Italy's Mogherini and Poland's Tusk get top EU jobs

"The announcement came in tweets from the current council president, Herman Van Rompuy, at an EU summit.
Ms Mogherini, a centre-left politician, is Italy's foreign minister. She will replace the UK's Catherine Ashton. Mr Tusk, Poland's centre-right prime minister, has been Polish leader since 2007. He will chair EU summits.
The full-time appointments mean that the EU's three top jobs are now filled. Mr Tusk and Ms Mogherini will work closely with the new European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Mr Tusk, 57, will serve for two-and-a-half years (renewable), starting on 1 December. Ms Mogherini's term, starting on 1 November, is five years.
Mr Van Rompuy called Mr Tusk "one of the veterans of the European Council", the grouping of EU government leaders. He is the only Polish prime minister to have been re-elected since the collapse of communism in 1989. Mr Van Rompuy praised "the determined and confident way he has steered Poland through the economic crisis, and managed to maintain steady economic growth". As a student Mr Tusk was active in the Solidarity anti-communist movement.
Mr Van Rompuy said Mr Tusk would face three major challenges: the stagnating European economy, the Ukraine crisis and "Britain's place in Europe". He said the EU leaders were convinced that Ms Mogherini, 41, "will prove a skilful and steadfast negotiator for Europe's place in the world". He noted Italy's "long-standing tradition of commitment to the European Union".

'Huge challenges'

Mr Tusk then made a short address in Polish. He said that "in December I'll be 100% ready" to speak English.
Ms Mogherini, speaking fluent English, later said "the challenges are huge... all around Europe we have crises - on European soil, in Ukraine, and starting from Iraq and Syria, going to Libya".
On arrival at the summit the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a Socialist, spoke warmly of Ms Mogherini, calling himself a "fan". It was a strong indication that she would be a popular choice among MEPs. The parliament's approval is required for all 28 members of the new Commission, and the EU foreign policy chief, officially called the High Representative, is also a vice-president of the Commission.
Baroness Ashton, a centre-left UK politician, has been in the job since 2009. The High Representative runs the EU External Action Service (EEAS). Italy's centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pushed hard for Ms Mogherini to get the job.
However, last month the EU failed to get a consensus on her candidacy, as the Baltic states and Poland saw her as inexperienced and too soft on Russia. She has only been Italian foreign minister since February. "
Link to BBC

Recovery in Eurozone halts

France has all but abandoned a target to shrink its deficit, as the eurozone endured a turbulent day that raised the prospect of a triple-dip recession. Figures published by Eurostat on Thursday (14 August) indicated that the eurozone economy flatlined between April and June, while the EU-28 saw 0.2 percent growth. (...)

Germany's output fell by 0.2 percent, the same as Italy, which announced its second quarter figures last week. France recorded zero growth for the second successive quarter, while finance minister Michel Sapin suggested that the country’s deficit would exceed 4 percent this year, missing its European Commission-sanctioned 3.8 percent target.

In an article in Le Monde on Thursday (14 August), Sapin abandoned the target, commenting that “It is better to admit what is than to hope for what won't be." France would cut its deficit "at an appropriate pace," he added in a radio interview with Europe 1. Pointing to the contraction of the German economy, Sapin remarked that "the EU's big engine, Germany, is today negative. There is therefore a French problem and a European problem".

Sapin’s admission is another setback for beleaguered President Francois Hollande, who made hitting the 3 percent deficit target spelt out in the EU’s stability and growth pact by 2013 one of his key election pledges in 2012. Paris has now revised down its growth forecast from 1 percent to 0.5 percent over the whole of 2014, and cut its projection for 2015 to 1 percent from 1.7 percent.

France has already been given a two year extension to bring its deficit down to within the 3 percent limit by 2015, a target which now appears almost impossible to attain.

(...)
Euobserver