Irish government in tatters as coalition partners pull out

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government was in tatters Sunday after the junior coalition partners pulled out, in a move likely to spark elections even earlier than those planned for March 11.
Green Party leader John Gormley told a press conference in Dublin that "our patience has reached an end" after a week of political turmoil that resulted in Cowen quitting as leader of his ruling Fianna Fail party on Saturday. "Because of these continuing doubts, the lack of communication and the breakdown in trust, we have decided that we can no longer continue in government," Gormley said after talks with his party's national executive.
The move plunges Ireland into deeper chaos as it struggles to recover from a debt crisis that brought the economy to its knees and forced Dublin to accept an international bailout in November.
Parliament must still pass a finance bill comprising spending cuts and tax hikes which are seen as a pre-condition for loans worth 67 billion euros (90 billion dollars) from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. All the main parties are committed to getting the bill through before an election and Gormley said this had not changed.
AFP

Portugal's President Captures New Term

Portuguese voters elected Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as president Sunday, in a message that they want political stability as the country tries to extricate itself from the European sovereign-debt crisis. The seasoned Social Democratic president—who is head of state, but doesn't run the government—is facing tough months ahead.
Amid concerns that Portugal won't be able to repay its debt, Lisbon has been under pressure from its European partners to take a bailout, a measure the government has denied it needs.
With nearly 100% of the votes counted, official results showed Mr. Silva won 53% of valid ballots cast, while Manuel Alegre from the Socialist Party was in second place, with 20%. The remaining votes were divided among four other candidates.
Mr. Silva, 71 years old, will start his second five-year presidential term under great pressure to maintain the political stability that has allowed Portugal to approve a harsh austerity plan and so far to avoid having to ask for outside help.
The minority government of Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates managed to pass the 2011 budget, which included public-sector wage cuts, reductions in welfare benefits and tax increases, with the help of the Social Democrats, who abstained from voting after forcing the government to accept deeper spending cuts than originally planned. The budget aims to reduce the government's fiscal deficit to 4.6%of gross domestic product in 2011 from an estimated 7.3% of GDP in 2010.
Concern about the country's ability to repay its debt, following the crises that forced the Greek and Irish governments to accept help from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, has pushed the price Portugal has to pay to finance its deficit higher in recent months.If international financial markets continue to demand higher interest rates from Portugal, the country might also be forced to turn to the EU and the International Monetary Fund for help, despite Mr. Sócrates' insistence that won't be necessary.
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Elindult az első európai szemeszter

Az új gazdasági együttműködés elindításaként az Európai Bizottság 2011. január 12-én éves növekedési jelentést (Annual Growth Survey) adott ki, amelyben gazdaságpolitikai és költségvetési prioritásokat javasol a tagállamok számára.
Növekedés, versenyképesség, munkahelyteremtés
A magyar elnökség szerint a jelentés közzététele után azonnal meg kell kezdeni a tárgyalásokat, hogy az uniós állam- és kormányfők márciusi csúcstalálkozóján politikai iránymutatást fogadhassanak el. Az ezek alapján elkészítendő nemzeti gazdasági programok segíteni fognak abban, hogy Európa kilábaljon a válságból, visszanyerje versenyképességét, és beinduljon a munkahelyteremtés.

Az elnökség meggyőződése, hogy az új gazdaságkoordinációs mechanizmus minden tagállam közös érdeke, és a költségvetési fegyelem megerősítésén túl növekedésösztönző, egyensúlyteremtő intézkedésekre van szükség.

Szigorú költségvetés, egyensúly, stabil pénzügyi szektor

Az Európai Bizottság jelentése tíz pontba szedte az uniós országok számára javasolt gazdaságpolitikai intézkedéseket. Eszerint a növekedés alapvető előfeltétele a szigorú költségvetési fegyelem, a makrogazdasági egyensúly és a pénzügyi szektor stabilitása. A foglalkoztatás növeléséhez a munkavállalás vonzóbbá tételére, a nyugdíjrendszerek reformjára, a munkanélküliek foglalkoztatására van szükség. Emellett a Bizottság szerint megfelelő egyensúlyt kell találni a munkahelyek biztonsága és a foglalkoztatás rugalmassága között. A növekedés ösztönzése érdekében a jelentés javasolja az egységes belső piacban rejlő lehetőségek kiaknázását, a magántőke bevonását és a költséghatékony energiához való hozzáférés biztosítását.

A Bizottság szerint az európai félév meg fogja változtatni a tagállami kormányok gazdaság- és költségvetési politikáinak kialakítását. Ha a jelentésben megfogalmazott célok megvalósulnak, „Európa visszatérhet a gyors gazdasági növekedéshez és magasabb foglalkoztatási szinthez” – mondta José Manuel Barroso, a Bizottság elnöke.

Európai szemeszter

Az éves növekedési jelentés közzététele az európai szemeszternek vagy félévnek nevezett koordinációs ciklus kezdete. Ennek keretében a tagállamok a Stabilitási és Növekedési Egyezmény szabályai, illetve az Európa 2020 stratégia szerint összhangba hozzák a közös uniós célkitűzésekkel makrogazdasági és költségvetési politikájukat, valamint szerkezetireform-intézkedéseiket. Mindez fontos lépés az európai szintű gazdasági kormányzás irányába.

A gazdasági kormányzás megerősítését célzó európai félév eljárási rendjét a tagállamok 2010 szeptemberében hagyták jóvá. Az idei évtől kezdve a Bizottság minden januárban előterjeszti majd az Unió gazdasági helyzetét és a fő kihívásokat elemző jelentését, amely egyben ajánlásokat is tartalmaz a tagállamok számára. Az Európai Parlamentben és a Tanácsban egyaránt megvitatandó éves növekedési jelentés szolgál alapjául azoknak az iránymutatásoknak és következtetéseknek, amelyeket az Európai Tanács tavaszi ülésén fogad el, és amelyek nyomán a tagállamok áprilisban véglegesítik középtávú költségvetési stratégiájukat és nemzeti reformprogramjaikat.

A Bizottság 10 prioritása (1-3 stabilitás, 4-7 munkaerőpiaci reform, 8-10 növekedés beindítása):

1. Implementing a rigorous fiscal consolidation

2. Correcting macro economic imbalances

3. Ensuring stability of the financial sector

4. Making work more attractive

5. Reforming pensions systems

6. Getting the unemployed back to work

7. Balancing security and flexibility

8. Tapping the potential of the Single Market

9. Attracting private capital to finance growth

10. Creating cost-effective access to energy

Commission Survey
Euvonal

Belgium passes the EU Presidency flag to Hungary

Hungary took the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union from Belgium during a spectacular evening ceremony held in the presence of 270 guests on 6 January 2011. Yves Leterme, acting Prime Minister of Belgium, and Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary attended the ceremonial event hosted in the Cupola Hall of the Houses of Parliament (the seat of MPs as well as the government).
From 1st January 2011, it is going to be task of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to shape the issues on the agenda of the European Union in line with the interests of the 27 Member States. In order to maintain the course amidst its many obligations, the Hungarian Presidency has defined the topics that it considers to be of outstanding significance. The Hungarian Presidency wishes to work along four priorities during the first half of 2011. Beside this, it intends to keep in the focus point the human factor, as the basis for intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth when dealing with all other issues ranging from the economy, through common policies to the issue of enlargement.
Growth and employment for preserving the European social model
The entire Union is defined by a period of economic rearrangement. The Hungarian Presidency will continue the process of consolidation. It is convinced that the key to success is in the future oriented growth strategy of the EU and in the reinforcement of economic policy coordination.
The Europe 2020 strategy wishes to improve or to preserve the living conditions of European citizens, therefore it has to have the creation of jobs and sustainable competitiveness in the focus. Thus the Hungarian Presidency wishes to improve the situation of small and medium enterprises, which are the drivers for job creation and also wishes to call the attention of Member States to the impact that demography and family policy can have on employment and economic growth. In the framework of the initiative to decrease poverty, the Presidency wishes to pay increased attention to the struggle against child poverty and will strive for tangible, European-level measures in the field of the integration of the Roma-people.
Stronger Europe
The internal policies of the EU are structured around three basic elements: food, energy and water. Therefore the Hungarian Presidency attaches great importance to strengthen policies in these fields, thereby also reinforcing Europe. The review of the Common Agriculture Policy, the definition of a common energy policy and a new area, the drafting of a European water policy all serve this purpose. Parallel to the debate on preserving water resources, the European strategy on the development of the Danube-region will also be adopted during the Hungarian Presidency. Hungary wishes to conduct a real and tangible debate on the afore-mentioned issues. This is indispensable in order to make sure that these policies that strength cohesion and solidarity between Member States provide a solid foundation for the next multi-annual financial framework of the Union.
Citizen friendly Union
The EU also has to deal with issues that have a direct relevance on the everyday lives of citizens. Thus Hungary intends to further the implementation of the Stockholm Program, to move forward the enlargement of the Schengen area to include Bulgaria and Romania in order to provide a free movement of people and to protect fundamental rights. Beside all these, it is the objective of the Hungarian Presidency to direct the attention of Member States to cultural diversity as a European value that needs to be protected. Cultural diversity will be a defining theme of cultural events during the Presidency.
Enlargement and neighbourhood policy
Hungary wishes to pay particular attention to taking the enlargement process further and to providing an integration perspective for the Western Balkans region. The Hungarian Presidency will do everything it can to conclude the accession talks with Croatia during the first half of 2011. It is also a priority objective to strengthen the Eastern dimension of the neighbourhood policy, in the framework of which, Hungary will host the second Eastern Partnership Summit in May 2011.
www.eu2011.hu

Estonia enters euro zone

IT WAS a moment the Estonian government - one of a line of liberal, pro-Western coalitions that have ruled the country since 1992 - had been awaiting for years.
At midnight on New Year's Eve, Estonia abandoned its post-Soviet currency, the kroon, in favour of the euro - its last remaining big policy goal since securing membership of the EU and NATO in 2004.