Barroso

EU summit: The morning after, Barroso hits back

December 17, 2010 10:09 am by Peter Spiegel

During his normal mid-summit breakfast with reporters, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, was in a feisty mood, despite the late session Thursday night.

Barroso gave an overview of the debate over treaty changes and a summary of what he hopes will be a strong statement in support of the euro today.

But his most pointed comments were aimed at reports of a letter being circulated by Britain and other member states attempting to set limits to the seven-year budget framework, which starts in 2014. Read more

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Posted in Economic governance, EU, EU Commission, Fiscal policy |

Mr Wen goes to Brussels

October 7, 2010 12:57 pm by Joshua Chaffin

There was a common reaction that Chinese premiere Wen Jiabao and his entourage inspired as they swept through Brussels this week: Impressive. That word was uttered repeatedly by European business leaders, policymakers and diplomats on the sidelines of an EU-China Summit. At times, it seemed the Chinese were in motion while the natives stood still, watching with awe and envy as someone else’s national ascent played out.

Things were very different a decade ago, when an Asian banking crisis was raging. Now, in the midst of its own crisis, Europe is the one short of cash, humbly thanking Mr Wen for his promise to buy government bonds issued by Greece and other debt-plagued governments. That gesture has made it particularly awkward for European leaders to press demands that Beijing revalue its currency. Read more

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Posted in Economic governance, EU, Fiscal policy, Foreign policy |

A Brussels showdown on economic governance

September 27, 2010 2:56 pm by Joshua Chaffin

For Europe, this is the pivotal week in which sweeping new rules will be introduced to overhaul the way that governments manage their finances. Read more

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Posted in Economic governance, EU |

What does the outburst on France and the Roma mean for Barroso?

September 15, 2010 5:11 pm by Joshua Chaffin

Viviane Reding was the star of the European Commission’s surprisingly blunt condemnation of France for its treatment of the Roma. And rightfully so. The prepared statement read by the famously helmet-haired commissioner on Wednesday forcefully punctuated weeks of caution and dissembling by the commission. More than one Brussels correspondent expressed shock at the outbreak of bonafide news at the typically somnolent midday briefing. Read more

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Posted in EU Commission |

Germany puts European parliament first

July 8, 2010 2:43 pm by Quentin Peel

Christian Wulff, Germany’s new federal president, has not been idle. He had barely wiped his feet on the doormat in Schloss Bellevue, his splendid new Berlin residence, before setting off on a foreign trip.

While his job is without power, it carries lots of prestige. Indeed, the role is more about symbolism than substance. But the symbolism matters.

His first stop on Wednesday was in Strasbourg to meet Jerzy Buzek, European Parliament president. Second stop was Paris, for a chat with Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysée palace. And third stop, on Thursday, was Brussels, where he had lined up Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general.

It was all about pouring oil on troubled waters, to be sure. Germany’s relationship to the European Union has seldom caused so much anxiety amongst its neighbours, since Berlin started to bang the drum with a vengeance about the need for fiscal discipline – first in Greece, and now in the rest of the eurozone. Read more

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Posted in Economic governance, EU Commission, EU Parliament |

Threats to EU single market lurk behind the financial crisis

July 5, 2010 9:47 am by Tony Barber

Since the start of this year, Europe’s financial crisis has been given many labels - a sovereign debt crisis, a banking sector crisis, a crisis of the euro itself.  But rarely is it asked whether the European Union’s single market, which is the foundation stone of EU integration in the modern era, is under serious threat.

One person who has asked this question is Mario Monti, the distinguished former EU commissioner for the internal market and competition policy.  In May he presented a report on how to reinvigorate the single market to Commission president José Manuel Barroso, who had commissioned it from him last year.  It delivered a blunt message.  Many Europeans – citizens as well as political leaders – looked at the single market with “suspicion, fear and sometimes open hostility”, Monti said.  “The single market today is less popular than ever, while Europe needs it more than ever.” Read more

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Posted in Economic growth, EU Commission |

Clouds of nationalism gather over Hungary’s EU presidency

June 4, 2010 11:23 am by Tony Barber

The European Union’s rotating presidency will pass on July 1 from Spain to Belgium, and then six months later from Belgium to Hungary.  The direction of EU affairs will therefore soon be in the hands of a centre-right Hungarian government that has wasted little time, since its massive election victory in April, in asserting its patriotic – some would say ‘nationalist’ – credentials.

Policymakers in Brussels are anxiously watching this development.  They recall the unhappy experience of the Czech Republic’s EU presidency in the first half of 2009.  The last thing they want is another turbulent presidency run by one of the 10 central and eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004-2007.  It would give critics of EU enlargement even more ammunition to fight with. Read more

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Posted in Enlargement |

Every step you take, David, EU will be watching you

May 12, 2010 3:27 pm by Tony Barber

As you’d expect, European Union leaders were quick to congratulate David Cameron on his appointment as British prime minister.  But for all the warm words, they will be watching his first moves on the European stage like hawks.

An important test will come next week at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels.  There the UK will find itself under pressure from a majority of countries to agree to new arrangements tightening the regulation of hedge funds and private equity.  Spain, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, is desperate to get the deal done next week, having helped out Gordon Brown’s Labour government by delaying it until the British election was out of the way.  But will the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition be inclined to sign up to such an important measure so soon into its period of office? Read more

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Posted in EU |

Ignorant European elites fume at financial markets

May 6, 2010 9:54 am by Tony Barber

One reason why the eurozone is sliding into ever deeper trouble is because its political and bureaucratic elites do not like, do not understand and have no wish to understand financial markets.  This is an attitude embedded in European history and culture.  Think of the 1793 Law of the General Maximum, an arbitrary attempt to fix prices at the height of the French Revolution.  Or think of the social status attached for the past 150 years to being a state-employed soldier, teacher, office clerk or railway worker rather than a banker in Germany. Read more

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Posted in Euro |
From Gideon Rachman's Blog March 26, 2010

From Gideon Rachman’s blog

At European summits, it is easy to get the mistaken impression that the arguments are all about finding the correct policies or defending national interests. I suppose, sometimes, that is the case. But more often that not, it seems to come down to personality politics. I was struggling earlier today to understand why the French had been so reluctant to involve the IMF in the putative rescue of Greece. In my innocence, I thought it might have something to do with a French preference for a “European solution”. But then a French colleague explained to me. It’s simply that Nicolas Sarkozy sees Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF, as a potential rival in the next French presidential election. So he doesn’t want to agree to anything that might make Strauss-Kahn look good. Read more

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Posted in EU Commission |
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