Commission backs membership talks with Serbia

The European Commission on Monday recommended opening membership negotiations with Serbia following Friday’s historic deal with Kosovo. Belgrade and Pristina agreed a tentative accord last week aimed at normalising relations. Štefan Füle, the EU enlargement commissioner, said: “Serbia and Kosovo have proved that they can both focus on the future rather than staying entagled in the past.

The deal looks to end the ethnic partition of Kosovo between its Albanian majority and its Serb minority. Belgrade says it will not recognise Kosovo’s independence but will cede control of the country’s north to Pristina.

For Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, a former UN envoy in the Balkans, the agreement marks a turning point in the region.“The implementation of the commitment will not be easy, but there’s no way back. While we’ll be struggling with the details of implementation for quite some time to come, the rubicon has been passed,” Bildt told reporters in Luxembourg.

MPs in Serbia and Kosovo have backed the deal. It paves the way for Belgrade to open talks on joining the EU and European leaders will decide in June if Serbia is ready to start negotiations.Euronews’ Andrei Beketov said Belgrade and Pristina should fail to win over hardline nationalists and “translate words of congratulations into action then the door to the Union could be slammed shut to them.”

Euronews

Abysmal turnout in Croatia's EU vote

Two and a half months before Croatia joins the EU, just 21 percent of voters bothered to cast ballots in Sunday's (14 April) election of 12 new MEPs. 

The turnout is less than half compared to the country's referendum on EU accession in January last year, which saw 43.5 percent of people vote. It is also one of the lowest ever in EU polls, a record held by Slovakia in 2004, when just 17 percent of people voted.

Croatia's opposition centre-right HDZ party won six seats, narrowly beating the ruling centre-left SDP faction with five deputies. The nationalist and left-wing Labour party got one MEP.

The winners will act as observers with no voting rights in the EU assembly until Croatia joins the Union on 1 July. They will then serve for one year, before Croatia chooses a new set of euro-deputies in the general EU elections next May.

Link

Top five EU states push for tax transparency

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK have agreed to more automatic exchanges of banking data to fight tax evasion, increasing pressure on Austria and Luxembourg to give up their veto on the equivalent EU bill. In a joint letter to the EU commission sent on Tuesday (9 April), the finance ministers of the five largest EU countries say they have agreed on a "pilot" project of "automatic information exchange" aimed at fighting tax evasion. The initiative is open to other member states and is based on a recently adopted law in the US - the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act - that requires US citizens to declare their bank accounts held abroad and foreign banks to notify US tax authorities about their American clients.

A similar EU-wide law has so far been held up by Austria and Luxembourg, both keen on preserving bank secrecy for domestic and foreign clients. The five finance ministers "call on all EU member states to agree without delay" on the bill, so that "Europe can take a lead in promoting a global system of automatic information exchange, removing the hiding places for those who would seek to evade paying their taxes." (...)

Euobserver

Czech President Seeks Deeper EU Role for Country

The Czech Republic is turning over a new leaf aimed at winning it a bigger say over decision-making in the European Union where it has been somewhat isolated by its eurosceptic leaders in the last decade. Czech President Milos Zeman, who replaced the anti-European Vaclav Klaus last month, took his first symbolic steps Wednesday towards giving the country a more central role in helping Europe evolve.

Mr. Klaus and several Czech Prime Ministers have in recent years obstructed, delayed or watered down a series of EU initiatives such as the Lisbon Treaty and  Banking Union proposals. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was alongside Mr. Zeman when he signed an addendum to the Lisbon Treaty that established the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone’s bailout program. (...)

Immediately after putting pen to paper, Mr. Zeman and Mr. Barroso raised the EU’s blue and gold flag above the historic Prague Castle, the seat of the Czech Presidency, for the first time. “It’s a symbol of our entrance into the main current of European integration,” Mr. Zeman said. 

(...)

Link

Belgium agrees savings, asset sales to meet EU budget demands

Belgium agreed to make 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of savings and to sell 1 billion euros of state-owned assets on Saturday, as it strives to meet EU budget targets and avoid being drawn into the euro zone's debt crisis.

With debt approaching 100 percent of national output (GDP), Belgium has some of the weakest public finances in the euro zone's northern "core", partially due to an almost two-year political stalemate that was only resolved in late 2011.

Its six-party government has taken steps since but, like other euro zone members, looks set to miss the targets set by the European Union due to poor economic growth. 

The 1.434 billion euros, an addition to 2013 savings already announced last year, will reduce the country's structural deficit - a measure of the underlying shortfall on public finances allowing for the ebb and flow of the economic cycle - by 1 percentage point, it said. "The government repeats its wish to bring its budget into structural balance by 2015. This is a new, important step to reach that goal," Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo told a news conference, hours after an early morning breakthrough.

Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, gave clearance in the past week for Belgium's deficit this year to be greater than the planned 2.15 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), according to government sources. But Belgium still needs to reduce its structural deficit, excluding one-offs and smoothing for cyclical factors, to 1.8 percent, keep its overall debt level below 100 percent of GDP and achieve a structural budget balance by 2015.

The additional savings, a huge series of measures ranging from a reduction in support for the national railway operator to an increase in duty on tobacco, would result in an overall budget deficit of 2.46 percent of GDP.

(...)

Belgium would need to find a further 1 billion euros from asset sales to ensure national debt did not rise beyond 100 percent of GDP (...). Belgium did little in the way of budgetary consolidation in 2010 and 2011, due to the absence of a fully fledged government after an inconclusive election. But despite a spike in its borrowing costs at the end of 2011, economists say it now belongs firmly to the safer "core" of the euro zone.

Reuters

EU launches debate on 2030 targets

The European Commission has officially launched what promises to be a contentious debate over greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy targets for 2030. In releasing its "green paper" on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies Wednesday, the commission kicked off a three-month process during which it will gather feedback from member states, industry players, environmentalists and others as it seeks to extend climate change efforts beyond the current binding 2020 targets. The European Union sees the 2030 framework as an interim step along the path to its ambitious low-carbon energy "road map" for 2050, which envisions reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80-95 percent less than 1990 baseline levels.

(...)
Link

EU leaders avoid clashes

The first day of a lacklustre EU summit dedicated to economic issues ended last evening (14 March) with France and Italy winning support for a slightly more growth-friendly interpretation of European Union budget rules.

France's push for a more growth-friendly interpretation of EU budget rules appears to have paid off. French officials said they were satisfied with the summit conclusions, which state that "the possibilities offered by the EU's existing fiscal framework to balance productive public investment needs with fiscal discipline objectives can be exploited in the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact”.France's budget deficit will hit 3.7% of gross domestic product this year, missing the 3% target.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was careful to avoid any ideological clash, telling reporters: "We made clear in a very consensual discussion that budget consolidation, structural reforms and growth are not in contradiction but are mutually reinforcing." She appeared to give ground to detractors who criticised her for ignoring calls for a more growth-friendly approach to EU budget rules, saying: "We have decided on a growth pact in the summer of last year and now this growth pact has to be filled with life. The money is there but it has to reach the people, so the young people in Europe get jobs and we still do everything to become competitive and grow."

French officials told journalists that implementation of the European Growth Pact, agreed in June last year, was more important that “reinventing growth” at every new summit meeting. France attaches special importance to the €120-billion Growth Pact agreed last June, which is largely funded by unused structural funds and European Investment bank financing. The implementation of the Pact, which will secure for France projects to the value of €12 billion, is due in June despite doubts over its effectiveness in the short term.

The situation in Italy, where fiscal consolidation and austerity have led to a political stalemate following the elections, appears to be taken in consideration by EU leaders. “The Italian elections are an indication that we should listen to what the peoples of Europe are telling us,” a French diplomat said.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said leaders were “fully conscious of the debate, the mounting frustrations and even despair of people. He said the EU’s overall economic strategy had four stands: Restoring financial stability, ensuring sound public finances, urgently fighting unemployment, and reforming for long-term growth and competitiveness. “These four strands are clear and consistent, and we need all four at the same time,” Van Rompuy said. 

Mirroring statements made by French diplomats, Van Rompuy said that growth would not come for free, but rather as a result of fiscal consolidation. “Growth and jobs are not things governments can buy or summon. It is our overriding objective, a result, for which we have to keep striving. The question is finding a good balance, setting priorities, making the right choices. That's what our discussion was about,” Van Rompuy said.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said he had put on the table a whole series of proposals to stimulate growth, but lamented that their implementation was “too low and too slow”. He said he welcomed wording in summit conclusions that call for the Council and the European Parliament to move quicker to implement many of those measures. Among them, he mentioned the Compact for Growth and Jobs and the Youth Employment Initiative.

Analysts say the Youth employment initiative, worth €6 billion, is far too small to make an impact, amounting to barely €100 for each young person without a job across the 27 EU states.

Link

EU agrees to cap bank bonuses, lift capital requirements

The EU has agreed landmark rules capping bank bonuses after an agreement between MEPs and governments struck in the small hours of Thursday (28 February). The deal, which also increases the amount of capital banks must keep on their balance sheets, will cap bonus payments at the same level as the annual salary, with special dispensation to pay a bonus of up to twice the salary if an absolute majority of shareholders vote for the higher payment. The regime, which is composed of a directive and a regulation, puts the rules drafted by the Basel III committee of the Swiss-based Bank of International Settlements into EU law.
The UK government was among the opponents to the new bonus regime, with national officials claiming that banks would merely hike salaries in order to attract top staff.London Mayor Boris Johnson condemned what he described as "self-defeating policies” adding that “Brussels cannot control the global market for banking talent. The most this measure can hope to achieve is a boost for Zurich and Singapore and New York at the expense of a struggling EU,” he said.

The package increases the amount of capital that banks need to hold, as well as a leverage ratio to limit excessive build-up of borrowing on banks’ balance sheets. It introduces capital buffers on top of the minimum capital requirements.
Austrian conservative MEP, Othmar Karas, who led the European Parliament's negotiating team on the package, said that "for the first time in the history of EU financial market regulation, we will cap bankers' bonuses.""But this is not the most important part of the new rules. The essence is that from 2014, European banks will have to set aside more money to be more stable and concentrate on their core business, namely financing the real economy, that of small and medium-sized enterprises and jobs," he added.
Irish finance minister Michael Noonan, who brokered the deal, said "this overhaul of EU banking rules will make sure that banks in the future have enough capital, both in terms of quality and quantity, to withstand shocks. This will ensure that taxpayers across Europe are protected into the future." (...)
The EU and US have already missed the original deadline of January 2013 to begin the implementation of Basel III, but are expected to apply the regime from January 2014.
Euobserver

Slovenian government collapses

Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa was ousted from office in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday (28 February) amid economic gloom compounded by persistent allegations of corruption. (...)

Hit with a deep recession, Slovenia’s economy is expected to contract more than any other member state, except for Greece and Cyprus. The scandals and the economic problems have since caught up with Jansa’s minority government as junior coalition partners, the centre-right Civic List and pensioners' party Desus, abandoned the pro-austerity party bloc.

The state’s anti-graft watchdog accused Jansa of hiding away €210,000 of personal assets to avoid paying tax. In early February, some 20,000 took to the streets to protest the political corruption, rising unemployment, and erosion of social benefits.

Jansa maintains his innocence but lawmakers on Wednesday voted him out anyway. His replacement is 42-year old centre-left opposition leader Alenka Bratusek who is now tasked by the deputies to form a new government.

Bratusek oversaw the state budget during a six-year stint in the ministry of finance. She joined the parliament in December 2011 and will now become Slovenia’s first woman head of government.(...)

The tasks ahead included reforming an ailing banking system that has accrued around €7 billion of bad loans, reports Reuters. A €2 billion debt will also mature in mid-2013, adding further complications to a state trying to avoid becoming the sixth eurozone country to ask for a bailout. Bratusek, who has voiced her opposition to austerity in the past, said the priorities are creating growth and jobs. (...)

Euobserver

Italy in turmoil after election delivers hung parliament

Italy was plunged into turmoil on Monday (25 February) after parliamentary elections delivered a hung parliament with firebrand comedian, Beppe Grillo, holding the balance of power. The political paralysis, which seems certain to see Italians going to the polls for a second time, threatens to drag the eurozone's third largest economy back into crisis.

With nearly all votes counted, the centre-left coalition led by Pier Luigi Bersani's Democratic party (PD) had claimed a narrow victory in the polls for both chambers of the Italian parliament but was left well short of a majority in the Senate. After claiming 31.6 percent compared to 30.3 percent for Italy's populist former leader Silvio Berlusconi, the Democratic party was set to claim 123 Senate seats, to Berlusconi's 118.

Grillo's FIve Stars Movement took 53 seats on 24 percent, while the centrists led by EU-backed technocrat Mario Monti got only 19 seats. With 158 members needed for a Senate majority, Grillo's anti-establishment party would hold the balance of power.

Control of both parliamentary chambers is required to sustain a government. Meanwhile, Bersani was set to claim a majority in the lower house after defeating Berlusconi by a narrow 29.7 percent to 29.1 percent margin. Under Italian election law, the biggest party in the Chamber of Deputies is awarded 54 percent of the seats.(...)

The results are a disaster for outgoing technocratic PM Mario Monti, whose centrist coalition was relegated to a distant fourth place.(...) The vote also deals a huge blow to Bersani, who had promised to stick to the reform programme of Monti alongside targeted measures to stimulate job creation. Initial exit polls had pointed to a 5-7 point win for Mr Bersani. Senior EU officials had also been quietly hoping for a government led by Bersani and Monti. 

Despite the Monti reforms, which are expected to see Italy run a balanced structural budget in 2014, the country remains deep in recession, with Greece the only EU country to have a bigger debt burden. The uncertainty filtered through to the financial markets, with the euro hitting a six week low of 1.31 against the dollar. Meanwhile, yields on Italian 10 year bonds edged up four basis points to 4.49 percent.

Link to Euobserver

Cyprus bailout in sight as new president elected

EU officials have welcomed the election of conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades in Cyprus, raising hopes of a speedier bailout deal for the troubled euro country. Anastasiades won 57.5 percent of the vote on Sunday (24 February). (...)

Cyprus formally asked for a eurozone bailout last summer, as its cash-strapped banking sector is struggling with the consequences of a debt restructuring in Greece, part of Greece's own bailout deal in spring last year.

(...)

Outgoing Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, the only Communist leader of an EU country, had stalled talks on the €17bn bailout by refusing to allow privatisations to be part of the deal. 

But in an interview with the Financial Times before the Sunday elections, Anastasiades also said that privatisations should be postponed for at least three years and warned against a German demand to have banks take losses and reduce the island's bloated financial sector. He made the comments while still in campaigning mode ahead of negotiations with the troika of international lender on how to reduce the size of a bailout, as the €17bn would create too much debt for the country to pay back - over 140 percent of GDP.

(...)

Revenues from privatisations, recently discovered gas reserves and a 'bail-in' contribution of the banking sector should cover the gap, says Berlin. Concerns about money laundering on the tax-haven island, particularly by Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs, are complicating a bailout deal still further.

Meanwhile, Cypriots face a 15 percent unemployment rate as well as tax hikes and wage cuts, but Anastasiades will have little room for manoeuvre on further austerity measures demanded in return for the bailout. A clear deadline to avoid bankruptcy is 3 June, when Cyprus has a €1.4 billion bond repayment. Last week, Standard&Poor's ratings agency said the risk of a Cypriot default is "material and rising."

Euobserver.com

Lemondott a bolgár kormány

Mindenkit meglepve az országban kirobbant tüntetésekre válaszul váratlanul bejelentette lemondását Bojko Boriszov bolgár miniszterelnök, pedig kedden még úgy tűnt, hogy nemcsak hűséges miniszterét áldozza be, de az indulatok csitításáért a cseh állami áramszolgáltatóval is kész ölre menni. Többen taktikának gondolták bejelentését, de egyre valószínűbb, hogy a parlament csütörtökön elfogadja a Zsivkov volt testőre által vezetett kormány távozását.

„Minden tőlünk telhetőt megpróbáltunk, hogy megfeleljünk a tüntetők kérésének, mától már nem tudunk többet tenni értük. Nem tudom tovább nézni, hogy kordonok veszik körül a parlamentet, nem az a cél, hogy a néptől védjük magunkat” – dramatizálta a helyzetet Bojko Boriszov bolgár miniszterelnök, aki szerdán mindenkit meglepve bejelentette lemondását.

„Minden csepp vér szégyen ránk nézve” – utalt arra, hogy a többek között az áramárak ellen tiltakozó tüntetők az elmúlt napokban összecsaptak a rendőrökkel. Rövid beszédében megemlítette a kormány sikereit is, mint például az épülő autópályákat, parkolást és metróépítést is a bolgár kormányfő, aki az éjszakába nyúló EU-tárgyalásokon is rendszeresen észrevétette magát, amikor szokás szerint elsőként távozott a gyűlésekről.

A tűzoltóparancsnokból lett, korrupcióval is vádolt politikus lemondása meglepetésként érte a bolgárokat, hiszen kedden még határozottan kijelentette, hogy nem hajlandó távozni posztjáról. A miniszterelnöki hivatalban a Standardt szerint teljes volt napközben a káosz, mindenkit váratlanul ért a bejelentés. A káoszt nem csökkenti Boriszov kijelentése, hogy ha nem kellett volna lemondania, akkor ma bejelentette volna a fizetések és nyugdíjak ötven százalékos emelését.

Először többen úgy gondolták, hogy Boriszov valójában csak zsarolni próbált, ha pedig a parlament meghátrál, akkor jelentősen megerősödve kerülne ki a kockázatos játékból, de szerda estére egyre valószínűbbé vált, hogy tényleg távozik posztjáról. Boriszov lemondásáról mindenesetre csütörtökön szavaznak a képviselők, és az is biztos, hogy távozásával nem oldódik meg automatikusan a Bulgáriában kitört felfordulás.

A BBC szerint Boriszov egészen a múlt hétig időt nyert magának a megszorítások közepette annak köszönhetően, hogy nem volt hajlandó hozzányúlni a fizetésekhez és a nyugdíjakhoz. Azonban napok óta tízezrek tüntettek Szófiában és több nagyvárosban. A tiltakozók elsősorban a magas, 13 százalékkal megemelt áramárak miatt vonultak utcára, de sokan nemcsak az áramszolgáltatók államosítását, de a kormány lemondását is követelték. Boriszov kormánypártját a reformok elmaradása, az alacsony jövedelmek és a korrupció elleni intézkedések hiánya miatt is támadták.

A tojást, gyümölcsöket dobáló tüntetők villanyszámlákat is elégettek, rátámadtak az áramszolgáltató telephelyeire, elbarikádozták az egyik autópályát, és kövekkel dobálták meg a parlamentet. Az elmúlt évtized legnagyobb tömegdemonstrációiban Veliko Tarnovóban életét vesztette egy kormányellenes tüntető, miután benzinnel leöntötte, és felgyújtotta magát. Az elmúlt napokban huszonöt embert szállítottak kórházba az Európai Unió legszegényebb országában.

Az első napokban még semmi nem utalt arra, hogy Boriszov a lemondásba menekülne, sőt, úgy tűnt, hogy még Csehországgal is kész egy komolyabb csörtére a villanyszámlák visszaszorításához. Hétfőn első körben leváltotta Szimeon Gyankov pénzügyminisztert, egyben miniszterelnök-helyettest, akinek a neve összeforrt a megszorításokkal, az ellenzék szerint ugyanakkor csak bűnbaknak próbálták beállítani.

Kedden aztán azzal próbálta tovább csitítani az indulatokat, hogy megígérte az áram árának csökkentését. A kormány javaslatában a Reuters szerint az energiaárak 8 százalékos csökkentése szerepelt márciustól, ennek kikényszerítésére az országban jelenlévő három áramszolgáltató, a cseh CEZ, a szintén cseh Energo-Prót és az osztrák EVN állami szankciókkal fenyegették, a A bulgária nyugati részén 1,9 millió háztartást ellátó CEZ-t konkrétan azzal, hogy szolgáltatási jogát is megvonhatják.

Már a retorziók felvetése is szinte hadüzenettel ért fel, hiszen a CEZ, a legnagyobb közép-európai áramszolgáltató 70 százalékban a cseh állam tulajdona. A cseh kormány már kiállt a vállalat mellett Albániában is, és a bolgár felvetést is aggasztónak nevezték, miközben a CEZ vezetése azzal vádolta Boriszovékat, hogy csak szavazatokat reméltek a bejelentéstől. Szerdán aztán újabb fordulatként kiderült, hogy megismétlődik az 1997-es forgatókönyv: akkor a pénzügyi szektort érintő válság és a hiperinfláció miatt robbantak ki tüntetések, a tiltakozók megrohamozták a parlamentet is, a kormány pedig néhány nappal a demonstrációk után bejelentette lemondását. Ahogy most Boriszov is.

(...)

A támadások és lemondása ellenére ugyanakkor így sem elképzelhetetlen, hogy a még mindig 40 százalékos népszerűségi mutatójával Boriszov kerül megint olyan pozícióba, hogy kormányt alakíthat. Júliusban mindenképpen parlamenti választásokat kellett volna tartani, de egyre többen biztosak abban, hogy akár már áprilisban előrehozott választások lesznek, a parlamentet is fel fogják oszlatni. Bulgáriában már hosszú évek óta egyik párt sem tudott egyedül elegendő többséget szerezni a kormányalakításhoz, a 2009-es választások után a GERB 116 képviselőjével alakított kisebbségi kormányt a 260 fős parlamentben. A pártok azóta koalíciókba tömörültek pillanatnyi érdeküknek megfelelően, és a választásokra készülve sem emelkedett ki egyik vagy másik formáció.

(...)

Az országban teljes a káosz, az emberek és politikai elemzők találgatják, hogy mi következik. A politológusok még abban is megosztottak, hogy a lemondás jó vagy rossz Boriszovnak és pártjának. Abban megegyeznek, hogy a jövőbeli hatások az ellenzéki pártok reakcióin múlik. Boriszov és pártja úgy döntöttek, hogy ellenzékben vonulnak az átmeneti időszakra, teljesen az ideiglenes kormányra hagyva a kusza helyzet megoldását. Minden attól függ, hogy az ideiglenes kormány mennyire tud válaszokat adni a tüntetőknek és az elkeseredett tömegeknek. Mint ilyenkor lenni szokott, egymás után jelentkeznek miniszterelnöknek a kisebb pártok vezetői.

A tüntetések folytatódnak, a demonstrálók elfoglalták az Orlov hídat, több ezren a Parlament épületénél tiltakoznak. Megjelentek azok is, akik szerint még mindig Bojko Boriszov a megoldás és szimpátiatüntetések alakultak ki mellette is. Az emberek lelkiállapotát és a közhangulatot jól jellemzi, hogy bolgárok ezrei osztják meg a nap kérdését Facebookon. A kérdés, kit választanának a következő választásokon, a válaszban pedig számos repülőgéptársaság közül lehet választani.

index.hu

EU Launches Military Training Mission in Mali

(...) On Monday, the European Union officially launched a training mission to the African nation. Its goal is to make the disparaged Malian army good enough to patrol the whole country, including its huge northern region, where French and African troops are fighting to unseat Islamist rebels who used the coup's chaos to grab control there.

The mission will "support stability in Mali and the Sahel, both now and in the future. Respect for human rights and the protection of civilians will be an important part of the training program," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The 27-nation bloc was so eager to help that it sent the first 70 advisers to Mali 10 days ago so they could hit the ground running when the decision was made. More EU military experts will begin arriving in Bamako, Mali's capital, next month and the training will begin in April.

The decision by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers who were meeting in Brussels authorizes the deployment of about 500 people to Mali for 15 months at an estimated cost of €12.3 million ($16.4 million).

(...)

AP Link

EU, U.S. to start free trade talks

The United States and European Union aim to start negotiating a vast Transatlantic free trade pact by June, though the plan confirmed on Wednesday faces many hurdles before it might help revive the world's top two economies.

A deal would be the most ambitious since the founding of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, embracing half of world output and a third of all trade. It reflects impatience with the lack of a new global agreement to cut tariffs and ease commerce.

But after a year of preparatory discussions between Brussels and Washington, major differences remain, such as EU resistance to importing U.S. foodstuffs that are genetically modified.

"This is potentially a very big deal," said Michael Froman, White House deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, a day after President Barack Obama endorsed talks with the 27-nation bloc in his State of the Union address.

In Brussels, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: "These negotiations will set a standard, not only for our future bilateral trade and investment, including regulatory issues, but also for the development of global trade rules."

Once the U.S. Congress is notified and all 27 EU states assent to the talks going ahead, the sides hope for a deal by the end of 2014 - a tight deadline in international trade talks. A decade of argument among all world governments in the Doha round of trade negotiations has so far resulted in deadlock.

"If we want to go down this road, we want to get there on one tank of gas and we don't want to spend 10 years negotiating what are well known issues and not reach a result," Froman said in a conference call with journalists.

The collapse of Doha disappointed hopes that a worldwide cut in tariffs and other barriers to trade could boost the global economy. Creating preferential trade agreements (PTAs) between states, such as an EU-U.S. deal, may achieve some of the same ends, but many experts are concerned that breaking the world into blocs could end up creating new obstacles to global trade.
"The more problematic side of myriad different PTAs is that they create a hodgepodge of different regulations, standards and norms that can evolve into serious non-tariff barriers," said Keith Rockwell, chief spokesman at the Geneva-based WTO. He said it was too early to say what the impact of an EU-U.S. deal would be. U.S. and EU officials countered the criticism by saying their deal would set global standards for the world to follow in lowering a wider range of trade barriers.
However, creating jobs and economic growth on either side of the North Atlantic provide the main rationale for their alliance, given both economies are struggling to break free from almost five years of downturns and stunted recovery as well as increasing competition from China and other emerging economies.
The deal has support at the highest level, give an name check by Obama in his speech to Congress on Tuesday and cast as a central pillar of Britain's presidency of the G8 this year.

Under an agreed outline for the deal, the two sides expect it to add 0.5 percent to the EU economy and 0.4 percent to the U.S. economy by 2027, or 86 billion euros ($116 billion) a year for the Europeans and 65 billion euros for the Americans.
But EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht has warned that the talks will be tough, with no "low hanging fruit". Import tariffs between the two are already not high - an average of 4 percent.
Negotiations will focus on harmonizing standards, from car seat belts to household cleaning products, and regulations governing services. These help ensure exporters can compete.
But fleshing out the negotiating plans could cause friction - last year it took EU trade ministers four months to persuade the European car industry to let Brussels officials talk to Japan about creating a similar free-trade pact.
AGRICULTURAL MUD
One of the key sticking points is likely to be agriculture, even though the deal will not tackle the politically poisonous issue of farm subsidies. When a Transatlantic trade deal was mooted in 1998, it was shot down by France, which feared Europe could be forced into too many concessions on farm trade.
"There is a reason we have not launched an effort of this nature in the past, because of some of these historic difficult issues that have frustrated our ambition," said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Leaders' fears of prolonged slump, however, may help a deal. Froman at the White House said the United States now believed "the stars could well be aligned, given developments on both sides of the Atlantic for us to resolve issues that we've never been able to resolve before".
Washington has long been frustrated by EU restrictions on U.S. farm produce, such as foodstuffs made with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), poultry treated with chlorine washes and meat from animals fed with the growth stimulant ractopamine.

In an early sign of EU reticence, Barroso said the negotiations would not compromise consumer health. "We will not negotiate changes that we do not want of the basic rules on either side, be it on hormones or GMOs," he said.
French Trade Minister Nicole Bricq said she would back a deal if it benefited France, long a vocal defender of its agricultural interests: "I will ensure that French interests are heard," she said.
Kirk said everything was on the table, "including all across the agricultural sector, whether it's GMOs or other issues". Froman said agricultural issues were not being put off but would be resolved before and during the main negotiation.
Another thorny issue that is unlikely to be resolved directly by the EU-U.S. negotiation is the battle over subsidies for Europe's Airbus and Boeing of the United States, the biggest and longest-running dispute in the WTO's history. But it could improve the mood and help usher in a settlement in the aircraft dispute.
Brussels has been negotiating possible free-trade agreements with more than 80 other countries, with some successes, such as a recent deal set to be struck with Singapore. But some talks, such as those with India, show no signs of ending. Talks with Canada since 2009 have also failed to settle differences over agriculture, intellectual property and public procurement.
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EU leaders agree budget cuts

After 24 hours of talks, EU leaders have struck today (8 February) a deal on the 7-year budget clamoring success, but have set themselves on a collision course with Parliament, which prepares to fight off the decision to cut spending that reflects austerity undertaken by many EU countries.

The long-term EU budget for 2014-2020 agreed today (8 February) is smaller than it was back in 2007-2013. It goes down to 1% from 1.12% of EU GNI. It is the first net reduction to the EU budget in the Union’s history. 

The EU leaders’ agreement sets the figure for “commitments” – the maximum amount of money allotted during the seven-year period – at €960bn, while budget “payments” – the amount of money that can actually be spent – have been severely reduced by €34bn to €908.4bn.

The most visible difference appears to be the increased rebates for Netherlands (from €650 to €695 million per year) and for Sweden (from €160 to €185 million per year), as well as a new country, Denmark receiving a rebate.

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Parliament political leaders say will reject deal 

(...)“The European Parliament cannot accept today's deal in the European Council as it is. We regret that Mr Van Rompuy did not talk and negotiate with us in the last months,” the leaders of the four largest political groups stated in a press release published before the summit ended. 

Joseph Daul (EPP), Hannes Swoboda (S&D), Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE),  Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens/EFA) slam the agreed EU budget, saying it risks to lead to structural deficit. “Large gaps between payments and commitments will only store up trouble for the future and not solve existing problems,” the four leaders stated. 

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the difference between commitments and payments was in the order of 5% and the EU executive had taken measures to narrow it down, not allowing for the deficit to mushroom

(...)
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Deal shaping up at EU budget summit

EU leaders appeared to be heading for a compromise on a headline figure of around €960 billion for the bloc's 2014-2020 budget, amid continued fighting over how much to cut the EU's finances. 

According to the latest figures circulated at the summit, the overall total level of the budget has been capped at €960 billion, down from the €972 billion, or 1.01% of EU’s gross national income (GNI). 

Meanwhile, the actual payments level has dropped from €935 billion to €908.4 billion, based on actual estimated expenditure within the current budget adjusted for inflation. 

That figure would enable the budget hawks, such as British Prime Minister David Cameron, to claim a decrease in the budget on the basis of the payments projections. Diplomats hailed the agreement, struck after a meeting between the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, as a breakthrough.(...)

A few figures have emerged from diplomats present at the summit. They indicate:

• The majority of the cuts come from the Connecting Europe Facility (sub-heading 1a “Competitiveness for growth and jobs”)
• An extra €1 billion was slashed from the administrative budget (less expected)
• The British and German rebates were untouched; the Danes won a rebate of €134 million, but these were still subject to negotiation, with the Netherlands and Sweden unlikely to be content with the €650 and €160 million rebates on offer to them; Austria's rebate was to be halved.
• The Common Agricultural Policy funding would rise slightly under the deal.

Euractive

Nato chief: EU must spend more on military

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has urged EU countries to spend more on defence despite the economic crisis or risk losing US solidarity. He said in a foreword to the alliance's report on 2012, out on Thursday (31 January), that: "If current defence spending trends were to continue, that would limit the practical ability of Nato's European nations to work together with their North American allies. But it would also risk weakening the political support for our alliance in the United States." He added Nato is still "the most important military power in the world." But he warned: "The security challenges of the 21st century - terrorism, proliferation, piracy, cyber warfare, unstable states - will not go away as we focus on fixing our economies."

He also said "the rise of emerging powers could create a growing gap between their capacity to act and exert influence on the international stage and our ability to do so." 

The Nato report says the US accounted for 72 percent of Nato countries' defence spending in 2012 compared to 68 percent in 2007. France, Germany, Italy and the UK made up the bulk of the rest, but the French contribution fell steeply. "This has the potential to undermine alliance solidarity and puts at risk the ability of the European allies to act without the involvement of the United States," the report notes. 

It adds that Nato spending as a proportion of world military expenditure fell to 60 percent in 2011 from 69 percent in 2003 and is to hit 56 percent in 2014.

The angst over EU defence capabilities is not new. Former US defence chief Robert Gates in a speech in Brussels in 2011 also voiced alarm. "The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the US Congress - and in the American body politic writ large - to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defence," he said at the time.

Gates and Fogh Rasmussen's anxiety is not confined to Nato. Speaking in Brussels also on Thursday on the margins of an EU foreign ministers' meeting, Poland's Radek Sikorski said the Union needs a real defence force of its own. "I think the Mali crisis shows this is necessary because the next crisis could unfold even more quickly and we need to be able to react instantly," he told press. "Let's recall that events in Mali unfolded very fast. The terrorists crossed the line of contact and France reacted from one day to the next. But we know that in the EU, as in the Vatican, the wheels of state turn very slowly," he added.

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Mali shows holes in EU defence

Speaking to press on Saturday (2 February) at an annual conference on trans-Atlantic security in Munich, Germany, he noted that, as in the Libya conflict in 2011, France could not have carried out its bombing raids without US help."European allies still need strong support from the United States in their endeavours to carry out such an operation ... The Mali operation once again points to the need for increased European efforts to fill the gaps when it comes to essential military capabilities such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," he said.

"We saw that in Libya and in Mali the US has had to come and provide Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance assets, they have had to provide air-to-air refuelling tankers for jets," he noted. "These are just two capabilities where we have huge European shortfalls. The Europeans must invest to fill the gaps," he added.(...)"Security challenges won't wait while we fix our finances. And more cuts now will lead to greater insecurity in the future, at a cost we simply can't afford," he said.

For his part, US vice president Joe Biden told Munich that the US' new emphasis on Asia does not mean it will forget its World-War-II-and-Cold-War-era ally. "Europe is the cornerstone of our engagement with the world ... This engagement [with Asian countries] does not come at Europe's expense," he said. He noted that the fight against jihadists in north Africa "is fundamentally in America's interest." (...)
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Associate membership for Britain

Jacques Delors called for Britain to be given a 'privileged partnership' with the EU: participation in the single market, but not the common political structures. Now the Union of European Federalists have called for 'associate membership', again envisaged as a kind of amplified trade deal.

In both cases, the motive is uncomplicated: supporters of a United States of Europe know that they can't fulfil that objective while Britain has a veto. They therefore propose to give Britain a looser form of association, which would see that veto power disappear. In principle, the idea is an excellent one. You'd expect me to say that, of course: I've been proposing precisely such a trade-off for years. As always, though, it's the details that count. One part of the settlement is easy enough. Britain would lose its Commissioners and MEPs and would, in return, repatriate non-economic matters: foreign affairs, criminal justice, immigration, fisheries and so on. (...)

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Kiléphetnek az EU-ból a britek

A szigetország lakói 2015 után népszavazáson dönthetnek a tagságról.
A brit lakosság körében „minden eddiginél nagyobb a kiábrándultság" az EU-val szemben, ezért a brit kormány újra akarja tárgyalni viszonyrendszerét az unióval. A cél az, hogy Nagy-Britannia egy olyan Európai Unió tagja legyen, amelynek központi eleme az egységes piac, és amelyben az egyes tagállamok kormányai elsősorban saját nemzeti parlamentjeiknek tartoznak beszámolással – mondta David Cameron.
Ha erről az új viszonyrendszerről megszületik a megállapodás, azt a brit kormány népszavazásra terjeszti, „nagyon egyszerű" választási lehetőséggel: a választóknak arról kell majd dönteniük, hogy a kialkudott új viszonyrendszer feltételei alapján továbbra is az Európai Unióban kívánják-e látni Nagy-Britanniát, vagy inkább kiléptetnék az országot az EU-ból – tette hozzá a brit kormányfő.
A kormányfő szerint a népszavazást a 2015-ben kezdődő parlamenti ciklus első felében kell megtartani. Ez azt jelenti, hogy a referendumot legkésőbb 2017 végéig megtartják, ha a Liberális Demokratákkal koalícióban kormányzó Konzervatív Párt megnyeri a 2015-ben esedékes választásokat. A 2010 óta ellenzékben politizáló Munkáspárt ugyanis elveti az EU-tagságról szóló népszavazást.
(...)
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British PM Vows Referendum on EU

British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that if his party wins the next election, he plans to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership in the European Union and then ask the British people to vote on it.

Mr. Cameron made the comments in a long-awaited speech Wednesday in which he warned that public disillusionment with the EU is "at an all-time high." He said a new relationship with the EU should be one "with a single market at its heart."

He said the British people would then be given "a very simple in-or-out vote" on whether to accept the new terms or leave the EU. "So the next Conservative manifesto in 2015 will ask for a mandate from the British people for a Conservative government to negotiate a new settlement with our European partners in the next parliament. It will be a relationship with the single market at its heart and when we have negotiated that new settlement we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice: to stay in the European Union on these new terms or to come out altogether."

The prime minister's announcement has displeased some of Britain's allies. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Wednesday that Germany wants Britain to remain an active and constructive part of the EU. But he added that London cannot pick and choose only the aspects of membership it likes. The United States has said in the past that it wants Britain to remain a "strong voice" within the EU. The next British election is expected in 2015.

VoA