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31 October 2013

Integrating Europe - 31st October 2013




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Articles from 24 October 2013 - 31 October 2013

Political

Reuters: EU's Barroso warns of racism and xenophobia ahead of European elections
Barroso has warned against nationalism, xenophobia and racism ahead of EP elections next year, when anti-EU and protest parties are expected to do well.  View Article
EPP: Parliament will "evaluate, not condemn" work of bailout Troika
"This is going to be an evaluation, not a condemnation", stressed EP Vice-President Othmar Karas, who will lead the parliamentary inquiry into the work of the Troika in Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and Ireland. (Includes comments from Sven Giegold MEP.)  View Article
50th COSAC meeting discusses offering national Parliaments the right of legislative initiative
Participants of the 50th anniversary COSAC meeting in the Seimas focused on democratic legitimacy of the EU and the role of national Parliaments of EU Member States.  View Article
EUobserver: Germany gets its way on reform 'contracts'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that fellow EU leaders during a summit in Brussels had "accepted the principle" of binding reform contracts that will transfer further sovereignty from a national level to the European Commission.  View Article
EUobserver: EU vote not decisive on Commission President, says Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has poured cold water on hopes that the European Commission President candidate of the most popular political party after next year's EU election will automatically get the post.  View Article
John Wyles: A sensible selection process?
Political parties are pushing to give the EP a greater say in who becomes president of the Commission, writes Wyles for European Voice. Whoever that president is will be confronted by a very large group of those hostile to the EU.  View Article

Financial

ECB establishes standing swap arrangements with other central banks
Six central banks from the G7 nations have said emergency currency swap lines established during the global financial crisis will be made permanent, providing backstops to safeguard against future turbulence.  View Article
ECB/Asmussen: Cooperation and diversity - Principles for a stable euro area
Asmussen laid out what he saw as a realistic medium-term vision for the euro area, combining the twin needs of cooperation and diversity. "But for the euro area to prosper, we also need a third concept: responsibility", he concluded.  View Article
Bundesbank/Lautenschläger: The need for reform
Lautenschläger argued that further reform was needed, especially in the areas of public finances and the institutional framework for monetary union.  View Article
European Council conclusions: EMU / Banking Union
The European Council held an in-depth discussion on completing the EMU. It focused in particular on enhanced economic policy coordination, strengthening the social dimension of the EMU and completing the Banking Union.  View Article
EP President Schulz: Speech to the European Council 24 October
Schulz said that as it was going to take some years before a resolution fund had been built up and become operational, the ESM could serve as a temporary solution. "If no good agreement is reached by the end of this electoral period, we risk losing everything we have gained so far."  View Article
Remarks by Presidents Van Rompuy and Barroso following the first session of the European Council
"The next crucial step for the Banking Union will be the Single Resolution Mechanism", said Van Rompuy. "Because once supervision is European, we cannot leave failures to the national level."  View Article
EBF: Europe's banks committed to Banking Union and Single Resolution Regime
Europe's banks reiterated their strong support for the Banking Union and the SSM. EBF board members stressed their commitment to assist in implementing the Banking Union framework, to help overcome the current market fragmentation.  View Article
Reuters: EU's Barnier ready to compromise on bank resolution
The Commission is ready to compromise on how many banks will fall directly under the scope of the eurozone's banking resolution authority, potentially limiting it to the largest institutions, Barnier said.  View Article
Fitch: Euro bank tests robust enough, but thin on details
The framework's outline is thin on details for identifying banks likely to have capital shortfalls under the AQR and under the EU-wide stress test to be conducted with the EBA. Further details on the process would improve transparency and reduce short-term uncertainties.  View Article
ECB/Asmussen: Interview with Il Sole 24 Ore
Asmussen said that the ESM could be the fiscal backstop to the European resolution agency. It would mean a revision of the ESM Treaty, but that would be a 'lower hurdle' than changing the European Treaty.  View Article
Handelsblatt: Eurozone finance ministers consider ESM overhaul
The plan would involve setting up a subsidiary fund to help banks located in non-eurozone countries that opt to participate in the Banking Union. However, such an arrangement would require a change to the ESM Treaty.  View Article
Nicolas Véron: An encouraging start for the ECB's Big Bank Review
Véron finds the ECB's announcements encouraging, even if the most difficult choices still lie ahead - primarily on how to restructure the banks which would be identified as severely undercapitalised or insolvent in next year's assessment.   View Article
Simon Nixon: Draghi risks having worst of all worlds in Banking Union
The odds are stacked against Mario Draghi in his effort to conduct a broad assessment of the eurozone's biggest banks, comments Nixon in the WSJ.  View Article

Economic

European Council Conclusions: Regulatory fitness
The Council gave a new impetus to better regulation, saying regulation at Union level was necessary in order to ensure that EU policy goals, including the proper functioning of the Single Market, were attained. (Includes comments by Presidents Schulz/Barroso and PM Cameron.)  View Article
EPC Post-summit briefing: A summit of little substance
Emmanouilidis draws conclusions from the meeting on three general areas: Cornerstones of an EMU bargain; rapprochement between Paris and Berlin; and - the big elephant in the room - the potential political consequences of the crisis and its likely impact on the outcome of the EP elections next May.  View Article
Tripartite Social Summit: EU leaders and social partners agree on stronger social dimension in the EU
EU leaders have met with trade unions and employers' organisations (social partners) for talks on how to strengthen the social dimension of the EU and the euro area, including by better monitoring employment and social trends in future.  View Article
José Manuel Barroso: We are determined to make EU laws more business-friendly
In an op-ed for the Telegraph, Barroso writes: "Where more integration and more regulation are needed, we will take the lead. But when less means more and simple is smarter, we will not hesitate to say so." (Includes link to letter from British business leaders to Council.)  View Article
VP Reding: EU needs finance minister
Speaking at Yale university, Reding said: "I believe that we should start moving towards a United States of Europe ... What we certainly need is a European Finance Minister."  View Article
Reuters analysis: Convalescent eurozone seeks to escape debt overhang
As the eurozone's weakest members crawl out of their longest recession in modern history, their prospects of recovery are weighed down by a crushing mountain of debt far heavier than before four years of financial crisis. (Includes quotes from Graham Bishop.)  View Article
Eurogroup/Dijsselbloem: Speech at Nueva Economía Forum in Madrid
"Economic growth is essential for the affordability of social spending. Conversely, social protection is a cornerstone of how we in Europe organise our societies... To achieve these twin goals, each Member State has the responsibility to contribute.  View Article
FT: ECB's Noyer says Tobin tax Is "enormous risk", must be revised
In the latest attack on the Commission's plan for a financial transaction tax across 11 eurozone countries, Noyer told the FT: "The Commission's draft is a non-starter and needs to be entirely revised".  View Article
US Treasury Department: Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies
The US Treasury says that stronger domestic demand growth in surplus European economies, particularly in Germany, would help to facilitate a durable rebalancing of imbalances in the euro area.  View Article

Budgetary

Additional funds for 2013 budget formally approved by the Council
The Council has approved a further increase of the 2013 EU budget, by formally adopting its position on draft amending budget number 8 (increase of €3.9 billion), and number 9 (mobilisation of €400.5 million).  View Article
Dijsselbloem says budget extensions should be tied to reform
Eurogoup leader Jeroen Dijsselbloem has floated a plan saying the currency union needs "more instruments" to get to grips with the twin challenges of excessive deficits and lacklustre growth.  View Article

Member State events

The new problem countries of the eurozone
In Spain, Portugal and Greece reforms are progressing, albeit slowly. However, in some euro core countries, there are new and dangerous weaknesses: In France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland public and private debt levels are still rising.  View Article
DG ECFIN: Economic Adjustment Programme for Ireland - Summer 2013 Review
This report provides a summary of the main findings of the 11th joint EC/IMF/ECB review mission, including an assessment of compliance with the programme conditionality, and an overview of challenges still faced by Ireland.   View Article
Irish Times: Ireland may not need credit line to exit bailout - Noonan
Ireland may choose to exit its bailout programme without the support of a precautionary credit line, the Minister for Finance said following a meeting with the IMF. However, no decision would be made until a new government has been formed in Germany.  View Article
ESM/Regling: Interview with the Expresso, Portugal - "The deficit has to disappear, eventually"
Regling answered questions i.a. on whether Portugal's goal of returning to markets by mid-2014 without a second bailout was still realistic.  View Article
ECB/Asmussen: Eurozone's fate is in Italy's hands
Speaking in Milan, Asmussen said that Italy's fate was crucial to determining the fate of the eurozone, but that the country must turn around its economy alone as it was too big to be rescued.  View Article
German coalition negotiations commence
Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats are entering their first week of negotiating the substance of a new government, with the fight for control of the finance ministry looming in the background.  View Article
British Influence/Wilding: Cameron's closest ally proposes bold policy of EU engagement
Speaking in London, Dutch PM Rutte painted a positive vision of why it was right to lead in Europe, and what changes needed to be made.  View Article
TheCityUK/Cummings: "The City speaks - A milestone study of the views of financial and related professional service leaders on the EU"
City leaders have called for Britain to remain a part of the EU but insisted that the 28-member bloc must be reformed. (Includes comment by Sharon Bowles: Four in five business leaders want to stay in the EU.)  View Article
Luxembourg heads towards three-party coalition
Xavier Bettel, mayor of Luxembourg City and leader of Luxembourg's liberal party, has been asked to form the next government of the tiny country, sidelining long-serving Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker.  View Article
Czech election leaves parliament fragmented
The Social Democrats have won a narrow victory in early parliamentary elections in the Czech Republic, but the composition of the next government is likely to depend on a billionaire who entered politics only two years ago.  View Article





© Graham Bishop


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