Chinese premier pledges support for euro, EU trade

Link

EU agrees trade concessions to flood-hit Pakistan

The European Union has agreed to make trade concessions to Pakistan to help it overcome the impact of flooding, diplomats say. They say the deal could allow Pakistan significant reductions in duties paid on textile exports to EU countries.

Any move to grant Pakistan a waiver on textile duties would also require the consent of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ensure trade rules are not violated. The details will be determined in the coming weeks, with the European Commission working with the WTO to finalise how the concessions can be be implemented.

Meanwhile, some of the estimated 10 million Pakistanis displaced from their homes by the massive July monsoon floods have begun tentative salvage operations.

BBC

Orban Confirms Hungary Pledge to Meet European Union Budget Deficit Limit

Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban reiterated his Cabinet’s pledge to cut the budget deficit to no more than 3 percent of economic output in 2011 as the country braces for currency volatility.
“This year we can’t stretch further than 3.8 percent and for next year, I don’t suggest stretching further than 3 percent,” Orban said in a speech to Parliament, referring to the budget targets.

Hungary last week gave up a drive to raise next year’s deficit target, bowing to pressure from the European Union, which helped give a 20 billion-euro bailout ($26 billion) to the country two years ago. The government’s commitment to the target came after EU finance ministers told Hungarian officials during a meeting in Brussels last week that they had no other choice if the country wanted backing from the bloc, Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy said on Sept. 8.

The Economy Ministry will submit the 2011 budget and future tax plans to the government in the middle of October, Matolcsy said today.

Bloomberg

EU expected to expand free trade agreements to South Korea

The European Union wants to expand its free trade agreements to include South Korea and is expected to reach an agreement between its trade ministers after the weekend.

The lifting of import tariffs would be a boost to the Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia Motors Corp. who are known for manufacturing low-cost vehicles.

The delay before the weekend and the objection to the free trade agreement comes primarily from Italy and its automaker Fiat Spa. Fiat fears unfair price competition if the import tariffs are lifted since the company operates in the same small to mid-size sedan market segment. The Italian automaker is also trying to carve out a niche in the US auto market now that it owns a 25% stake in Chrysler.

The free trade agreement would save EU exporters 1.6 billion euros and the exporters 1.1 billion annually based on all traded goods. The EU would benefit from the new free trade agreement as it would allow European exporters to more easily trade their goods in the South Korean market without specific standards or requirements.

examiner.com

Európai szemeszter

Az uniós országok pénzügyminiszterei jóváhagyták azt a javaslatot, mely szerint a jövő évtől kezdve minden tagállam még a nemzeti jóváhagyás előtt ismerteti a többi tagországgal költségvetési tervét.

A jövőre induló rendszer értelmében az Európai Bizottság jelentése alapján a tagállamok kormányait képviselő Tanács minden év elején meghatározza majd az unió előtt álló gazdasági kihívásokat, és stratégiai iránymutatásokat ad ezek leküzdéséhez. A tagországoknak ezt figyelembe véve április végéig szükség esetén módosítaniuk kell középtávú pénzügyi stratégiájukat, illetve nemzeti reformprogramjukat. Nyáron a tagállamok ugyancsak uniós iránymutatást kapnak a következő évre vonatkozó költségvetésükkel kapcsolatban. A rendszer - a miniszterek keddi brüsszeli üléséről kiadott közlemény szerint - lehetővé teszi, hogy fél éven át párhuzamosan figyelemmel kövessék a tagországok gazdaságpolitikáját, és időben kiderüljön, ha az eltérést mutat az uniós iránytól, illetve ha egyensúlytalanság van kibontakozóban.

Az uniós zsargonban európai szemeszternek nevezett új rendszert az EU-n belüli gazdasági együttműködés javításán dolgozó - Herman Van Rompuy EU-elnök vezette - munkacsoport dolgozta ki. A csoportot (amely gyakorlatilag a pénzügyminiszterekből áll) annak érdekében állították fel a tagországok állam- és kormányfői, hogy dolgozzon ki olyan szabályokat, amelyek lehetővé teszik a gazdasági válságok megelőzését, illetve könnyebb kezelhetőségét a jövőben. Van Rompuy a kormányfők október végi találkozóján számol be arról, milyen javaslatok születtek a munkacsoportban.

Sweden, Finland urge EU to open peace institute

Sweden and Finland are urging the European Union to create an independent peace institute to broaden the scope of the bloc's peacekeeping efforts around the world.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb say an independent think tank could have better opportunities to help solve conflicts than traditional diplomacy. Their proposed institute would be modeled on the U.S. Institute of Peace, which is funded by the U.S. Congress but run by an independent board.

The ministers sent a letter with the suggestion to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday. They said they hoped to get support from other EU member countries for the initiative.

EU, Euro Zone GDP posts fastest growth in four years

Gross Domestic Product in both the European Union and the Eurozone increased 1 percent during the second quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to first estimates released by Eurostat. The figures show the EU and the Euro Zone have rebounded strongly as compared to the first quarter of the year. According to the statistical office of the European Union, growth rates in the first quarter of 2010 were 0.3 percent in both zones.

GDP growth in the EU and the euro common area was the fastest in four years, outstripping rivals United States and Japan. In comparison, the United States GDP increased 0.4 percent during the second quarter of 2010, after 0.9 percent rise in the first quarter of 2010. In Japan, GDP rose a nominal 0.1 percent in the second quarter of 2010, after 1.1 percent growth in the previous quarter.

Link

Germany and France lead way in 'two-speed recovery'

The economic recovery of the eurozone slightly lost its momentum in August, with most of the growth dependent on the performance of Germany and France, a purchasing managers' index survey published on Monday (23 August) showed.

According to the preliminary figures from Markit, a UK-based research firm, the eurozone composite output index, which measures activity across the private sector, including the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to a two-month low of 56.1 in August, down from 56.7 in July.

While the outcome of the whole single currency bloc is "solid," Markit wrote in a press release, there are "worrying divergences" between national economies, as growth is largely dependent on Germany and France.

"Growth in the rest of the euro area slowed to near stagnation, and services even contracted again as austerity measures bite," Chris Williamson, the company's chief economist said.

There is little evidence to suggest that buoyant business conditions from France and Germany "are spilling over to the benefit of the periphery," he added, noting that this could spell further divergence in the euro area's "two-speed recovery."

Flash estimates from the EU statistic office Eurostat, published on 13 August, confirmed Germany as a leader of Europe's economic recovery with a GDP growth rate of 2.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010, the best German result since re-unification in 1990. France's GDP increased by 0.6 percent, while Spain, Italy and Portugal each reported increases of less than 0.5 percent. The EU's overall growth was 1.7 percent.

Euobserver

Germany turbocharges EU economy

The strongest economic growth in Germany in two decades powered Europe's economic recovery ahead of the United States. The eurozone economy grew by 1 percent in the second quarter, its biggest quarterly expansion since the second quarter of 2006, the European Union's Eurostat statistics agency said Friday.

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Beating all analyst forecasts, Germany's economy in the second quarter of 2010 grew by 2.2 percent compared to the first three months of the year, its fastest growth in two decades. In comparison with the same time last year, Germany's economy grew by 4.1 percent, the Federal Statistical Office said Friday.

Link

France proposes EU reaction force for natural disasters

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the EU to set up a joint rapid reaction force to handle natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires and floods. In a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso published on Sunday (15 August), Mr Sarkozy addressed the issue of the EU's ability to react under its own name in connection to the recent floods in Pakistan.

"It seems essential, for obvious political and humanitarian reasons, that Europe shows its solidarity with the Pakistani people visibly. The interest of Europe is also to ensure the development and stability of this country," he wrote. Following the earthquake in Haiti and wildfires in Russia, says the letter, the EU "must take the necessary measures and build a real EU reaction force ... that draws on the resources of the member states." France is to draw up proposals for the force in the near future, it adds.

Paris announced Sunday that a plane with 60 tonnes of humanitarian aid will be sent to Pakistan, with Mr Sarkozy saying France is prepared to use its Nato military forces to help transport the aid. France has already allocated €1 million to Pakistan since the start of the floods, which are estimated to have affected 20 million people.

Last Wednesday (11 August), the commission said it would provide Pakistan with €10 million in immediate emergency aid, in addition to €30 million allocated in July. EU foreign ministers are to also discuss a long term aid plan for Pakistan at an informal meeting in September.

With wildfire smog returning to Moscow over the weekend, Russia itself indicated it would be interested in joining a multilateral crisis response force. "The United States and the EU have now come to the same conclusion. I think we will come to this, and such capabilities will have to be established," he told the Ria Novosti news agency.

Euobserver Link

Slovakia: No Funds for Greece Bailout

Slovakia’s parliament rejected the nation’s participation in a loan for Greece, ending the European Union’s unity in handling the sovereign-debt crisis. The 69-1 vote, with 14 abstentions, reversed a decision by the previous Cabinet to lend Greece 816 million euros ($1.1 billion). Prime Minister Iveta Radicova's month-old government opposed the aid, saying poor countries shouldn’t pay for the profligacy of richer peers.

“The Slovak share is small, so it shouldn’t have much impact on the big picture,” said Timothy Ash, head of emerging markets research at Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in London. “On the other hand, the rejection is clearly a disappointment for the European Commission as Slovaks are thinking outside the box.”

Olli Rehn, the EU’s economic affairs commissioner, called Slovakia’s decision a “breach of the commitment” the previous government made as part of the so-called eurogroup of countries. “The eurogroup’s decision was a crucial act at a critical moment to safeguard financial stability of the euro area as a whole, including Slovakia,” Rehn said today in a statement. “I can only regret this breach of solidarity within the euro area, and I expect the Eurogroup and the Ecofin Council to return to the matter in their next meeting.”

Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos has said EU fiscal rules should be changed to allow for the default of euro-member nations. Slovakia, the euro region’s poorest member by per- capita gross domestic product, was asked to pay too large a share of the Greek loan package, he said July 30.

“Many people in Germany and rich EU countries would have a lot of understanding for the Slovak position,” Ash said. “It shouldn’t be inevitable that every country gets a bailout.”

Earlier, lawmakers approved Slovakia’s participation in the European Financial Stabilization Facility, an entity that would sell debt secured by 440 billion euros in national guarantees and use the proceeds to provide loans to distressed euro-region members. Slovakia’s share in potential guarantees amounts to 4.4 billion euros.

Bloomberg

Megkezdődnek a csatlakozási tárgyalások Izlanddal

Az Európai Unió általános ügyekkel foglalkozó Tanácsa tegnap (2010. július 26.) zöld utat adott az Izlanddal folytatott tárgyalások megkezdésének – a skandináv ország csatlakozásáról szóló egyeztetések ma veszik kezdetüket egy kormányközi konferencia keretében.

Euvonal

Czech Fiscal Plans

The Czech Republic’s credit rating may be increased if the new government delivers on its promise to cut the budget deficit, Moody’s Investors Service said, pushing the koruna up as other east-European currencies fell.

The three-party government, named on July 13, has pledged to reduce the public-finance deficit to the European Union limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2013, from the 2010 target of 5.3 percent. Moody’s rates the Czech Republic A1, its fifth-highest investment grade, with a stable outlook. “If we see a resumption of real convergence towards core Europe that could put upward pressure on the rating,” Dietmar Hornung, a senior sovereign-risk group analyst at Moody’s, said in a July 16 interview. “And if the fiscal plans were to be implemented as planned and result in stabilization” of debt ratios “that would also be reassuring.”

The deficit widened last year as the global economic crisis cut demand for Czech exports, including cars made by the local units of Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co., slashing tax revenue. The EU is increasing penalties on members that flout budget rules after Greece’s spiraling deficit undermined confidence in the euro.

The Czech Republic’s debt rose to 35.4 percent of GDP last year, from 30 percent in 2008, less than the 60 percent limit for joining the euro.

“The Czech Republic is acting as a stabilizing element in the region,” said Prague-based Raiffeisen Bank analyst Michal Brozka in a note to clients, referring to Hornung’s comments. The new government has 118 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament, giving it the strongest majority since the country became an independent state in 1993. That creates “preconditions for removing the gridlock” that hampered efforts to overhaul government finances, Hornung said.

The Finance Ministry forecasts the economy will grow 1.6 percent this year and 2.3 percent in 2011, after a 4.1 percent contraction in 2009. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, estimates the euro area’s economy will grow 0.9 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2011.

Businessweek

European IT Research Gets €1.2 Billion From EU

The European Union is set to add €1.2 billion (US$1.5 billion) in funding for IT research in Europe, and about half the amount is earmarked for robotic systems, next generation network and service infrastructures, electronic and photonic components and digital content technologies.

Emphasis will be placed on technologies that address societal challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and an aging population, said Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn as she announced the new funding on Monday.

Link

A legbefolyásosabb tagállamok a 30 százalékos széndioxid-csökkentés mellett

Az Egyesült Királyság, Franciaország és Németország miniszterei együtt szólították fel az Európai Uniót, hogy emelje 30 százalékra a 2020-ra megállapított kibocsátás-csökkentési célt.

Az EU jelenlegi célszáma nem lesz elég a zöld innováció serkentésére és Európa versenyben tartására az ún. „tiszta” technológiák terén, nyilatkozta Chris Huhne, az Egyesült Királyság energiaügyi és klímaváltozásért felelős minisztere, Nobert Röttgen, a német környezetvédelmi miniszter és a francia környezetvédelmi miniszter, Jean-Louis Borloo a Financial Timesnak címzett levelükben.

Az Európai Unió 2008 végén fogadta el energia- és klímacsomagját, melyben azt vállalta, hogy 2020-ig 20 százalékkal csökkenti az üvegházhatást okozó gázok kibocsátását. Az EU három legbefolyásosabb tagállamának miniszterei első alkalommal fogtak össze, hogy az egyoldalú 30 százalékos cél mellett érveljenek.

„Ha a 20 százalékos célhoz ragaszkodunk, Európa valószínűleg elveszti a versenyt az alacsony széndioxid-kibocsátású [low-carbon] világban, olyan országokkal szemben, mint Kína, Japán, vagy éppen az Egyesült Államok, melyek mind vonzóbb környezetet próbálnak teremteni a low-carbon befektetések számára” – írták a miniszterek.

Ez az elmozdulás a német álláspont jelentős változását jelzi, Berlin korábban az EU hivatalos álláspontját támogatta, mely szerint a 30 százalékos kibocsátás-csökkentést csak akkor kellene megvalósítani, ha más iparosodott országok hasonló mértékű kötelezettségeket vállalnak az ENSZ tárgyalásokon az új klímaegyezmény tárgyalásai során.

A Bizottság májusban kiszámította, hogy a recesszió miatt a 30 százalékos csökkentés most csak 11 milliárd euróval kerülne többe, mint amire a tagállamok két évvel ezelőtt vállalkoztak, amikor a 20 százalékos célt megállapították. Connie Hedegaard klímavédelemért felelős európai biztos ugyanakkor úgy vélekedik, hogy a célszám emelésének most nem lenne értelme, mert szerinte a feltételek még nem megfelelőek ehhez.

Az európai üzleti körök vehemensen ellenzik a klímavállalások emelését, azzal érvelve, hogy ezzel versenyhátrányba kényszerítenék az uniós ipart. „Rossz jelzést küldene az európai ipar számára a gazdasági válság idején” – jelentette ki Jürgen R. Thumann, a Business Europe üzleti lobbi elnöke.

Euvonal

Romania to Raise Taxes

Romania said it would raise taxes to shore up state finances as it seeks to qualify for continued help from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders and reassure jittery markets focused on government spending and debt. Cabinet ministers approved the tax increase at an emergency meeting Saturday in order to plug a hole in the budget created Friday when the country's highest court declared that government-imposed pension cuts were unconstitutional.

Friday's court ruling, which called into question the government's ability to carry out its austerity plans, jolted markets and pushed the Romanian currency, stocks and bonds sharply lower. The currencies of neighboring Hungary and Poland also lost ground on fears those countries could have trouble curbing deficits. The cabinet's decision to boost the value-added tax to 24% from the current 19% will solve the immediate problem of holding the government budget deficit to the promised 6.8% of gross domestic product. But it is also likely to serve as a further break on economic expansion in a country where GDP fell more than 7% last year.

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EU greenlights Estonia eurozone entry in 2011

Leaders of the 27 European Union nations on Thursday gave their green light for Estonia to adopt the troubled euro currency as of January 1, 2011.

According to the latest EU estimates, Estonia will post a public deficit amounting to 2.4 percent of gross domestic product this year and debt of 9.6 percent of GDP -- levels which most of Europe can only dream of. However, the European Central Bank has warned Estonia that it could struggle to keep inflation under control once it joins the eurozone.

The country shifted rapidly from a communist command economy to the free market after breaking from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991 and its economy began to grow quickly, especially after joining the European Union in 2004. Hit by the global crisis in 2008, Estonia's government slashed public spending to confront the crisis and maintain its drive to switch from the national currency, the kroon, to the euro. The Estonian kroon was created in 1992 to replace the Soviet ruble. First pegged to the German mark, it was then linked to the euro in 2002 and its rate has not changed since

AFP

EU invites Iceland to membership talks

European Union leaders agreed Thursday to open membership negotiations with Iceland despite differences over whale hunting and a bank collapse that hit British and Dutch investors. European heads of state and government meeting in Brussels gave Iceland candidate status less than a year after it applied to join the 27-nation bloc.

Britain and the Netherlands said the talks should go hand in hand with negotiations over demands that Iceland reimburse compensation paid out by those two countries to citizens who held accounts at the failed Icesave bank. "My government is fully committed to resolving this issue," Johannesson said. "It's a bilateral issue."

Dutch Prime Minister Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said that while his country wasn't blocking the start of Iceland's membership negotiations. "before it can become a member, it will have to fulfil its obligations toward Britain and the Netherlands."

The Icelandic authorities will also have to make extensive moves towards shutting down their controversial whaling industry before they can think of taking their seat in Brussels, as European rules ban whale hunting.

Iceland's application to join the European Union and adopt the euro as its currency, which it lodged in July 2009, could also stumble on the issue of access for European fleets to Icelandic fishing waters.

But potential problems are not only with its would-be partners. An opinion poll this week showed a substantial majority of Icelanders want their government to tear up the EU application form. A national referendum will have to be held before Iceland can join the EU club. In a March referendum Icelanders massively rejected a deal to pay Britain and the Netherlands billions for their losses in the collapse of the Icesave bank.

It was only after the global financial hurricane battered its banks, forced its currency down and pushed it to the International Monetary Fund cap in hand that Reykjavik decided to apply for EU membership.

However European capitals see Iceland as a natural fit for the EU, as long as the obvious hurdles can be overcome. "There are a lot of conditions to be fulfilled but in due course Iceland can become a member of the club," said EU president Herman Van Rompuy.

AFP

Tőkés Lászlót az EP alelnökévé választották

A néppárti frakció jelöltjét, Tőkés Lászlót az Európai Parlament egyik alelnökévé választották kedden (2010. június 15.).

Tőkés Lászlót 334 szavazattal, 287 tartózkodás mellett választották a tizennégy alelnök egyikévé, miután a korábbi magyar EP-alelnök, Schmitt Pál lemondott európai parlamenti mandátumáról és a Magyar Országgyűlés elnöke lett.

Az alelnök - csakúgy, mint az elnök - irányítja az Európai Parlament és szervei (az Elnökség, illetve az Elnökök Értekezlete) munkáját, valamint vezeti a plenáris ülésszakokon folytatott vitákat. Amennyiben az elnök nincs jelen, vagy akadályoztatva van hivatali kötelességei ellátásában, illetve ha részt kíván venni valamilyen parlamenti vitában, az egyik alelnök veszi át az elnöklést. Az elnök bármely megbízatást átruházhat az alelnökökre, például a Parlament képviseletét ünnepi alkalmakkor vagy eseményeken. (Az alelnökök feladatait az EP Eljárási Szabályzatának20. cikke rögzíti.)

Euvonal

Franco-German relations hit new low

The French president has surrendered to the German Chancellor's demands on EU economic governance and her idea of "red cards" for member states that break spending rules set in Brussels. Mr Sarkozy had been determined to create an "economic government" of the 16 eurozone countries with a powerful secretariat to coordinate national budgets, tax and spending.

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President Sarkozy was then bludgeoned into accepting a German ultimatum that euro zone states that persistently breach budget deficit limits should have their voting rights suspended on economic issues, even if that requires changing the EU treaty. Previously, the issue of treaty change has been taboo for Mr Sarkozy who fears a French referendum. "If a treaty change is needed we will propose it," he conceded in Berlin.

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