New EC Thread
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 29 Jan - 9:31
Davos: Britain faces up to reality as Europe clings to dreams
One of the most refreshing things about going to the World Economic Forum in Davos is that it reminds you just how irrelevant to much of the rest of the world the political and economic concerns of our little island really are.
For a growing number of Davos participants, it matters not a fig whether Britain is in or out of the European Union
By Jeremy Warner
8:50PM GMT 28 Jan 2013
126 Comments
In recent years, this has become a truly global event, and for a growing number of its participants, it matters not a fig whether Britain is in or out of the European Union, what it is doing about bloated entitlement spending or indeed whether its economy is growing or declining at all. They simply don’t care.
To a Brazilian or Indian entrepreneur, these are things of no more importance than what the cat had for breakfast. The world has changed, and regrettably, we are now a much smaller part of it.
Nor are we alone in our irrelevance. When I first started coming to these meetings 15 or so years ago, they were very much European-American affairs, with much of the economic agenda revolving around Europe’s intractably sclerotic growth rate. This would invariably be contrasted with America’s apparently more dynamic economic model, and everyone would go away muttering that things have got to change.
As is apparent, in this respect they haven’t. To say that the euro has failed to provide Europe with the economic vibrancy its inventors had hoped for is something of an understatement. Europe is in an even worse state of relative economic decline than it was back then.
Europe has plastered on some of the institutional structures of America’s vast internal market – a single currency, common regulation and open borders between states – but it has learned nothing of its entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism.
One of the most refreshing things about going to the World Economic Forum in Davos is that it reminds you just how irrelevant to much of the rest of the world the political and economic concerns of our little island really are.
For a growing number of Davos participants, it matters not a fig whether Britain is in or out of the European Union
By Jeremy Warner
8:50PM GMT 28 Jan 2013
126 Comments In recent years, this has become a truly global event, and for a growing number of its participants, it matters not a fig whether Britain is in or out of the European Union, what it is doing about bloated entitlement spending or indeed whether its economy is growing or declining at all. They simply don’t care.
To a Brazilian or Indian entrepreneur, these are things of no more importance than what the cat had for breakfast. The world has changed, and regrettably, we are now a much smaller part of it.
Nor are we alone in our irrelevance. When I first started coming to these meetings 15 or so years ago, they were very much European-American affairs, with much of the economic agenda revolving around Europe’s intractably sclerotic growth rate. This would invariably be contrasted with America’s apparently more dynamic economic model, and everyone would go away muttering that things have got to change.
As is apparent, in this respect they haven’t. To say that the euro has failed to provide Europe with the economic vibrancy its inventors had hoped for is something of an understatement. Europe is in an even worse state of relative economic decline than it was back then.
Europe has plastered on some of the institutional structures of America’s vast internal market – a single currency, common regulation and open borders between states – but it has learned nothing of its entrepreneurial spirit and rugged individualism.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 29 Jan - 16:53
ECB Said to Object to 15-Year Commitment on Anglo Irish
By Joe Brennan & John Fraher - Jan 29, 2013 12:00 AM GMT
European Central Bank policy makers rejected an Irish government plan designed to fund the rescue of the former Anglo Irish Bank Corp. for at least 15 years, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.
Under the proposal, the Irish central bank would have signed a contract guaranteeing to hold for at least a decade and a half a long-term bond issued to replace about 30 billion euros ($40.4 billion) of so-called promissory notes used to rescue the lender in 2010, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
The Irish government is trying to refinance the rescue of Anglo Irish to ease funding pressure on the state over the next decade. Policy makers prefer the government to take another loan from the European Stability Mechanism or raise the money in financial markets, two of the people said.
Deliberations among ECB policy makers last week were unofficial, according to the people. Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan retracted the proposal when it was met by opposition, one of the people said. Honohan announced he’d present a new plan in one of the next ECB council meetings, according to another person.
ECB Imprimatur
With the imprimatur of the ECB, the Irish central bankcurrently holds the promissory notes in exchange for funding Anglo through emergency lending.
Enda Kenny’s government had weighed injecting as much as 40 billion euros of bonds with a maturity of as long as 40 years into the bank to be used as collateral for ECB funds, Bloomberg News reported in September. The government would have exchanged those notes for a long-term bond, which the central bank would hold until at least 2028, the people said.
By scrapping the promissory notes, Ireland would no longer have to pay 3.1 billion euros a year to Anglo. Under the current contract, Anglo must use this annual instalment to pay down the central bank loan.
Discussions about funding the lender are ongoing, Paul Bolger, a finance ministry spokesman, said by phone yesterday, adding that Kenny said on Jan. 13 he was confident an accord would be reached by the end of March. An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the 15-year proposal, saying talks are ongoing and drawing conclusions about an outcome are premature.
ECB Rejects
Reuters reported on Jan. 26 that the ECB had rejected a plan to replace promissory notes with long-term bonds because it is tantamount to monetary financing. The ECB is prohibited from financing governments.
“While we still expect a deal to be announced before the next payment date, 31 March, there are clearly problems in agreeing a deal that does not breach the ECB Treaty,” said Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin.
Emergency-liquidity assistance to the lender amounted to 41.7 billion euros at the end of June, equivalent to about a quarter of the economy, with the promissory notes making up the bulk of the collateral. The notes were included in Irish government debt in 2010, helping to triple the state’s borrowings over the last five years.
Anglo Irish was merged with INBS and renamed Irish Bank Resolution Corp. in 2011, and ordered to wind down by the end of the decade.
By Joe Brennan & John Fraher - Jan 29, 2013 12:00 AM GMT
European Central Bank policy makers rejected an Irish government plan designed to fund the rescue of the former Anglo Irish Bank Corp. for at least 15 years, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions.
Under the proposal, the Irish central bank would have signed a contract guaranteeing to hold for at least a decade and a half a long-term bond issued to replace about 30 billion euros ($40.4 billion) of so-called promissory notes used to rescue the lender in 2010, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
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The Irish government is trying to refinance the rescue of Anglo Irish to ease funding pressure on the state over the next decade. Policy makers prefer the government to take another loan from the European Stability Mechanism or raise the money in financial markets, two of the people said.
Deliberations among ECB policy makers last week were unofficial, according to the people. Irish central bank governor Patrick Honohan retracted the proposal when it was met by opposition, one of the people said. Honohan announced he’d present a new plan in one of the next ECB council meetings, according to another person.
ECB Imprimatur
With the imprimatur of the ECB, the Irish central bankcurrently holds the promissory notes in exchange for funding Anglo through emergency lending.
Enda Kenny’s government had weighed injecting as much as 40 billion euros of bonds with a maturity of as long as 40 years into the bank to be used as collateral for ECB funds, Bloomberg News reported in September. The government would have exchanged those notes for a long-term bond, which the central bank would hold until at least 2028, the people said.
By scrapping the promissory notes, Ireland would no longer have to pay 3.1 billion euros a year to Anglo. Under the current contract, Anglo must use this annual instalment to pay down the central bank loan.
Discussions about funding the lender are ongoing, Paul Bolger, a finance ministry spokesman, said by phone yesterday, adding that Kenny said on Jan. 13 he was confident an accord would be reached by the end of March. An ECB spokesman declined to comment on the 15-year proposal, saying talks are ongoing and drawing conclusions about an outcome are premature.
ECB Rejects
Reuters reported on Jan. 26 that the ECB had rejected a plan to replace promissory notes with long-term bonds because it is tantamount to monetary financing. The ECB is prohibited from financing governments.
“While we still expect a deal to be announced before the next payment date, 31 March, there are clearly problems in agreeing a deal that does not breach the ECB Treaty,” said Dermot O’Leary, chief economist at Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin.
Emergency-liquidity assistance to the lender amounted to 41.7 billion euros at the end of June, equivalent to about a quarter of the economy, with the promissory notes making up the bulk of the collateral. The notes were included in Irish government debt in 2010, helping to triple the state’s borrowings over the last five years.
Anglo Irish was merged with INBS and renamed Irish Bank Resolution Corp. in 2011, and ordered to wind down by the end of the decade.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 30 Jan - 18:19
Portugal: The writing on the wall is Mandarin
29 January 2013Visão Lisbon
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Rodrigo
One out of four Portuguese young people is unemployed. To find work, these youngsters are ready to become expatriates, and the languages they learn before leaving – German, Russian, Chinese or Arabic – draw a map of their new promised lands.
Luís Ribeiro | Thiago Mourão | Lorena Amazonas
These days, there is not a single Portuguese business hiring experts in robotics programming. Gonçalo Gomes, 30, saw his fears become a painful reality as each job application he sent out remained unanswered. To make matters worse, his wife Marta, a 25-year old nurse, is only offered short-term or part-time contracts bouncing from one clinic to the next.
"We then decided to broaden our horizons and to send our applications abroad. And last June, we obtained encouraging answers from some German firms. The only problem was that they demanded we speak German," Gonçalo says. He and Marta signed up for an intensive German course at DUAL, the training department of the Portuguese-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lisbon.
"We receive many requests from German firms seeking skilled labour in different sectors," confirms DUAL head Elísio Silva. "In most professions, knowledge of the language is essential. Thus, learning German can't hurt anyone," he adds. This does not mean that English is losing ground. But speaking today's lingua franca is not enough to distinguish oneself from other applicants. In most professions, knowing the native tongue is obligatory.
Setting unenviable records
Meanwhile, Portugal is going through a serious crisis and is setting a record high unemployment rate, especially among young peolpe. It is close to 40 per cent for those under 25, and many Portuguese understand the growing influence of some countries in the global economy – countries in Central Europe or Germany which continues, against all odds, to post positive growth, but some further afield as well. In recent years, the rise in demand for classes in Russian, Arabic and Mandarin clearly shows where today's economic powerhouses lie.
Given China's continued growth, no one will be astonished that Mandarin is most in demand. Various courses have appeared in recent years. Among the most sought after are those aimed at children. These are chosen by parents particularly worried about their children's futures.
China represents more than the future. It's robustness in all economic sectors is already a fact. And if English is taught in the schools of the Middle Empire, the lack of practice and especially the cultural differences are such that foreigners are forced to master at least rudimentary Mandarin.
"The Chinese are always pleasantly surprised to discover that we speak Mandarin," says 21-year old Sara Veiga Silva, who holds a degree in Asian Studies but also a Mandarin proficiency certificate from the Confucius Institute.
Arabian delights
If China is the major economic power of the moment, it is not alone. Recently, faced with a diminished national economy, Portuguese firms sought money wherever it was to be found, notably in the Arab countries which welcomed, with open arms, their expertise in a wide variety of sectors.
"There are already 100 [Portuguese] companies and 6,000 to 7,000 Portuguese workers throughout the Arab world; these are the most dynamic markets," says Alloua Karim Bouabdellah, General-Secretary of the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"But knowledge of English or French is not enough. Many Arab business executives barely master their own language and it is always much easier to do business when you speak the same language as the client," he adds. Although their country is deep in the doldrums, the Portuguese seem enthusiastic in this area, claims Professor António Dias Farinha, Director of the Institute of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Lisbon. "In my university alone, we have over 100 students studying Arabic and there are many other programmes here and in other cities," he says.
Russian expansion
Forsaken for many years, the language of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky is attracting more and more practitioners. And with good reason: Russia is in full economic expansion buoyed by energy reserves on which the countries of northern and central Europe depend.
"We noticed a growing interest in the language three years ago. Currently we have over 200 people registered for the two semesters of Russian," says Rita Marnoto, Director of the Languages, Literature and Culture Department of the University of Coimbra. Students are aiming for jobs translating or with Russian firms working in Portugal. But emigration is also an option considered by many students.
Among wealthy Russians, Portugal is trendy. Many Muscovites with well-garnished portfolios go there on holiday, preferring it to other resort locations such as Greece, Egypt or Spain, precisely because it is more expensive. This allows them to show off just how healthy their personal finances really are.
Closer to home
In addition, these communities from the East, Russian-speakers settled in Portugal, constitute a major market for some sectors, even if a large part of these immigrants speak Portuguese.
But one does not always have to look on the other side of Europe or of the globe to find a solution. Just on the other side of Spain, also deep into a crisis almost as bad as ours, is a country with apparently healthy finances. That is the gamble made by 23-year old Joana Rodrigues, who has a degree in biomedical engineering.
"Because I want to work abroad and English is not enough, I decided to improve my French," she says. "There are also Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland," she adds. If France lacks the economic dynamism of Russia, the Persian Gulf or China, it has a definite added attraction – it's not too far from home.
29 January 2013Visão Lisbon
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Shared 90 times in 10 languages
RodrigoOne out of four Portuguese young people is unemployed. To find work, these youngsters are ready to become expatriates, and the languages they learn before leaving – German, Russian, Chinese or Arabic – draw a map of their new promised lands.
Luís Ribeiro | Thiago Mourão | Lorena Amazonas
These days, there is not a single Portuguese business hiring experts in robotics programming. Gonçalo Gomes, 30, saw his fears become a painful reality as each job application he sent out remained unanswered. To make matters worse, his wife Marta, a 25-year old nurse, is only offered short-term or part-time contracts bouncing from one clinic to the next.
"We then decided to broaden our horizons and to send our applications abroad. And last June, we obtained encouraging answers from some German firms. The only problem was that they demanded we speak German," Gonçalo says. He and Marta signed up for an intensive German course at DUAL, the training department of the Portuguese-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Lisbon.
"We receive many requests from German firms seeking skilled labour in different sectors," confirms DUAL head Elísio Silva. "In most professions, knowledge of the language is essential. Thus, learning German can't hurt anyone," he adds. This does not mean that English is losing ground. But speaking today's lingua franca is not enough to distinguish oneself from other applicants. In most professions, knowing the native tongue is obligatory.
Setting unenviable records
Meanwhile, Portugal is going through a serious crisis and is setting a record high unemployment rate, especially among young peolpe. It is close to 40 per cent for those under 25, and many Portuguese understand the growing influence of some countries in the global economy – countries in Central Europe or Germany which continues, against all odds, to post positive growth, but some further afield as well. In recent years, the rise in demand for classes in Russian, Arabic and Mandarin clearly shows where today's economic powerhouses lie.
Given China's continued growth, no one will be astonished that Mandarin is most in demand. Various courses have appeared in recent years. Among the most sought after are those aimed at children. These are chosen by parents particularly worried about their children's futures.
China represents more than the future. It's robustness in all economic sectors is already a fact. And if English is taught in the schools of the Middle Empire, the lack of practice and especially the cultural differences are such that foreigners are forced to master at least rudimentary Mandarin.
"The Chinese are always pleasantly surprised to discover that we speak Mandarin," says 21-year old Sara Veiga Silva, who holds a degree in Asian Studies but also a Mandarin proficiency certificate from the Confucius Institute.
Arabian delights
If China is the major economic power of the moment, it is not alone. Recently, faced with a diminished national economy, Portuguese firms sought money wherever it was to be found, notably in the Arab countries which welcomed, with open arms, their expertise in a wide variety of sectors.
"There are already 100 [Portuguese] companies and 6,000 to 7,000 Portuguese workers throughout the Arab world; these are the most dynamic markets," says Alloua Karim Bouabdellah, General-Secretary of the Arab-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"But knowledge of English or French is not enough. Many Arab business executives barely master their own language and it is always much easier to do business when you speak the same language as the client," he adds. Although their country is deep in the doldrums, the Portuguese seem enthusiastic in this area, claims Professor António Dias Farinha, Director of the Institute of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Lisbon. "In my university alone, we have over 100 students studying Arabic and there are many other programmes here and in other cities," he says.
Russian expansion
Forsaken for many years, the language of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky is attracting more and more practitioners. And with good reason: Russia is in full economic expansion buoyed by energy reserves on which the countries of northern and central Europe depend.
"We noticed a growing interest in the language three years ago. Currently we have over 200 people registered for the two semesters of Russian," says Rita Marnoto, Director of the Languages, Literature and Culture Department of the University of Coimbra. Students are aiming for jobs translating or with Russian firms working in Portugal. But emigration is also an option considered by many students.
Among wealthy Russians, Portugal is trendy. Many Muscovites with well-garnished portfolios go there on holiday, preferring it to other resort locations such as Greece, Egypt or Spain, precisely because it is more expensive. This allows them to show off just how healthy their personal finances really are.
Closer to home
In addition, these communities from the East, Russian-speakers settled in Portugal, constitute a major market for some sectors, even if a large part of these immigrants speak Portuguese.
But one does not always have to look on the other side of Europe or of the globe to find a solution. Just on the other side of Spain, also deep into a crisis almost as bad as ours, is a country with apparently healthy finances. That is the gamble made by 23-year old Joana Rodrigues, who has a degree in biomedical engineering.
"Because I want to work abroad and English is not enough, I decided to improve my French," she says. "There are also Belgium, Luxemburg and Switzerland," she adds. If France lacks the economic dynamism of Russia, the Persian Gulf or China, it has a definite added attraction – it's not too far from home.
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Re: New EC Thread
Badboy Wed 30 Jan - 20:28
IT IS BEING THAT SPANISH RETAILERS DID WORSE THIS CHRISTMAS
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 30 Jan - 22:05
Badboy wrote:IT IS BEING THAT SPANISH RETAILERS DID WORSE THIS CHRISTMAS
Badboy, I think Spanish Banks are downgrading all the Properties they own so potential buyers are being advised to approach a Bank if they want a bargain, not Estate Agents.
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Re: New EC Thread
Badboy Wed 30 Jan - 22:19
lots of Spanish families have no savings, EVEN IKEA ETC HAVE BEEN HITPanda wrote:Badboy wrote:IT IS BEING THAT SPANISH RETAILERS DID WORSE THIS CHRISTMAS
Badboy, I think Spanish Banks are downgrading all the Properties they own so potential buyers are being advised to approach a Bank if they want a bargain, not Estate Agents.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 30 Jan - 22:30
Badboy wrote:lots of Spanish families have no savings, EVEN IKEA ETC HAVE BEEN HITPanda wrote:Badboy wrote:IT IS BEING THAT SPANISH RETAILERS DID WORSE THIS CHRISTMAS
Badboy, I think Spanish Banks are downgrading all the Properties they own so potential buyers are being advised to approach a Bank if they want a bargain, not Estate Agents.
The situation is dire all over Europe , except maybe, Germany, Switzerland (which is not in the EU) and Finland.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 30 Jan - 22:50
Italy risks political crisis as MPS bank scandal turns 'explosive'
Italian magistrates investigating losses at Banca Monte dei Paschi say the mushrooming scandal has taken a dramatic turn, with political fallout that threatens to rock the country’s elections next month and upset eurozone plans for a banking union.
Monte dei Paschi is the world's oldest bank, dating back to 1472 Photo: Alamy
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
8:57PM GMT 30 Jan 2013
17 Comments “The situation is explosive,” said Tito Salerno, head of the prosecuting team in Siena, describing the fast-moving events at Italy’s third-largest bank as extremely grave.
The Milan bourse tumbled 3.4pc and yields on 10-year Italian bonds spiked 15 basis points to 4.31pc as the political scandal widened.
Monte dei Paschi (MPS), the world’s oldest bank dating back to 1472, is under investigation for covering up losses on derivatives and paying over the odds for its €9bn (£7.8bn) purchase of Banca AntonVeneta in 2007. Italy’s press alleges that the inquiry has unearthed a network of bribes and kickbacks, a claim denied by the bank.
The lender has lost €6.4bn since early 2011 and the damage is mounting. Italy’s weekly news magazine Panorama reports MPS could face another €500m losses from its “Chianti Classico” venture into property loans, a claim also denied.
MPS has had to be rescued a third time, issuing a €4.5bn convertible bond at a 9pc interest rate. The stock price has crashed 95pc.
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What makes the case so delicate are the bank’s close ties to the Italian political Left. Right-wing critics claim it was a patronage machine for the Democratic Party (PD) of Luigi Bersani, current front-runner in Italy’s close-fought elections.
MPS is 35pc-owned by a foundation that answers to the PD-controlled Tuscan province of Siena and was run by ex-Communist Giuseppe Mussari until his abrupt exit this month.
The debacle has led Italian news bulletins and is sapping support for Mr Bersani and ex-premier Mario Monti, the two pro-EU candidates committed to austerity and the EU reform agenda.
Comedian Beppe Grillo, scourge of the banking elites, is running at 18pc in the polls on an anti-European monetary union (EMU) ticket. The scandal has revived the hopes of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, struggling until now to make headway with populist attacks on the EU and daily fulminations against Germany, laced with warm words for Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini .
Mr Berlusconi’s Party of Liberties (PdL) and its Northern League allies are running at 26pc in the polls. There is a growing likelihood of a split result in the elections, with the anti-EU Right gaining enough seats to block legislation. Any slippage on reform would call into question the European Central Bank’s pledge to back-stop Italian bonds, endangering fragile confidence in Club Med debt markets.
“The Italian elections are a major cause for worry,” said Athanasios Orphanides, a former European Central Bank governor and now at MITs Sloan School of Management. “The eurozone is not out of the woods yet. People don’t seem to fully realise that the economy is in a much weaker state than a year ago and unemployment dynamics are getting worse. All it would take is an event that triggers uncertainty again and there could be a fresh crisis.”
The scandal has drawn in the ECB’s president Mario Draghi, who was head of the Bank of Italy and in charge of oversight when regulators failed to pick up the warning signs at MPS. Daily newspaper Corriere Della Sera has obtained documents showing that the Italian central bank knew about trouble in 2010 and sent two missions to go through the books, but then played down the affair. Italian magistrates in Trani have opened a parallel investigation into the conduct of the Bank of Italy itself.
Mr Draghi has held closed-door meetings in Italy over recent days to calm waters, but the scandal is a gift to those in Germany opposed to a full EMU banking union under ECB control. “This could seriously damage Mr Draghi’s credibility. If he did not know what was going on at MPS, they will say he is hardly the ideal man to take over eurozone bank supervision,” said Stephen Lewis from Monument Securities.
The Berlusconi-controlled newspaper Il Giornale is relishing its moment of revenge on the Left, writing that the MPS scandal had exposed the hypocrisy of Tuscany’s high-minded elites. “The supposed moral superiority of that world is collapsing as the investigation closes in,” it said.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 31 Jan - 17:33
France-Germany: We are not celebrating
22 January 2013Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt
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An Epinal print of the Battle of Sedan in 1870.
The people of Sedan, in northern France, have offered futile resistance to the Germans in three wars, from Bismarck to Hitler. Now, a journalist searching for the French-German reconciliation celebrated in the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, finds a community broken by poverty, that has nothing to keep alive but the ghosts of the past.
Axel Veiel
Snowflakes dance in the light of the street lamps. The station square glitters a wintry white. The few passengers from the high-speed train who get off in Sedan trudge away in a hurry. The silence that spreads is almost solemn. For minutes there is not a soul in sight – no cars, no buses, no taxis.
Sedan wasn’t always such a quiet town. In the 1870-71 war Bismarck's troops overran the supposed French bastion of Sedan for the first time. Emperor Napoleon III, who had fled into the castle, hoisted the white flag. From that day on, the Germans celebrated 2 September as “Sedan Day”. During World War II, in May 1940, Hitler's armoured columns surprised the town from the north, and a month later France itself fell. Have the wounds of that era healed – now that France and Germany are celebrating 50 years of the Élysée Treaty, and 50 years of friendship? Is the city joining in the celebrations?
Laurent Poncelet isn’t doing very well. The 45-year-old, a former soldier who now owns a two-vehicle taxi company, shakes his head. “We all want to get away from here. The young people especially see that they’ll be better off somewhere else,” he says. All the major companies in the region have turned their backs on this region tucked up against the Belgian border, from Poncelot’s former employer, Delphi, the car parts supplier, to Electrolux, the white goods manufacturer. Most residents of Sedan live on welfare; 42 per cent of the housing is social housing; and unemployment sits at 26 per cent. “We have no future here. Just a lot of history. A lot of German-French history. And that’s not very nice either,” says Poncelet.
Ignoring the anniversary
Among the 19,400 inhabitants of the small town, there is little to be felt of the miracle of close neighbourly cooperation following centuries of war. The anniversary of the Elysée Treaty is being ignored in Sedan.
It’s not only for Poncelet that Franco-German history seems to have stopped with the Second World War. The lady at the tourist offices smiles and shrugs her shoulders. No, she says, she hadn’t heard anything about the anniversary events. But the “House of the Last Bullet” could still be a wonderful alternative. “The wooden walls of the hostel besieged by Bismarck’s troops still have the old bullet holes in them,” she adds hopefully. Oil paintings show Frenchmen who resisted the overwhelming German might facing certain death. “Or how about our 15th Century Fürstenburg, an aristocrat’s castle? At 35,000 square metres, it’s the biggest fortified castle in Europe!”
The “Chateau Fort” is just across the street. To pace all the walls made of stone blocks takes half an hour. Marble plaques serve as reminders that German soldiers in the First World War also brought death and destruction to Sedan. From January 1917 to November 1918, the fortress was a place of execution. A total of 18,000 people were taken away to German camps, and 8,000 others were executed.
Some young people sheltering from the cold in the lobby of the tourist information offices haven’t heard anything about the Élysée Treaty or about the friendship anniversary celebration. “We just learned about the War in the classroom,” says Karim, a lanky 16-year-old with black curly hair, who wants to join the police force “in any large city” as soon as he is done with school. Lilia joins in the conversation. “I was friends with a German once,” she says. “The Germans are totally open and nice.” “You can talk,” Karim retorts. “Your ancestors weren’t killed by them.”
Too poor to leave
In the Café Zum guten Rum, contractor Richard and his partner Jeanine are sipping Belgian beer. They’ve heard of the upcoming celebrations for the anniversary, but they’re in no mood to celebrate. “We find it hard to get on with the Germans,” the 48-year-old admits. Maybe the younger generation can bring itself to bridge the gap. On the wall behind them hangs a rusty sign. Platz der Waffen, it says. Place of Arms.
A stroll through Sedan’s old centre confirms Poncelet’s words about a city without a future. Rusty gratings, crumbling plaster, and “Going out of business” signs bear testament to poverty and decline. Shutters closed in broad daylight mean: No one lives here any more. Those who are still around hold out only because they’re too poor to leave. Only 35 per cent of Sedan households pay taxes.
At some point, it dawns on one that if the eager faith in the fascinating progress in the Franco-German relationship ricochets off the ramparts of Sedan, it’s not only because the War was so savage. It’s also because the city lacks much more than the memory of its heroic resistance. The self-sacrifice, brotherhood and human greatness displayed in defeat give reason to be proud and to hold one’s head up in harder times.
Is it any wonder that Didier Herbillon, history teacher, art historian and mayor of Sedan, waves his hand dismissively? The socialist is not ready to talk about the changes in the town’s fortunes or the work towards reconciliation dreamt up by Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. On the town website, under the heading “Mayor’s Agenda” for January 22, there’s not even a minute of silence for the anniversary of the Élysée Treaty written in.
Demolishing a provocation
Herbillon is focused on other elements of the Franco-German relationship. To the dismay of French and German art historians, this past year he has approved the demolition of a monument in the cemetery that commemorates German soldiers fallen in the First World War. The monument is a provocation, the mayor believes.
In Paris and Berlin, employees of the Joint Youth Organisation Jugendwerks complain that the younger generation does not know how to appreciate properly the special value of Franco-German friendship. They take the peace for granted and think of France as an interesting country, like many others. Sedan shows that those who keep alive the memory of the War are for that very reason far from being ready to commit to peace. And above all it shows what boldness de Gaulle mustered just two decades after the war, when he reached out the hand of reconciliation to Adenauer.
Translated from the German by Anton Baer
22 January 2013Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurt
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An Epinal print of the Battle of Sedan in 1870.
The people of Sedan, in northern France, have offered futile resistance to the Germans in three wars, from Bismarck to Hitler. Now, a journalist searching for the French-German reconciliation celebrated in the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, finds a community broken by poverty, that has nothing to keep alive but the ghosts of the past.
Axel Veiel
Snowflakes dance in the light of the street lamps. The station square glitters a wintry white. The few passengers from the high-speed train who get off in Sedan trudge away in a hurry. The silence that spreads is almost solemn. For minutes there is not a soul in sight – no cars, no buses, no taxis.
Sedan wasn’t always such a quiet town. In the 1870-71 war Bismarck's troops overran the supposed French bastion of Sedan for the first time. Emperor Napoleon III, who had fled into the castle, hoisted the white flag. From that day on, the Germans celebrated 2 September as “Sedan Day”. During World War II, in May 1940, Hitler's armoured columns surprised the town from the north, and a month later France itself fell. Have the wounds of that era healed – now that France and Germany are celebrating 50 years of the Élysée Treaty, and 50 years of friendship? Is the city joining in the celebrations?
Laurent Poncelet isn’t doing very well. The 45-year-old, a former soldier who now owns a two-vehicle taxi company, shakes his head. “We all want to get away from here. The young people especially see that they’ll be better off somewhere else,” he says. All the major companies in the region have turned their backs on this region tucked up against the Belgian border, from Poncelot’s former employer, Delphi, the car parts supplier, to Electrolux, the white goods manufacturer. Most residents of Sedan live on welfare; 42 per cent of the housing is social housing; and unemployment sits at 26 per cent. “We have no future here. Just a lot of history. A lot of German-French history. And that’s not very nice either,” says Poncelet.
Ignoring the anniversary
Among the 19,400 inhabitants of the small town, there is little to be felt of the miracle of close neighbourly cooperation following centuries of war. The anniversary of the Elysée Treaty is being ignored in Sedan.
It’s not only for Poncelet that Franco-German history seems to have stopped with the Second World War. The lady at the tourist offices smiles and shrugs her shoulders. No, she says, she hadn’t heard anything about the anniversary events. But the “House of the Last Bullet” could still be a wonderful alternative. “The wooden walls of the hostel besieged by Bismarck’s troops still have the old bullet holes in them,” she adds hopefully. Oil paintings show Frenchmen who resisted the overwhelming German might facing certain death. “Or how about our 15th Century Fürstenburg, an aristocrat’s castle? At 35,000 square metres, it’s the biggest fortified castle in Europe!”
The “Chateau Fort” is just across the street. To pace all the walls made of stone blocks takes half an hour. Marble plaques serve as reminders that German soldiers in the First World War also brought death and destruction to Sedan. From January 1917 to November 1918, the fortress was a place of execution. A total of 18,000 people were taken away to German camps, and 8,000 others were executed.
Some young people sheltering from the cold in the lobby of the tourist information offices haven’t heard anything about the Élysée Treaty or about the friendship anniversary celebration. “We just learned about the War in the classroom,” says Karim, a lanky 16-year-old with black curly hair, who wants to join the police force “in any large city” as soon as he is done with school. Lilia joins in the conversation. “I was friends with a German once,” she says. “The Germans are totally open and nice.” “You can talk,” Karim retorts. “Your ancestors weren’t killed by them.”
Too poor to leave
In the Café Zum guten Rum, contractor Richard and his partner Jeanine are sipping Belgian beer. They’ve heard of the upcoming celebrations for the anniversary, but they’re in no mood to celebrate. “We find it hard to get on with the Germans,” the 48-year-old admits. Maybe the younger generation can bring itself to bridge the gap. On the wall behind them hangs a rusty sign. Platz der Waffen, it says. Place of Arms.
A stroll through Sedan’s old centre confirms Poncelet’s words about a city without a future. Rusty gratings, crumbling plaster, and “Going out of business” signs bear testament to poverty and decline. Shutters closed in broad daylight mean: No one lives here any more. Those who are still around hold out only because they’re too poor to leave. Only 35 per cent of Sedan households pay taxes.
At some point, it dawns on one that if the eager faith in the fascinating progress in the Franco-German relationship ricochets off the ramparts of Sedan, it’s not only because the War was so savage. It’s also because the city lacks much more than the memory of its heroic resistance. The self-sacrifice, brotherhood and human greatness displayed in defeat give reason to be proud and to hold one’s head up in harder times.
Is it any wonder that Didier Herbillon, history teacher, art historian and mayor of Sedan, waves his hand dismissively? The socialist is not ready to talk about the changes in the town’s fortunes or the work towards reconciliation dreamt up by Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. On the town website, under the heading “Mayor’s Agenda” for January 22, there’s not even a minute of silence for the anniversary of the Élysée Treaty written in.
Demolishing a provocation
Herbillon is focused on other elements of the Franco-German relationship. To the dismay of French and German art historians, this past year he has approved the demolition of a monument in the cemetery that commemorates German soldiers fallen in the First World War. The monument is a provocation, the mayor believes.
In Paris and Berlin, employees of the Joint Youth Organisation Jugendwerks complain that the younger generation does not know how to appreciate properly the special value of Franco-German friendship. They take the peace for granted and think of France as an interesting country, like many others. Sedan shows that those who keep alive the memory of the War are for that very reason far from being ready to commit to peace. And above all it shows what boldness de Gaulle mustered just two decades after the war, when he reached out the hand of reconciliation to Adenauer.
Translated from the German by Anton Baer
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 1 Feb - 10:42
'Catastrophic' EU exit would leave City defenceless against regulatory attack
European regulators have the means to shut down key parts of London’s financial centre at a stroke if Britain left the European Union and would not hesitate to do so, leading central bank experts have warned.
The regulatory assault on the City has been an escalating drama since the Lehman crash in 2008 Photo: Getty Images
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
9:00PM GMT 31 Jan 2013
975 Comments
Membership of the EU single market is the UK’s only legal defence against an onslaught of regulations aimed at forcing banks and fund managers to decamp to the eurozone, they say.
“It would be catastrophic and suicidal for Britain to leave. The UK would lose the protection it currently enjoys as the eurozone’s major financial centre,” said Athanasios Orphanides, a former member of the European Central Bank’s governing council.
Mr Orphanides said the ECB is already clamping down on payments, clearing and settlement systems conducted in euros outside its jurisdiction, a move deemed necessary to head off future crises. “The only thing stopping regulation that would shift all such activities from London to the eurozone is the legal protection the City enjoys in the EU,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
While Britain is in a “very strong” position now as an EU member outside the eurozone, this would evaporate the moment the UK tears up its membership card. “The UK would be the big loser. I don’t believe it will happen because Britain has the best technocrats in the world, and the British people are rational,” he said.
Legal guerrilla warfare is already under way and EU officials say privately that the struggle for control over the financial industry is reaching a critical point, with Britain rapidly key losing allies. The UK Treasury filed a case at the European Court in late 2011 to block ECB plans that would limit euro transactions by clearing houses if they take place outside EMU territory. It said large-scale euro contracts should come under the sway of the ECB, since no other central bank can issue the currency as a lender of last resort in an emergency.
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Britain said the plans breach single market laws allowing firms to set up a business anywhere in the EU. The ECB has held fire for now but the case is still pending. “This is a very real threat,” said Mats Persson from Open Europe.
Dino Kos, a former head of markets at the New York Fed, said the City is more vulnerable to a regulatory squeeze than people realise. “Governments have the power to control where clearing happens, and therefore where trading happens. Central banks can say businesses must have an onshore presence,” he told a Bloomberg forum.
The prize is big. Some 75pc of Europe’s over-the-counter derivatives trades take place in London, and 40pc of global trades. The worldwide market is around $640 trillion in notional contracts, churned constantly.
The ECB’s proposed rules would force LCH Clearnet, and other clearers such as ICE and CME, to hive off part of their business to eurozone hubs. Leaked documents from the Banque de France in 2009 revealed that Paris was pushing behind the scenes for a French clearing house, explicitly to break London’s stronghold. France has since tried to push through a directive requiring clearers to have access to ECB liquidity for euro trades.
Graham Bishop, an expert on EU regulation, said there is a string of parallel disputes, covering such arcane areas as “UCITS” depositories for EU unit trusts or rules on fund management. “The big danger is that foreign banks and funds quietly locate their new business in Frankfurt and Paris, and after five years we will discover that the centre of gravity has moved,” he said.
Deutsche Bank bases its global business and trading in London with 8,500 staff in the UK, much to the irritation of German lawmakers. France’s top lender BNP Paribas has a big trading centre and 8,000 staff in Britain. Both banks are under political pressure to repatriate operations.
The regulatory assault on the City has been an escalating drama since the Lehman crash in 2008. Three EU agencies have been created covering banking, insurance and markets with binding powers that can overrule a British veto on key matters in extremis, effectively stripping Westminster of final control over regulation of the City for the first time in 300 years.
The key measures were signed into law by the Coalition shortly after taking power, before it understood the full significance. The ECB and the Bank of England will share oversight as the EU’s new banking union takes shape, but it is a compromise fraught with trouble.
Giles Merritt, the head of Friends of Europe in Brussels, warned that EU leaders could become vindictive if Britain’s in/out referendum degenerates into a slanging match. “If British eurosceptics turn it into a sneering campaign against Europe, then the Europeans will play hardball,” he said.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hasn't Europe already jeopardised British banking by introducing a charge on share purchases in Europe? Well, well well, if this is meant to frighten Cameron it will probably succeed, but if I was PM I would ignore the threats. the ECB has another 26 Countries to worry about and the EU Countries in particular.
European regulators have the means to shut down key parts of London’s financial centre at a stroke if Britain left the European Union and would not hesitate to do so, leading central bank experts have warned.
The regulatory assault on the City has been an escalating drama since the Lehman crash in 2008 Photo: Getty Images
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
9:00PM GMT 31 Jan 2013
975 Comments Membership of the EU single market is the UK’s only legal defence against an onslaught of regulations aimed at forcing banks and fund managers to decamp to the eurozone, they say.
“It would be catastrophic and suicidal for Britain to leave. The UK would lose the protection it currently enjoys as the eurozone’s major financial centre,” said Athanasios Orphanides, a former member of the European Central Bank’s governing council.
Mr Orphanides said the ECB is already clamping down on payments, clearing and settlement systems conducted in euros outside its jurisdiction, a move deemed necessary to head off future crises. “The only thing stopping regulation that would shift all such activities from London to the eurozone is the legal protection the City enjoys in the EU,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
While Britain is in a “very strong” position now as an EU member outside the eurozone, this would evaporate the moment the UK tears up its membership card. “The UK would be the big loser. I don’t believe it will happen because Britain has the best technocrats in the world, and the British people are rational,” he said.
Legal guerrilla warfare is already under way and EU officials say privately that the struggle for control over the financial industry is reaching a critical point, with Britain rapidly key losing allies. The UK Treasury filed a case at the European Court in late 2011 to block ECB plans that would limit euro transactions by clearing houses if they take place outside EMU territory. It said large-scale euro contracts should come under the sway of the ECB, since no other central bank can issue the currency as a lender of last resort in an emergency.
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Britain said the plans breach single market laws allowing firms to set up a business anywhere in the EU. The ECB has held fire for now but the case is still pending. “This is a very real threat,” said Mats Persson from Open Europe.
Dino Kos, a former head of markets at the New York Fed, said the City is more vulnerable to a regulatory squeeze than people realise. “Governments have the power to control where clearing happens, and therefore where trading happens. Central banks can say businesses must have an onshore presence,” he told a Bloomberg forum.
The prize is big. Some 75pc of Europe’s over-the-counter derivatives trades take place in London, and 40pc of global trades. The worldwide market is around $640 trillion in notional contracts, churned constantly.
The ECB’s proposed rules would force LCH Clearnet, and other clearers such as ICE and CME, to hive off part of their business to eurozone hubs. Leaked documents from the Banque de France in 2009 revealed that Paris was pushing behind the scenes for a French clearing house, explicitly to break London’s stronghold. France has since tried to push through a directive requiring clearers to have access to ECB liquidity for euro trades.
Graham Bishop, an expert on EU regulation, said there is a string of parallel disputes, covering such arcane areas as “UCITS” depositories for EU unit trusts or rules on fund management. “The big danger is that foreign banks and funds quietly locate their new business in Frankfurt and Paris, and after five years we will discover that the centre of gravity has moved,” he said.
Deutsche Bank bases its global business and trading in London with 8,500 staff in the UK, much to the irritation of German lawmakers. France’s top lender BNP Paribas has a big trading centre and 8,000 staff in Britain. Both banks are under political pressure to repatriate operations.
The regulatory assault on the City has been an escalating drama since the Lehman crash in 2008. Three EU agencies have been created covering banking, insurance and markets with binding powers that can overrule a British veto on key matters in extremis, effectively stripping Westminster of final control over regulation of the City for the first time in 300 years.
The key measures were signed into law by the Coalition shortly after taking power, before it understood the full significance. The ECB and the Bank of England will share oversight as the EU’s new banking union takes shape, but it is a compromise fraught with trouble.
Giles Merritt, the head of Friends of Europe in Brussels, warned that EU leaders could become vindictive if Britain’s in/out referendum degenerates into a slanging match. “If British eurosceptics turn it into a sneering campaign against Europe, then the Europeans will play hardball,” he said.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hasn't Europe already jeopardised British banking by introducing a charge on share purchases in Europe? Well, well well, if this is meant to frighten Cameron it will probably succeed, but if I was PM I would ignore the threats. the ECB has another 26 Countries to worry about and the EU Countries in particular.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 2 Feb - 16:00
Spain PM Mariano Rajoy denies 'false' slush fund claim
Mariano Rajoy: "We have nothing to do with this"
Continue reading the main story
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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has strongly denied media claims that he and other members of the governing Popular Party received secret payments.
"I have never received nor distributed undeclared money," he said, stressing that he would not resign.
El Pais newspaper published photographs of ledgers showing payments to Popular Party figures on Thursday.
It said Mr Rajoy had collected 25,200 euros (£22,000; $34,000) a year between 1997 and 2008.
Mr Rajoy and his party were elected by a landslide in November 2011 on a promise to reduce the high public deficit.
'Two words'
Addressing the PP national executive meeting in an extraordinary session to discuss the El Pais allegations in Madrid, Mr Rajoy said: "It is not true that we received cash that we hid from tax officials."
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday
He added he would publish on the party's website full details of his income and assets.
As Mr Rajoy spoke, several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the party headquarters shouting "thieves" and "resign".
El Pais said the photographs it had published were of ledgers kept by former treasurers Luis Barcenas and Alvaro Lapuerta between 1990 and 2009.
Money was allegedly paid by firms via Mr Barcenas, who stepped down in 2009 and is currently under investigation for money-laundering.
Protesters made their feelings clear outside Mr Rajoy's party HQ
Investigators recently revealed that Mr Barcenas held a Swiss bank account which at one point held as much as 22m (£19m; $30m) euros.
Until 2007, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations.
Spaniards have been asked to accept painful austerity measures as the government battles to avoid an international bailout. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has reached a record 26%.
The allegations raise ethical questions about the Popular Party's dealings during the period of Spain's building boom, when politicians granted large numbers of development contracts.
The party has denied making any "systematic payment to certain people of money other than their monthly wages".
Mariano Rajoy: "We have nothing to do with this"
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has strongly denied media claims that he and other members of the governing Popular Party received secret payments.
"I have never received nor distributed undeclared money," he said, stressing that he would not resign.
El Pais newspaper published photographs of ledgers showing payments to Popular Party figures on Thursday.
It said Mr Rajoy had collected 25,200 euros (£22,000; $34,000) a year between 1997 and 2008.
Mr Rajoy and his party were elected by a landslide in November 2011 on a promise to reduce the high public deficit.
'Two words'
Addressing the PP national executive meeting in an extraordinary session to discuss the El Pais allegations in Madrid, Mr Rajoy said: "It is not true that we received cash that we hid from tax officials."
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday He added he would publish on the party's website full details of his income and assets.
As Mr Rajoy spoke, several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the party headquarters shouting "thieves" and "resign".
El Pais said the photographs it had published were of ledgers kept by former treasurers Luis Barcenas and Alvaro Lapuerta between 1990 and 2009.
Money was allegedly paid by firms via Mr Barcenas, who stepped down in 2009 and is currently under investigation for money-laundering.
Protesters made their feelings clear outside Mr Rajoy's party HQ Investigators recently revealed that Mr Barcenas held a Swiss bank account which at one point held as much as 22m (£19m; $30m) euros.
Until 2007, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations.
Spaniards have been asked to accept painful austerity measures as the government battles to avoid an international bailout. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has reached a record 26%.
The allegations raise ethical questions about the Popular Party's dealings during the period of Spain's building boom, when politicians granted large numbers of development contracts.
The party has denied making any "systematic payment to certain people of money other than their monthly wages".
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 3 Feb - 10:24
MEPs plan tobacco subsidies as Brussels fights smoking
Members of the European Parliament have paved the way for hundreds of millions of pounds of subsidies to go to Europe’s tobacco farmers — even though Brussels spends huge amounts on anti-smoking campaigns
Image 1 of 2
'Subsidising Greek and Bulgarian tobacco growers is clearly wrong,' the Environment Secretary said Photo: Eddie Mulholland for the Telegraph
Image 1 of 2
Harvest of Tobacco near Vraza, Bulgaria Photo: Alamy
By Edward Malnick, and Robert Mendick in Bulgaria
9:00PM GMT 02 Feb 2013
189 Comments Tobacco growers could begin receiving extra cash as soon as next year after MEPs voted to amend changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The vote, which needs further ratification, allows member states to decide which crops receive European Union farming subsidies. That could see countries such as Bulgaria, Poland and Greece giving huge sums to their tobacco growers.
Critics have already argued that the proposed changes to the subsidy system will herald a return to the notorious “butter mountains” and “wine lakes”. Now they may see a return to the subsidising of the multi-billion-pound cigarette industry as well.
Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, told The Sunday Telegraph: “Subsidising Greek and Bulgarian tobacco growers is clearly wrong. Not only would it take us back to the dark days of skewing the basic laws of supply and demand, it would also spend British taxpayers’ money on a product that is of absolutely no benefit to our society. I’m fighting hard to stop subsidies being linked to production like this again.”
When the old system was finally phased out in 2010, tobacco farmers in 12 EU countries including Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Italy were typically receiving £260million in subsidies. The scrapping of the subsidy prompted a decline in tobacco farming across the EU, which producers will now hope to reverse.
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Tobacco growers have looked for ways to diversify and find uses — other than the manufacture of cigarettes — for the crop. Bulgaria’s Tobacco and Tobacco Products Institute has even manufactured a new perfume called Tobacco and Roses, which it hopes will be a big success.
The “eau de parfum” comes in a box bearing a photograph of three cigars intertwined with roses. The reality, however, is tobacco as a fragrance is unlikely to supersede cigarettes as the main use of the crop.
The move by MEPs on the European Parliament agriculture committee that would reintroduce the tobacco subsidy comes despite a £27million campaign being run by the European Commission to encourage smokers to give up cigarettes. Officials say that the initiative, entitled
“Ex-smokers are unstoppable”, is helping hundreds of thousands of people to give up the habit.
Critics said that the plans to bring backsubsidies for tobacco were “wasteful” and “bizarre”.
The decision was described as “staggering” by anti-smoking campaigners.
The disclosure comes ahead of a summit this week at which the Prime Minister will attempt to negotiate a freeze or cut in spending from Brussels.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “This is an outrageous and retrograde step. Tobacco is responsible for more than 650,000 deaths in the EU every year, which is why subsidies were removed for tobacco.
“It makes no sense at all to revert back to subsidising the growth of such a deadly crop and it’s staggering that the agriculture committee thinks otherwise. We urge MEPs and the Commission to reject the committee’s proposal outright.”
Pawel Swidlicki, research analyst at the Open Europe think tank, said: “Given how much the EU and member states invest in anti-smoking campaigns, reinstating direct production support for tobacco would be both financially wasteful and counterproductive, so it is bizarre that some MEPs are pushing for this.
“The CAP as a whole is simply not fit for purpose and its outdated protectionist tendencies damage Europe’s global competitiveness. Fundamental reform consisting of slimming down and refocusing funding could deliver much better value for taxpayers and the environment.”
The European Commission had proposed changes to CAP legislation to allow for “coupled” support, or so-called “double payments”, meaning that farmers will again receive subsidies linked to production. The Commission had published a list of approved products for the new subsidy including fruit, vegetables, meat and milk but excluding tobacco.
But MEPs on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee agreed last month to an amendment which extended the scheme to cover all the products covered by the CAP — including tobacco.
The amendment followed lobbying by tobacco growers in countries such as Bulgaria and Italy, among the largest tobacco producers in the EU.
Herbert Dorfmann, the Italian MEP who put down the amendment, said countries should have the greatest possible choice over how they spend the funds.
Mr Dorfmann said: “There should be an allowance for member states to choose assistance where they really need it. I come from a mountainous region and we need to provide support for milk production. My proposal was not to say, 'Let’s have coupled support for tobacco’ — that was not the idea. I never thought about tobacco.”
A spokesman for the European Commission insisted the committee’s proposal — allowing the subsidy for tobacco — was unlikely to happen. The spokesman said the amendment would need the approval of “an overwhelming number of member states” to become law.
“EU law is decided jointly by elected MEPs and elected ministers,” said the spokesman, adding: “The agriculture committee in the European Parliament cannot amend commission proposals. Only a vote in the European Parliament plenary can do that.
“In this case there has been no such vote. So no EU institution has proposed raising tobacco payments.”
Prof Hristo Bozukov, head of Bulgaria’s Tobacco and Tobacco Products Institute, said subsidies were necessary to protect the country’s 30,000 registered tobacco growers. “There is not enough tobacco on the world market,” he said. “The European Union needs tobacco and we have the conditions to produce it.”
===================
This is unbelievable , the sooner we get out the better.!!!!
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Sun 3 Feb - 11:41
Whose pocket will these 'subsidies' finally finish up in one wonders?
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Panda Sun 3 Feb - 12:10
malena stool wrote:Whose pocket will these 'subsidies' finally finish up in one wonders?
Politics is corrupt in most Countries , the whole world is in turmoil but the Politicians in the U.S.A. and Britain keep interfering.
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malena stool Sun 3 Feb - 12:25
Sad as it may seem, the Chinese form of communism looks a sounder bet than the corrupt capitalism of our Western culture.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:Whose pocket will these 'subsidies' finally finish up in one wonders?
Politics is corrupt in most Countries , the whole world is in turmoil but the Politicians in the U.S.A. and Britain keep interfering.
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Panda Sun 3 Feb - 12:36
malena stool wrote:Sad as it may seem, the Chinese form of communism looks a sounder bet than the corrupt capitalism of our Western culture.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:Whose pocket will these 'subsidies' finally finish up in one wonders?
Politics is corrupt in most Countries , the whole world is in turmoil but the Politicians in the U.S.A. and Britain keep interfering.
At least China is making rapid progress although small Farmers are objecting that their land is being sequestered by the Government to build Flats . Also, with so much money to spend , the young Chinese are becoming Westernised so they are today's Capitalists. The emerging markets will rule in future and the U.S. dominance weaken.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 3 Feb - 12:37
malena stool wrote:Sad as it may seem, the Chinese form of communism looks a sounder bet than the corrupt capitalism of our Western culture.Panda wrote:malena stool wrote:Whose pocket will these 'subsidies' finally finish up in one wonders?
Politics is corrupt in most Countries , the whole world is in turmoil but the Politicians in the U.S.A. and Britain keep interfering.
At least China is making rapid progress although small Farmers are objecting that their land is being sequestered by the Government to build Flats . Also, with so much money to spend , the young Chinese are becoming Westernised so they are today's Capitalists. The emerging markets will rule in future and the U.S. dominance weaken.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 3 Feb - 16:31
3 February 2013 Last updated at 15:34
Berlusconi makes Italy property tax pledge
The media magnate has not ruled out another stint at the helm if he wins this month's elections
Continue reading the main story
Italy's future
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has promised to abolish an unpopular local property tax if his party wins the 24-25 February elections - and to refund last year's payments in cash.
The centre-right electoral coalition has been trailing in opinion polls - but the gap has recently narrowed.
Mr Berlusconi has said he will serve as economy minister if his party wins.
The media tycoon stepped down from a third term as prime minister in 2011 in the middle of the eurozone debt crisis.
At a rally in Milan on Sunday, Mr Berlusconi promised to abolish the local property tax introduced by the incumbent technocratic government that succeeded him - and to refund last year's taxes.
"This tax caused Italian families worry, anxiety, fear of the future," he told supporters of his People of Freedom party.
Gap narrowing
The media magnate is making a strong bid to return to power just over a year after he was forced to resign, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.
With only three weeks to go before the polls, the formerly unthinkable - a return to power by the media magnate who has dominated Italian politics for the past two decades - has now become possible, political observers are saying.
Despite his clashes with Italian justice over corruption charges, and the fact that he is still on trial for allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex, Mr Berlusconi is using his considerable political skills to appeal to an electorate which has seen a draconian increase in taxes by the technocrat administration led by Mario Monti during 2012, our correspondent says.
The result of the February election remains highly uncertain with more than a third of voters still undecided, according to opinion polls.
The tax refund promise could prove popular with voters facing rising unemployment and no immediate prospect of economic growth in Italy, adds our correspondent.
At the start of the election campaign, Mr Berlusconi trailed far behind his main centre-left opponent - Pierluigi Bersani, leader of the left-wing Democrats.
But over the past month he has narrowed the gap between himself and his main adversary to only five percentage points.
Berlusconi makes Italy property tax pledge
The media magnate has not ruled out another stint at the helm if he wins this month's elections Continue reading the main story
Italy's future
- Stark choice
- Has Mario Monti done a good job?
- Bersani leads revitalised left
- The night Italy's coalition fell
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has promised to abolish an unpopular local property tax if his party wins the 24-25 February elections - and to refund last year's payments in cash.
The centre-right electoral coalition has been trailing in opinion polls - but the gap has recently narrowed.
Mr Berlusconi has said he will serve as economy minister if his party wins.
The media tycoon stepped down from a third term as prime minister in 2011 in the middle of the eurozone debt crisis.
At a rally in Milan on Sunday, Mr Berlusconi promised to abolish the local property tax introduced by the incumbent technocratic government that succeeded him - and to refund last year's taxes.
"This tax caused Italian families worry, anxiety, fear of the future," he told supporters of his People of Freedom party.
Gap narrowing
The media magnate is making a strong bid to return to power just over a year after he was forced to resign, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.
With only three weeks to go before the polls, the formerly unthinkable - a return to power by the media magnate who has dominated Italian politics for the past two decades - has now become possible, political observers are saying.
Despite his clashes with Italian justice over corruption charges, and the fact that he is still on trial for allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex, Mr Berlusconi is using his considerable political skills to appeal to an electorate which has seen a draconian increase in taxes by the technocrat administration led by Mario Monti during 2012, our correspondent says.
The result of the February election remains highly uncertain with more than a third of voters still undecided, according to opinion polls.
The tax refund promise could prove popular with voters facing rising unemployment and no immediate prospect of economic growth in Italy, adds our correspondent.
At the start of the election campaign, Mr Berlusconi trailed far behind his main centre-left opponent - Pierluigi Bersani, leader of the left-wing Democrats.
But over the past month he has narrowed the gap between himself and his main adversary to only five percentage points.
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Panda Mon 4 Feb - 0:51
Non-EU Countries: UK Must Fulfill Certain Demands If They Want To Leave EU
Most Non-EU countries agree that Great Britain should be given a chance, being that this country has never really been an honest member of the EU
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EUROPE (The Global Edition) – The Non-European Union Council issued a statement from their headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia today, which said that Great Britain “has a long road ahead” if they want to join the international organization.
Earlier this week, leaders from Great Britain expressed an interest in leaving the EU, but it seems that a great number of conditions will have to be fulfilled in order for the EU member state to achieve that goal.
“Great Britain will have to sign the destabilization agreement, and then start the broader process of harmonizing its legislation with the regulations of countries outside the European Union. This primarily relates to freedom of press, legal system, human rights and anti-corruption regulations. After that, we can discuss their candidate status, while it is still too early to talk about the date to begin negotiations,” said Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, whose country is currently presiding over the Non-European Union.
Unofficial information gathered by The Global Edition indicates that there is a lot of disagreement among the “Great Balkan Five” about whether or not this is the right moment for expansion in the Non-European Union.
“Some countries, like Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, consider this to be a very risky time to accept one of the former EU states as a Non-EU member. They fear a wave of unemployment and poverty pouring over from the EU into the Balkans. Still, most countries agree that Great Britain should be given a chance, being that this country has never really been an honest member of the EU. This is best demonstrated by the fact that Britain has never given up its national currency, which will make it easier for them to join the Non-EU zone,” said one high official from Ankara, who asked to remain anonymous.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was “encouraged” by statements from Turkey, and that his country will do everything in its power to fulfill all of the conditions set by the Non-EU countries.
==============================
Why must Britain agree terms to join another Consortium???? The whole idea of leaving the EU was to take back our own
Governance.
Most Non-EU countries agree that Great Britain should be given a chance, being that this country has never really been an honest member of the EU
Sponsored Links
EUROPE (The Global Edition) – The Non-European Union Council issued a statement from their headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia today, which said that Great Britain “has a long road ahead” if they want to join the international organization.
Earlier this week, leaders from Great Britain expressed an interest in leaving the EU, but it seems that a great number of conditions will have to be fulfilled in order for the EU member state to achieve that goal.
“Great Britain will have to sign the destabilization agreement, and then start the broader process of harmonizing its legislation with the regulations of countries outside the European Union. This primarily relates to freedom of press, legal system, human rights and anti-corruption regulations. After that, we can discuss their candidate status, while it is still too early to talk about the date to begin negotiations,” said Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, whose country is currently presiding over the Non-European Union.
Unofficial information gathered by The Global Edition indicates that there is a lot of disagreement among the “Great Balkan Five” about whether or not this is the right moment for expansion in the Non-European Union.
“Some countries, like Turkey, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, consider this to be a very risky time to accept one of the former EU states as a Non-EU member. They fear a wave of unemployment and poverty pouring over from the EU into the Balkans. Still, most countries agree that Great Britain should be given a chance, being that this country has never really been an honest member of the EU. This is best demonstrated by the fact that Britain has never given up its national currency, which will make it easier for them to join the Non-EU zone,” said one high official from Ankara, who asked to remain anonymous.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he was “encouraged” by statements from Turkey, and that his country will do everything in its power to fulfill all of the conditions set by the Non-EU countries.
==============================
Why must Britain agree terms to join another Consortium???? The whole idea of leaving the EU was to take back our own
Governance.
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Panda Mon 4 Feb - 1:08
3 February 2013 Last updated at 15:15
Socialist leader Rubalcaba tells PM Rajoy to go
Saturday's protests saw clashes in Madrid
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
The leader of Spain's opposition Socialists has urged PM Mariano Rajoy to resign amid corruption allegations made in a centre-left newspaper.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Mr Rajoy "cannot lead the country" as Spain faces a huge economic crisis.
El Pais has published images of ledgers showing payments to members of the governing PP. Mr Rajoy says they are false and denies receiving payments.
Protests against Mr Rajoy were held on Saturday in several cities.
An online petition demanding the leader's resignation has gathered more than 740,000 signatures.
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday
Mr Rubalcaba said Mr Rajoy should "cede his place to another leader".
"His presence is not going to help resolve this political crisis," he said.
El Pais said the photographs it had published were of ledgers kept by former treasurers Luis Barcenas and Alvaro Lapuerta between 1990 and 2009.
Money was allegedly paid by firms via Mr Barcenas, who stepped down in 2009 and is currently under investigation for money-laundering.
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday.
Mariano Rajoy: "We have nothing to do with this"
Investigators recently revealed that Mr Barcenas held a Swiss bank account which at one point held as much as 22m (£19m; $30m) euros.
Until 2007, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations.
Spaniards have been asked to accept painful austerity measures as the government battles to avoid an international bailout. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has reached a record 26%.
Demonstrators took to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville on Saturday evening calling on Mr Rajoy to step down, with clashes with police in Madrid.
Earlier in the day, Mr Rajoy denied the allegations, saying he would publish full details of his income and assets on the Popular Party's website.
Socialist leader Rubalcaba tells PM Rajoy to go
Saturday's protests saw clashes in Madrid Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
The leader of Spain's opposition Socialists has urged PM Mariano Rajoy to resign amid corruption allegations made in a centre-left newspaper.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Mr Rajoy "cannot lead the country" as Spain faces a huge economic crisis.
El Pais has published images of ledgers showing payments to members of the governing PP. Mr Rajoy says they are false and denies receiving payments.
Protests against Mr Rajoy were held on Saturday in several cities.
An online petition demanding the leader's resignation has gathered more than 740,000 signatures.
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday Mr Rubalcaba said Mr Rajoy should "cede his place to another leader".
"His presence is not going to help resolve this political crisis," he said.
El Pais said the photographs it had published were of ledgers kept by former treasurers Luis Barcenas and Alvaro Lapuerta between 1990 and 2009.
Money was allegedly paid by firms via Mr Barcenas, who stepped down in 2009 and is currently under investigation for money-laundering.
El Pais splashed photos of the alleged ledgers on its website on Thursday.
Mariano Rajoy: "We have nothing to do with this"
Investigators recently revealed that Mr Barcenas held a Swiss bank account which at one point held as much as 22m (£19m; $30m) euros.
Until 2007, Spanish political parties were allowed to receive anonymous donations.
Spaniards have been asked to accept painful austerity measures as the government battles to avoid an international bailout. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has reached a record 26%.
Demonstrators took to the streets in Madrid, Barcelona and Seville on Saturday evening calling on Mr Rajoy to step down, with clashes with police in Madrid.
Earlier in the day, Mr Rajoy denied the allegations, saying he would publish full details of his income and assets on the Popular Party's website.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Mon 4 Feb - 18:00
United Kingdom: What have the Europeans ever done for us?
4 February 2013The Independent London
Tools
Bojesen
Actually, quite a lot, argues a columnist, after the UK’s pro-Europeans rallied last week for a low-key launch of a new group to counter the nation’s infamous Euroscepticism. A fitting tribute to the subtle but profound influence that the EU has had on the country during the last 40 years. Excerpts.
Mary Dejevsky
The irony remains delicious.
Europe House in Smith Square, where the European Commission and the European Parliament have their joint London headquarters, is the very building – the former Conservative Party Central Office – where Margaret Thatcher celebrated her election victories.
So there were plenty of ghosts at the party when the troika of prominent British Europhiles chose Europe House for the launch of their proto-Yes campaign this week. Ken Clarke (Conservative, minister without portfolio), Lord Mandelson (Labour, former EU commissioner and spin doctor supreme) and Danny Alexander (Liberal Democrat, chief secretary to the Treasury) are jointly fronting the Centre for British Influence, which will argue the case for the UK to stay in – when, or if, David Cameron gets around to holding his promised In/Out referendum on the European Union.
Enormous but barely perceptible
Talk about low-key, though. The very name, the Centre for British Influence, makes the new group sound almost like an affiliate of Ukip. There are outright anti-EU organisations that sound more engaged with Europe than this. If the CBI – an unfortunate, or perhaps deliberate, overlap – is to be the kernel of a future Yes campaign, it looks awfully like a lobbying effort by stealth. Is the thinking perhaps that a below-the-radar approach is the only one that will persuade British voters to grasp the pro-EU message?
In fact, this might not be a bad strategy. Not only because polls have, until recently, shown a rise in pro-Europe sentiment only when the subject leaves the headlines, but because the EU’s impact on Britain has been so gradual as to be barely perceptible. Seen overall, however, from the perspective of the past 40 years, it has been enormous, and almost entirely beneficial.
===========================
I don't think it has been beneficial. We have lost fishing rights, home grown produce , been paid to keep fields fallow, been governed by a faceless EU who can decide what we can and can't do . I can't think of one area where Britain has benefitted, we had good trading relations with the Commonwealth , oh, and we are the third biggest donor to the EU.
4 February 2013The Independent London
Tools
BojesenActually, quite a lot, argues a columnist, after the UK’s pro-Europeans rallied last week for a low-key launch of a new group to counter the nation’s infamous Euroscepticism. A fitting tribute to the subtle but profound influence that the EU has had on the country during the last 40 years. Excerpts.
Mary Dejevsky
The irony remains delicious.
Europe House in Smith Square, where the European Commission and the European Parliament have their joint London headquarters, is the very building – the former Conservative Party Central Office – where Margaret Thatcher celebrated her election victories.
So there were plenty of ghosts at the party when the troika of prominent British Europhiles chose Europe House for the launch of their proto-Yes campaign this week. Ken Clarke (Conservative, minister without portfolio), Lord Mandelson (Labour, former EU commissioner and spin doctor supreme) and Danny Alexander (Liberal Democrat, chief secretary to the Treasury) are jointly fronting the Centre for British Influence, which will argue the case for the UK to stay in – when, or if, David Cameron gets around to holding his promised In/Out referendum on the European Union.
Enormous but barely perceptible
Talk about low-key, though. The very name, the Centre for British Influence, makes the new group sound almost like an affiliate of Ukip. There are outright anti-EU organisations that sound more engaged with Europe than this. If the CBI – an unfortunate, or perhaps deliberate, overlap – is to be the kernel of a future Yes campaign, it looks awfully like a lobbying effort by stealth. Is the thinking perhaps that a below-the-radar approach is the only one that will persuade British voters to grasp the pro-EU message?
In fact, this might not be a bad strategy. Not only because polls have, until recently, shown a rise in pro-Europe sentiment only when the subject leaves the headlines, but because the EU’s impact on Britain has been so gradual as to be barely perceptible. Seen overall, however, from the perspective of the past 40 years, it has been enormous, and almost entirely beneficial.
===========================
I don't think it has been beneficial. We have lost fishing rights, home grown produce , been paid to keep fields fallow, been governed by a faceless EU who can decide what we can and can't do . I can't think of one area where Britain has benefitted, we had good trading relations with the Commonwealth , oh, and we are the third biggest donor to the EU.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 5 Feb - 17:10
Structural funds: Let Brussels manage our development projects
5 February 2013Dilema Veche Bucharest
Berend Vonk
Structural funds for 2014-2020 are at the top of the agenda of the European Council meeting on February 7-8. Management of these development projects is left to member states but Romanian journalist Ovidiu Nahoi suggests it may be time to hand over responsibility to the EU Commission.
Ovidiu NahoiWe have failed to attract investments and have not met our target of receiving €3.5bn in structural funds in 2012, but this is unimportant. We will receive at least €5bn in 2013.
We should be realistic enough to swim against the current. We must not fool ourselves. Whatever grand schemes we think up, the Romanian government is not ready to manage European funds.
So what should we do? Perhaps Romania should suggest the idea of "out-sourcing" the major projects financed by the Union. That is to say, all the major road and rail infrastructure networks, projects to connect energy networks, and programmes to modernise the river and sea ports; in short, all those projects which benefit the Union as a whole.
These kinds of projects could remain under the control of the Commission. If it does not have the means to organise the bidding process and to supervise the work then let these be established. The labour and resources are not lacking. Should these take some time to be implemented, the management could be temporarily confided to those member states who are net contributors to the budget. If this means that the treaties must be amended then let us propose to do so.
Shared interest
After all, the Commission and the major contributors should be interested in a more rapid link between northern Europe and the ports of the Danube or the Black Sea. Perhaps they would also be interested in connecting energy networks or even in building industrial parks in which their firms could set up. We will contribute with our share of co-financing and with our legislation. This would be beneficial to all Europeans.
Investments financing the Europe 2020 strategy must be managed from the "centre" as stipulated in the 2014-20 budget cycle. The Commission will negotiate the contracts with the member states and the regions. The member states agree to revise their investment priorities in line with these goals.
Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Regional Policy has proposed to harmonise standards regarding the various funds, some of which are earmarked for such projects as rural development or for fishing and maritime affairs, in order to improve the coherence of EU action. Perhaps we could take it further by asking that projects with a European dimension, as specified through a precise list of priorities, also be managed in a "centralised" fashion.
Solidarity and community interest
German, Dutch and Swedish tax payers would then see that their money is being used more efficiently, that spending is better monitored and that the funds will not be lost in the pockets of Balkan Mafias. This type of mechanism would closely resemble the Marshall Plan and would give European citizens a greater feeling of solidarity and of a community of interests. In addition, the beneficiary countries would have before them a true example of best practice to follow for the other, less important, projects that would be handled by the local authorities.
It is true that the subsidiarity argument could be invoked here – the decision on how to use European funds must be made at a level as close to the beneficiary as possible. In theory this seems important. But what is the solution when, in the name of the beneficiary, the decision-making prerogative is taken hostage by so-called local elites, who, in truth are no more than white-collar criminals?
Transfer of sovereignty
Of the two, who is closest to the interest of the citizens – the European Commission or local barons? Who is closest in a political sense and not geographically? Which is best for the citizen: a waste of resources in thousands, even tens of thousands of unfinished projects which garnish the bank accounts of "friendly" firms which then, through kick-backs, finance electoral campaigns? Or a series of projects with a genuine European impact?
Such an initiative, coming from Romania and eventually Bulgaria, could prove interesting within the framework of a reform of European institutions. Brussels could become, for both the contributors and the beneficiaries, a true means of development, as opposed to the pathetic symbol of a bureaucracy out of touch with reality.
It would constitute a magnificent response to the trend in the United Kingdom: it would focus the Continent on development investment, which will contribute to reinforcing cohesion and, obviously, the single market. It would also require a "transfer of sovereignty" that the citizens benefiting from these projects would understand and support.
5 February 2013Dilema Veche Bucharest
Berend VonkStructural funds for 2014-2020 are at the top of the agenda of the European Council meeting on February 7-8. Management of these development projects is left to member states but Romanian journalist Ovidiu Nahoi suggests it may be time to hand over responsibility to the EU Commission.
Ovidiu NahoiWe have failed to attract investments and have not met our target of receiving €3.5bn in structural funds in 2012, but this is unimportant. We will receive at least €5bn in 2013.
We should be realistic enough to swim against the current. We must not fool ourselves. Whatever grand schemes we think up, the Romanian government is not ready to manage European funds.
So what should we do? Perhaps Romania should suggest the idea of "out-sourcing" the major projects financed by the Union. That is to say, all the major road and rail infrastructure networks, projects to connect energy networks, and programmes to modernise the river and sea ports; in short, all those projects which benefit the Union as a whole.
These kinds of projects could remain under the control of the Commission. If it does not have the means to organise the bidding process and to supervise the work then let these be established. The labour and resources are not lacking. Should these take some time to be implemented, the management could be temporarily confided to those member states who are net contributors to the budget. If this means that the treaties must be amended then let us propose to do so.
Shared interest
After all, the Commission and the major contributors should be interested in a more rapid link between northern Europe and the ports of the Danube or the Black Sea. Perhaps they would also be interested in connecting energy networks or even in building industrial parks in which their firms could set up. We will contribute with our share of co-financing and with our legislation. This would be beneficial to all Europeans.
Investments financing the Europe 2020 strategy must be managed from the "centre" as stipulated in the 2014-20 budget cycle. The Commission will negotiate the contracts with the member states and the regions. The member states agree to revise their investment priorities in line with these goals.
Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Regional Policy has proposed to harmonise standards regarding the various funds, some of which are earmarked for such projects as rural development or for fishing and maritime affairs, in order to improve the coherence of EU action. Perhaps we could take it further by asking that projects with a European dimension, as specified through a precise list of priorities, also be managed in a "centralised" fashion.
Solidarity and community interest
German, Dutch and Swedish tax payers would then see that their money is being used more efficiently, that spending is better monitored and that the funds will not be lost in the pockets of Balkan Mafias. This type of mechanism would closely resemble the Marshall Plan and would give European citizens a greater feeling of solidarity and of a community of interests. In addition, the beneficiary countries would have before them a true example of best practice to follow for the other, less important, projects that would be handled by the local authorities.
It is true that the subsidiarity argument could be invoked here – the decision on how to use European funds must be made at a level as close to the beneficiary as possible. In theory this seems important. But what is the solution when, in the name of the beneficiary, the decision-making prerogative is taken hostage by so-called local elites, who, in truth are no more than white-collar criminals?
Transfer of sovereignty
Of the two, who is closest to the interest of the citizens – the European Commission or local barons? Who is closest in a political sense and not geographically? Which is best for the citizen: a waste of resources in thousands, even tens of thousands of unfinished projects which garnish the bank accounts of "friendly" firms which then, through kick-backs, finance electoral campaigns? Or a series of projects with a genuine European impact?
Such an initiative, coming from Romania and eventually Bulgaria, could prove interesting within the framework of a reform of European institutions. Brussels could become, for both the contributors and the beneficiaries, a true means of development, as opposed to the pathetic symbol of a bureaucracy out of touch with reality.
It would constitute a magnificent response to the trend in the United Kingdom: it would focus the Continent on development investment, which will contribute to reinforcing cohesion and, obviously, the single market. It would also require a "transfer of sovereignty" that the citizens benefiting from these projects would understand and support.
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Croatia-Slovenia: Bridging an irreconcilable divide
6 February 2013Tportal Zagreb
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Ajubel
Croatia's accession to the EU, scheduled for July 1, remains suspended until a border dispute and banking row with neighbouring Slovenia are cleared up. The impasse exposes the gap in perceptions of national sovereignty between the EU and the continent’s new independent states.
Vuk PerišićA little more than 20 years ago Slovenia and Croatia were founded as independent states based on the idea that the only solution to their endless quarrels was to create separate independent states.
The European Union emerged in the 1950s on a diametrically opposed basis. Given the historical experience, which was terrifying to say the least, and the determination to never again fall into the horrors of war, the Union was founded on the idea that surrendering some national sovereignty and integrating with the other states of Europe – not disintegrating, as Yugoslavia did – was the best way to prevent new conflicts.
It was therefore necessary to strip away the ability, the rationale and the power of European countries to generate conflicts, and to create mechanisms to solve them peacefully and by consensus.
The difference between the genesis of the Croat-Slovene argument and that of the European Union, ie between two political philosophies, can be summed up as the difference between the idea of absolute sovereignty and the imperative that all quarrels must be settled rationally and, if necessary, at the cost of some dents to national sovereignty.
Struggling with obstinacy
This contradiction lies at the heart of the Croat-Slovene litigation and the inability (or lack of will, perhaps?) of Zagreb and Ljubljana to resolve it. Slovenia and Croatia are struggling with great obstinacy about matters (the border dispute and the banking row that are preventing the enlargement of the Union and threatening its ability to resolve conflicts.
Paradoxically, Croatia and Slovenia are standing fast on their sovereign rights in their disputes, and this in a political community whose principle is to leave conflicts behind them, though doing so costs its members some of their sovereignty.
The situation is almost comical, considering that the Slovenian and Croat political elites perceive the Union as the embodiment of the racist illusion of European civilisation and its cultural superiority. They imagine it to be something like Vienna's New Year's ball, a showcase for the petty bourgeois and his taste for kitsch. Their own values, which they brought with them into the political arena, are modern values, and diametrically opposed. The sovereignty of their own states they viewed as something sacred, and on that altar they were willing to sacrifice human rights and even lives. Suddenly they feel a little bewildered. Europe, it turns out, is not the Radetzky March, but more like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with a little of John Lennon's Imagine thrown in.
Risking a betrayal of ideals
A solution of the Croat-Slovene dispute will be positive and beneficial for all concerned. It is highly likely that Brussels will force Ljubljana and Zagreb to a compromise that will trigger the ratification by Slovenia of the Accession Treaty of Croatia.
The Union will demonstrate that it is capable of carrying out its basic function: namely, to force its members to act constructively and rationally, and to cooperate. If the European Union should, unfortunately, fail to discipline the bad-tempered sovereignty of its members, it would betray its own ideals and lose all claim to any higher dignity.
On the web
View from Slovenia Slovenes are in more of a hurry to welcome Croatia than their leaders
Seventy-six per cent of Slovenians are in favour of Slovenia's ratifying the Treaty of Accession of Croatia to the EU, while only 14 per cent are opposed, according to a recent survey published by the Slovenian daily Delo.
Time, though, notes the Ljubljana daily, is running out: the treaty must be ratified by the bloc by April 1, to allow accession to take place as scheduled on July 1. The political crisis in Slovenia and the banking litigation row with Croatia, however, do not bode well for an early ratification. However, notes Dnevnik, Slovenians were able to approve the compromise on their border dispute with Croatia in 2010. “If Slovenian citizens could decide the ratification of the Treaty of Accession, it would be quickly ratified,” Delo concludes.
6 February 2013Tportal Zagreb
Tools
Ajubel Croatia's accession to the EU, scheduled for July 1, remains suspended until a border dispute and banking row with neighbouring Slovenia are cleared up. The impasse exposes the gap in perceptions of national sovereignty between the EU and the continent’s new independent states.
Vuk PerišićA little more than 20 years ago Slovenia and Croatia were founded as independent states based on the idea that the only solution to their endless quarrels was to create separate independent states.
The European Union emerged in the 1950s on a diametrically opposed basis. Given the historical experience, which was terrifying to say the least, and the determination to never again fall into the horrors of war, the Union was founded on the idea that surrendering some national sovereignty and integrating with the other states of Europe – not disintegrating, as Yugoslavia did – was the best way to prevent new conflicts.
It was therefore necessary to strip away the ability, the rationale and the power of European countries to generate conflicts, and to create mechanisms to solve them peacefully and by consensus.
The difference between the genesis of the Croat-Slovene argument and that of the European Union, ie between two political philosophies, can be summed up as the difference between the idea of absolute sovereignty and the imperative that all quarrels must be settled rationally and, if necessary, at the cost of some dents to national sovereignty.
Struggling with obstinacy
This contradiction lies at the heart of the Croat-Slovene litigation and the inability (or lack of will, perhaps?) of Zagreb and Ljubljana to resolve it. Slovenia and Croatia are struggling with great obstinacy about matters (the border dispute and the banking row that are preventing the enlargement of the Union and threatening its ability to resolve conflicts.
Paradoxically, Croatia and Slovenia are standing fast on their sovereign rights in their disputes, and this in a political community whose principle is to leave conflicts behind them, though doing so costs its members some of their sovereignty.
The situation is almost comical, considering that the Slovenian and Croat political elites perceive the Union as the embodiment of the racist illusion of European civilisation and its cultural superiority. They imagine it to be something like Vienna's New Year's ball, a showcase for the petty bourgeois and his taste for kitsch. Their own values, which they brought with them into the political arena, are modern values, and diametrically opposed. The sovereignty of their own states they viewed as something sacred, and on that altar they were willing to sacrifice human rights and even lives. Suddenly they feel a little bewildered. Europe, it turns out, is not the Radetzky March, but more like Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with a little of John Lennon's Imagine thrown in.
Risking a betrayal of ideals
A solution of the Croat-Slovene dispute will be positive and beneficial for all concerned. It is highly likely that Brussels will force Ljubljana and Zagreb to a compromise that will trigger the ratification by Slovenia of the Accession Treaty of Croatia.
The Union will demonstrate that it is capable of carrying out its basic function: namely, to force its members to act constructively and rationally, and to cooperate. If the European Union should, unfortunately, fail to discipline the bad-tempered sovereignty of its members, it would betray its own ideals and lose all claim to any higher dignity.
On the web
View from Slovenia Slovenes are in more of a hurry to welcome Croatia than their leaders
Seventy-six per cent of Slovenians are in favour of Slovenia's ratifying the Treaty of Accession of Croatia to the EU, while only 14 per cent are opposed, according to a recent survey published by the Slovenian daily Delo.
Time, though, notes the Ljubljana daily, is running out: the treaty must be ratified by the bloc by April 1, to allow accession to take place as scheduled on July 1. The political crisis in Slovenia and the banking litigation row with Croatia, however, do not bode well for an early ratification. However, notes Dnevnik, Slovenians were able to approve the compromise on their border dispute with Croatia in 2010. “If Slovenian citizens could decide the ratification of the Treaty of Accession, it would be quickly ratified,” Delo concludes.
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Re: New EC Thread
fuzeta Wed 6 Feb - 20:14
Do you know the more all these countries go on about us leaving the EU - Threats, conditions, predictions of doom. The more I believe it is absolutely the right thing to do. Why don't they all just **** off
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 6 Feb - 22:07
fuzeta wrote:Do you know the more all these countries go on about us leaving the EU - Threats, conditions, predictions of doom. The more I believe it is absolutely the right thing to do. Why don't they all just **** off
Exactly Fuzeta, the EU has another 5 Countries waiting to join, they are all relatively poor Countries so if Cameron had guts and wanted to be re-elected he would have ordered a Referendum before the next Election on 2015. Germany and Finland would have no hesitation in getting out when they see the EU cannot survive. It was bad planning to introduce the Euro without the necessary Banking system, all Trichet was meant to do was protect the EURO, but with the 2008 crisis came the realisation that the ECB did not have the mandate to deal with it. So many EU Countries now in dire straits and the economy unlikely to improve for some time , will the measures taken keep Europe afloat.?
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