels has driven local communities off their land in Africa and curbed the production of staple foods. 

In an effort to protect communal land in Africa, Friends of the Earth, an international network of environmental groups, is criticizing the European Union for driving land acquisition by foreign companies across sub-Saharan Africa.

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31 AUG 2010

By Tyler Durden | Comment | Zero Hedge

Back in April, when we discussed the inception of the IMF's then brand new New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB) $500 billion credit facility, we asked rhetorically, "If the IMF believes that over half a trillion in short-term funding is needed imminently, is all hell about to break loose?"

A month later the question was answered, as Greece lay smoldering in the ashes of insolvency, and the developed world was on the hook for almost a trillion bucks to make sure the tattered eurozone remained in one piece (leading to such grotesque abortions as Ireland, whose cost of debt is approaching 6%, funding Greek debt at 5%).

Well, if that was the proverbial canary in the coalmine, today the entire flock just keeled over and died: today the IMF announced it "expanded and enhanced its lending tools to help contain the occurrence of financial crises." As a result, the IMF has as of today extended the duration of its existing Flexible Credit Line (FCL) to two years, concurrently removing the borrowing cap on this facility, which previously stood at 1000 percent of a member’s IMF quota, in essence making the FCL a limitless credit facility, to be used to rescue whomever, at the sole discretion of the IMF's overlords.

Read entire article

See also:
Bancor: The Name Of The Global Currency That A Shocking IMF Report Is Proposing (Economic Collapse)

30 AUG 2010

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton has defended her plan to go to China instead of to Thursday's (2 September) Middle East peace talks following criticism by French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.

In a detailed statement issued over the weekend, her office said the Beijing trip is "very important" due to upcoming discussions by EU leaders on a strategic partnership with the Asian country and in order to build personal relations with her Chinese counterpart, Dai Binguo.

It noted that the US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, supports her decision and indicated that Mr Kouchner's remarks show more concern for the EU's image than for the substance of the Middle East peace process.

"Ms Ashton was personally invited by Senator Mitchell to the dinner ahead of the talks in Washington, but had to decline for this reason and Senator Mitchell fully understood. She also looked at the possibility of flying from China, but the key meetings in China clash with the Sept 2 date [of the dinner]," the communique said.

Read entire aritcle

30 AUG 2010

EurActiv

The European Commission's communication strategy is undergoing structural change in a re-branding centred on President José Manuel Barroso, increased centralisation of public communications, a new organisational chart and a key reshuffle of top officials, a person close to the matter told EurActiv.

The new commissioner in charge of communication, Viviane Reding, wants to bring about a "culture shock" and genuine "revolution" of existing Brussels communication methods, replicating her experience as information society commissioner, when she often sided against national telecommunications champions in breach of previous practices, EurActiv has learned.

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30 AUG 2010

By Leigh Phillips | EUobserver

Cracks in Serbia's long-uncompromising position on Kosovo appeared on the weekend as President Boris Tadic said his country is open to discussing a compromise over its UN General Assembly resolution.

In July, following a ruling by the International Court of Justice that Kosovo's 2008 unilateral declaration of independence was not in violation of international law, Belgrade submitted a resolution with the General Assembly declaring "unilateral secession is not an acceptable way to solve territorial issues" and calling for a "mutually acceptable solution to all open issues".

A success for Serbia in the General Assembly would only be a moral victory, as the resolution is non-binding, but many EU capitals are unhappy with the route Belgrade has chosen.

Last week, German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle bluntly told Serbia: "Kosovar independence is a reality," and: "The map of southeastern Europe has been laid down and completed."

He also suggested that Belgrade's acquiescence on this fact was necessary before Serbia could join the EU, despite five existing member states refusing to recognise the breakaway region.

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30 AUG 2010

By Zoltan Simon | Bloomberg

Hungary “can’t afford” to delay efforts to narrow its budget deficit, European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said, damping Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s drive for leeway to boost growth.

“In a period when the rest of EU-member countries are on the road of fiscal consolidation, Hungary can’t afford to deviate from this path,” Rehn said in an interview published yesterday in the Budapest weekly Vasarnapi Hirek. “Instead of increasing the budget deficit, Hungary should follow sound fiscal policy which is a prerequisite for sustainable growth.”

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See also:
IMF bailout was loan, not cooperation deal: Hungary's Orban (Agence France-Presse)

30 AUG 2010

EurActiv

The Belgian politician leading talks to form a new government tendered his resignation yesterday (29 August), but the king insisted that he stay on to avert a political crisis just two months after parliamentary elections.

French-speaking socialist leader Elio Di Rupo, whom King Albert had asked to pave the way for a new government, said in a statement that two parties from Dutch-speaking Flanders had been unwilling to continue negotiations.

After more than three hours of talks with the Belgian monarch, the palace said that Di Rupo had sought to be discharged, but the king had rejected this demand and asked him to continue his work.

"Mr. Di Rupo accepted," the palace said in a statement.

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30 AUG 2010

EurActiv

Although the next French presidential elections are not until 2012 and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is yet to announce his intention to run for re-election, analysts argue that the forced repatriation of Roma to Bulgaria and Romania has in fact kick-started the election campaign.

Pascal Perrineau, director of the Centre de Recherches Politiques at Sciences Po (CEVIPOF), believes that the 2012 election campaign has already begun. He identified two major issues that are antagonising  French society.

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30 AUG 2010

By Ewa Krukowska | Bloomberg

European Union carbon permits advanced, heading for the biggest monthly gain since April as German power prices increased.

EU permits for December rose as much as 1.3 percent to 15.49 euros a metric ton, nearing the two-month high of 15.55 euros on Aug. 26. The contract traded at 15.45 euros at 8:36 a.m. on London’s European Climate Exchange, up 9.2 percent this month.

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30 AUG 2010

If Barack Obama were to marshal America’s vast scientific and strategic resources behind a new Manhattan Project, he might reasonably hope to reinvent the global energy landscape and sketch an end to our dependence on fossil fuels within three to five years.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Telegraph

We could then stop arguing about wind mills, deepwater drilling, IPCC hockey sticks, or strategic reliance on the Kremlin. History will move on fast.

Muddling on with the status quo is not a grown-up policy. The International Energy Agency says the world must invest $26 trillion (£16.7 trillion) over the next 20 years to avert an energy shock. The scramble for scarce fuel is already leading to friction between China, India, and the West.

There is no certain bet in nuclear physics but work by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) on the use of thorium as a cheap, clean and safe alternative to uranium in reactors may be the magic bullet we have all been hoping for, though we have barely begun to crack the potential of solar power.

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