Summit puts end to EU patent turf war

EU leaders have forged a compromise that will end a long-running dispute over a common European patent, clearing the way for easier and less costly way of registering products. National leaders ended their two-day summit on Friday (29 June) by agreeing to divide the functions of the European patent court between the three countries eager to host it – France, Germany and Britain. The location of the patent court was the last outstanding issue in a long-fought effort. 

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The main seat - the Central Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) - will be in Paris. The first president of the court would come from France, as the member country hosting the central division. Given the highly specialised nature of patent litigation, two sections will be established - one in London and the other in Munich, the Danish prime minister said. (...) On 11 March 2011, ministers from 25 member states decided to go ahead with plans to introduce a common system for registering patents, without Spain and Italy, using the so-called 'enhanced co-operation' mechanism. The mechanism allows a group of at least nine EU countries to adopt new common rules among themselves, in areas where an EU-wide agreement cannot be reached. Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier welcomed the Council decision, saying the compromise reached is a decisive step towards the creation of a unitary patent and a common patent court in Europe. “The reform will create a simpler application process and considerably reduce the costs for obtaining patent protection,” Barnier said in a statement. “All future unitary patents will eventually be available in all official EU languages, thus ensuring the dissemination of knowledge and benefiting inventors. I hope that Spain and Italy will also join the new regime soon.” He said Europe is falling behind the United States and China in the number of patents issued. French President François Hollande told a news conference there were no winners or losers. "What took place was a compromise, and it was because France and Germany were united, all through the night, that we achieved this compromise," Hollande said. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the proposal on 4 July. This would open the way toward having the first unitary patent will be registered in 2014. Euractive.com

Italy and Spain get 'breakthrough' deal on bailout funds

Eurozone leaders in the early hours of Friday morning (29 June) agreed to allow bailout funds to recapitalise banks directly and to buy bonds for "well-behaving" countries - states which are pursuing reforms but suffering from market pressure.
The deal is designed to help Spain and Italy to lower their borrowing costs, but might take several months to implement. "We agreed on something new, which is a breakthrough, that banks can be directly recapitalised in certain circumstances... and we are opening the possibility for well-behaving countries to use the EFSF/ESM [bailout funds] to reassure markets and get some stability around their sovereign bonds," EU council chief Herman Van Rompuy said in a press conference at the end of the marathon meeting.
Italy and Spain had earlier filibustered a non-controversial EU "growth pact" worth €130 billion in order to achieve concessions on their immediate concerns: their high borrowing costs.Germany insisted that the concessions only be made if proper controls are in place, however.
Spain got its long-standing demand of letting banks be directly recapitalised by the eurozone bailout funds, but only once "an effective single supervisory mechanism is established, involving the European Central Bank." This "will not happen in a few days or weeks, but in the medium term it will achieve the desired effect," said Thomas Wieser, head of the Eurogroup working group of finance ministry officials in the eurozone. Once the new supervisory body is established, the bailout will be "transferred to the new mechanism, so that it can rapidly be taken off Spain's balance sheet," Wieser said. 
Madrid also got a concession on the so-called preferred creditor status for the permanent eurozone bailout fund. Euro leaders decided that the bailout for the Spanish banks will not have such "seniority" - meaning that the permanent European Stability Mechanism will not have any priority compared to other investors in case of default. 
For his part, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti also made some headway in his call for a "semi-automatic" mechanism so that the bailout funds buy government bonds when countries are under market pressure, but without trigerring a bailout procedure, as the rules currently stipulate. Speaking on his way out of the summit, he said he was pleased the impasse had been overcome. "There were a lot of discussions, some tension, but we made progress. At our request, we obtained a stabilisation mechanism for countries that are perfoming well under the Stability and Growth Pact, but are still under market pressure, like Italy," he said. 
Under this new mechanism, countries would sign a memorandum of understanding about continuing the reforms they are already implementing, but "there would be no troika," Monti explained, in reference to the special monitors from the EU, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank that go every three months to bailed-out countries such as Greece or Portugal. 
Van Rompuy also confirmed that the conditions attached to this "flexible" mechanism would reproduce the requirements of the eurozone's beefed up economic surveillance - on budget deficits and macro-economic imbalances. "There may be just a timeline added to the memorandum, to put some pressure, but the requirements would be the same as the country-specific recommendations," he said, in reference to EU commission-issued reports for each country on where their economy stands compared to the EU rules. 
As for the long-term plan for the eurozone, the EU council chief will go back to the drawing board together with the heads of other EU institutions and come back with a "specific timelined roadmap" by October on the banking union, on more sovereignty being ceded to Brussels and on seeking ways to increase "democratic legitimacy and accountability." 
Unlike his first report discussed that night and for which there was "no agreement" on substance - Germany opposed the perspective of mutualised debt - the next one will be done "in close co-operation" with member states and also in consultation with the European Parliament, he said.
Euobserver.com

Cyprus needs money for troubled bank

A fifth euro zone country turned to Brussels for emergency funding on Monday when Cyprus announced it was seeking a lifeline for its banks and its budget, hours after Spain submitted a formal request to bail out its banks.Global share prices and the euro slid as investors bet that European leaders - due to meet this week for the 20th time since the currency zone's debt crisis hit Greece in 2010 - would fail to come up with radical measures to back up weak countries.
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel dashed any hope that Berlin would allow joint bonds issued by the euro zone or other measures sought by partners.Cyprus joins Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in seeking EU rescue funds, meaning more than a quarter of the 17 euro zone members are now in the bloc's emergency ward. Italy's funding costs have soared too, which means it could be next.
Spain formally submitted its request for up to 100 billion euros of funds to bail out its banks, agreed on June 9.
Tiny Cyprus has just four days to raise at least 1.8 billion euros - equivalent to about 10 percent of its domestic output - to meet a deadline set by European regulators to recapitalise Cyprus Popular Bank, its second largest lender which saw its balance sheet hurt by bad Greek debt.
Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said the country would also seek enough money to help with its budget deficit. The full amount would be decided over the course of weeks."The amount will be as much as it may be needed to cover the recapitalisation and fiscal requirements," he told Reuters.With its coffers emptying rapidly and hurtling towards an immovable deadline, Cyprus suffered a further sovereign credit rating cut on Monday by Fitch, to the junk BB+ grade. It is already shut out from raising new funds on capital markets, with yields on existing bonds well into double digits.
An island with just 1 million residents, Cyprus has a disproportionately large financial sector that is heavily exposed to Greece, a neighbour more than 10 times the size with which it shares a language, culture and close political links.
It received 2.5 billion euros in a loan from Russia last year and has been scrambling for funding from Moscow or Beijing to avoid the terms Brussels imposes in return for EU bailouts.
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the Eurogroup of euro zone leaders, said Cyprus would have to negotiate aid conditions with the EU and European Central Bank."This will include measures that will address the main challenges of the Cyprus economy, primarily those of the financial sector, and I expect that Cyprus will engage with strong determination in the required policy actions," he said.
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Reuters

Pozitív döntés a pénzügyminiszterek tanácsában

Az uniós pénzügyminiszterek pénteki, június 22-i ülésükön megszüntették azt a márciusi döntésüket, amelyben a Magyarország számára elérhető kohéziós források befagyasztásáról határoztak.

Az Európai Unió gazdasági és pénzügyminisztereinek tanácsa (ECOFIN) június 22-i ülése döntött a Kohéziós Alapból származó kötelezettségvállalások – március 13-i tanácsi döntés alapján történt, 2013. január elsejétől hatályba lépő – részleges felfüggesztésének megszüntetéséről. A döntésre azért kerülhetett sor, mert a Tanács és az Európai Bizottság is úgy látja, hogy Magyarország megfelelő lépéseket tett a túlzott hiány megszüntetése érdekében. 

Március 13-án hoztak döntést a tagállamok pénzügyminiszterei: az Európai Bizottság javaslatára a kohéziós forrásokból 495 millió eurót fagyasztanak be 2013. január 1-től, de csak abban az esetben, ha Magyarország nem tesz hatékony lépéseket a költségvetési hiány tartósan három százalék alá szorítása érdekében. A miniszterek akkor úgy döntöttek, hogy a büntető intézkedést már idén júniusban hatályon kívül helyezik, ha Magyarország meghozza az elvárt kiigazító lépéseket. 

A deficiteljárás alól azonban legkorábban csak jövő tavasszal kerülhet ki az ország. 

A kohéziós alapra vonatkozó uniós szabályok szerint, ha valamely kedvezményezett tagállamban túlzott költségvetési hiány áll fenn, és az erről kiadott tanácsi ajánlást az érintett tagállam részéről nem követte eredményes intézkedés, a Tanács az alapból az érintett tagállam részére tett kötelezettségvállalások teljes vagy részleges felfüggesztéséről határozhat, a felfüggesztésről szóló határozatot követő év január 1-jei hatállyal. A szabályok szerint, ha a Tanács megállapítja, hogy az érintett tagállam megtette a szükséges kiigazító intézkedést, késedelem nélkül határoz az érintett kötelezettségvállalások felfüggesztésének megszüntetéséről is. 

Euvonal

A konzervatívok nyerték a görög választásokat

Az Új Demokrácia nyerte meg a vasárnapi görögországi parlamenti választást, Európa-párti koalíció alakulhat. Az Új Demokrácia a szavazatok 85 százalékának összeszámlálása alapján a voksok 29,96 százalékát kapta és 130 helyet szerezhet a görög parlamentben. A Radikális Baloldali Koalíció (Sziriza) a szavazatok 26,65 százaléka révén 71 helyet kaphat. A szocialista Pánhellén Szocialista Mozgalommal (Paszok) a voksok 12,46 százalékára tett szert, és 33 helyhez juthat a parlamentben.

Előrejelzések szerint Görögországban olyan kormány alakulhat, amelyben összefognának az Európa-párti erők, az Új Demokrácia, a Paszok és a Demokratikus Baloldal (Dimar), utóbbi a voksok 6,11 százalékával 16 képviselői helyet fog birtokolni a törvényhozásban. Antonis Samaras, az Új Demokrácia vezetője elmondta: mielőbb kormányt fognak alakítani, valamint rámutatott: nagykoalíciót szeretne létrehozni, előítéletek nélkül. 

euvonal.hu

Eurozone agrees bail-out for Spain's banks

Eurozone finance ministers on Saturday (9 June) agreed to disburse up to €100bn for Spain's troubled banks, but without an accompanying austerity programme as for Greece, Ireland and Portugal. After a two-and-a-half hour conference call, ministers said in a press statement that "up to €100 billion" will be granted from the eurozone's bail-out funds "for recapitalisation of financial institutions."

The funds will be channelled directly to a state-run fund for bank rescues in Spain, the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, but the Spanish government will sign a memorandum of understanding and "will retain the full responsibility of the financial assistance," the Eurogroup said.

An assessment by the European Commission, with input from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the EU banking authority, will spell out exactly how much money is needed, "as well as a proposal for the necessary policy conditionality for the financial sector that shall accompany the assistance." But unlike the three other bailed-out eurozone countries (Greece, Ireland and Portugal), Spain will not be submitted to a full-blown programme with inspectors regularly checking the implementation of reforms.

Eurozone finance ministers explained that Spain has already implemented "significant" fiscal and labour market reforms and has passed laws to strengthen the capital requirements for its banks. (...)

Spain will not seek IMF assistance - again unlike its three bail-out predecessors. The Washington-based body is set to contribute only with reports on the country. It already did so on Friday (8 June) when it estimated that Spain's banks will need €37bn in the short term, not taking into account any bank restructuring or bail-outs. The IMF report was released three days ahead schedule, as eurozone finance ministers sought to seal a deal before markets open on Monday and before crucial elections in Greece next weekend.

The prospect of Greece cancelling its second bail-out and possibly exiting the eurozone drove Spain's borrowing costs into bail-out territory and led to a downgrade by Fitch ratings agency.

Speaking in Madrid after the teleconference, Spanish economy minister Luis de Guidos said it was still unclear how much his country will actually need. But he insisted that the €100bn sum was more than enough to cover the gap and calm markets.(...)"There are no conditions of any kind on economic reforms outside of the financial sector," de Guindos said. "There are only conditions for the banks. That is all. It is an injection of capital which they will have to pay back. There are no additional conditions for Spanish society." 

"This is not a bail-out," de Guindos stressed.

:))))

Euobserver

Merkel urges 'political' union

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a stronger European political union Thursday amid growing international calls for action as a brutal Spain ratings downgrade added another twist to the eurozone crisis. In the United States, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke became the latest to sound the alarm over the European crisis, as Merkel held talks in Berlin with British Prime Minister David Cameron. 

The two leaders agreed that closer fiscal discipline in the European Union alone was not enough to stem more than two years of turbulence as the clock ticks down for Europe to help stabilise Spain's banking system. The EU fiscal pact is "necessary but not the only precondition," Merkel said, while Cameron, who has opted out of the pact, called it "important but not sufficient" to fight the crisis. Merkel also said it was "important to stress that we have created instruments for support in the eurozone" and Germany, seen by some EU partners as being inflexible and reluctant to change, backed their use. (...)

Merkel earlier Thursday told German television she saw "more Europe" as the solution. The chancellor said that in addition to the euro currency used by 17 nations, Europe needed a fiscal union and, above all, a political union, even if that came at the cost of a two-speed approach. "We need a political union first and foremost. That means we must, step by step, cede responsibilities to Europe," Merkel told ARD public television. "But we must not remain immobile because one country or another does not want to follow yet," she added. (...)

AFP

Spain appeals for EU bail-out of struggling banks

Spain's budget minister has during a radio interview appealed for an EU bail-out of the country's banks.Speaking on Tuesday (5 June) on the Onda Cero radio station, Cristobal Montoro said: "Europe should move swiftly to allow its institutions to directly boost the capital of troubled banks in Spain." He added: "The amount needed by Spain's banking system isn't very high, nor excessive. What matters is the procedure to provide such an amount - and that's why it is important that European institutions open up and proceed with this."

His reference to "direct" aid to banks is an appeal for the Union to use its Luxembourg-based EFSF bail-out fund to help Spanish lenders. The alternative - a bail-out of the Spanish state involving the EFSF and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as in Greece, Ireland and Portugal - comes with outside supervision of national finances and would increase the country's budget deficit. He said Spain can no longer borrow money from markets due to loss of confidence which has seen borrowing costs shoot up compared to Germany. (...)

The cost of a Spanish bank rescue is being estimated at between €40 billion and €90 billion. Montero added that a full-blown EU-IMF bail-out is unfeasible because the EFSF has €440 billion in the pot, while Spain, the eurozone's fourth largest economy, owes foreign lenders almost €1 trillion. (...)

The Spanish cry got a sympathetic ear in France.French foreign minister Laurent Fabius told media while visiting Rome also on Tuesday that the EU should take a flexible approach to Madrid.

Volker Kauder, the chief whip of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, told the ARD TV station on Wednesday morning: (...) "Germany will demonstrate its solidarity with other states in Europe ... but the states of Europe must for their part undertake every endeavour to contribute to solving those problems themselves." The European Commission will on Wednesday propose plans for an EU "banking union" to prevent a Spanish-type scenario in years to come. 

Euobserver

Ireland votes Yes on fiscal treaty

Ireland has voted in a favour of the fiscal discipline treaty but the Yes vote is seen as grudging and the country is now expecting EU "solidarity" in return.

With all votes counted, 60.3 percent voted in favour of the Germany-inspired document enshrining balanced budgets into national law while 39.7 percent vote against. Turnout was 50.6 percent.

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http://euobserver.com/843/116460