Go to the Content Friday, 16 May 2008
Chair of Eurogroup says French president is considering the idea.
Second phase of liberalisation talks focuses on mergers and aligning rules governing the US and EU aviation markets.
European Commission threatening to take Madrid to the European Court of Justice.
Commission wants to avoid hazards; some member states aim to manage risks.
Seeks access to cyclone-hit state for aid workers; junta under pressure to relent.
Parliament will vet Barrot at informal hearing; Tajani must face transport committee.
Last-ditch talks to seal deal ahead of US election; effort to win backing of emerging economies.
Change in mood towards an international accord.
France is seeking a pact that could harmonise the EU's fragmented asylum system.
Commission plans for agricultural reforms are meeting opposition from the usual suspects.
EU finance ministers start process of closing tax loopholes.
Finance ministers flag intent to curb ‘golden handshakes' while also calling for restraint in wage deals for employees.
European Commission is worried StatoilHydro could use purchase of Jet fuelling stations to raise prices.
EU hopes funding for 26 sites will encourage further investment into tourism.
Attempt to harmonise investment floundering.
European Commission backs end to ban on US poultry and easing of regulations on EU poultry farmers.
Other recent news:
Tensions are rising in Georgia ahead of next week's presidential elections as Russia reinforces its ‘peacekeepers' in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic and his allies made big gains at last weekend's parliamentary elections. But those gains might not be enough to ensure a stable, pro-EU government.
Biotech companies are eyeing an end to a long campaign to ease the approval of genetically modified crops. They accuse conservation groups of relying on old data.
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A Polish head of unit in the European Commission's environment department relishes the progress made in those EU member states that were once in the Soviet bloc.
14-16 May: EU-China human rights dialogue, Brdo. Directors of EU troika foreign ministries discuss the state of human rights with Chinese counterparts.
15-17 May: Summit of leaders from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean, Lima, Peru. On the agenda: poverty reduction and sustainable development, including climate change.
15-16 May: Launch of the second stage of EU-US open skies negotiations, Brdo, Slovenia. On the agenda: further liberalisation of the market, possibilities for investment, environmental policy.
19 May: Meeting of EU agriculture ministers, Brussels. On the agenda: pesticides, world trade talks, support for small farmers.
19-20 May: Meeting of a group of EU justice ministers, Portorož, Slovenia. On the agenda: priorities for European justice policy.
19-22 May: Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg. On the agenda: interim report on climate change, progress report on Turkey, EU-US visa exemption, the road freight market, passenger road transport, licensing for transport operators.
20 May: Weekly Commission meeting, Strasbourg. On the agenda: sustainable industrial policy, eco-management and audit scheme, green procurement, CAP health check, state aid, motor vehicle safety, flax and hemp sector, proposals for a Mediterranean Union.
21 May: Meeting of education, youth and culture ministers, Brussels. On the agenda: intercultural competences, three-year work plan on culture.
In need of some good economic news? Read on. Also covered in today's “Paper clip” are reports on Serbia and the EU, Italy and immigration and Belgium's Flemish-Walloonian divide.
The Regaldo trial, a case that should lift an anathema.
Many extremists are drawn to terror in a misguided search for adventure.
The EU and US approaches to climate change are set to converge after the presidential election.
A job for the best kind of bureaucrat: stop these dreamers.
Members of the world's second reserve currency would gain enormously from shedding the euro's fragmented decision-making process.
Germany's political and financial investments in Russia are making some of the EU's newer member states uneasy.
The EU should get tougher in forcing the Romanian government to come clean about corruption.
The lessons of the West's financial crisis are numerous, but the underlying one is that we should be more open-minded and commonsensical.
As Russians enter a new era uncertain whether it will differ from the old, experts share their expectations of Russia's new president.
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People
The first head of the EU chemicals agency is under pressure to prove his independence.
Better perhaps to learn personnel management skills.
Advanced linguistic safety features.
All work and no play makes Janez a dull minister.
A ‘builder and titan' meets a problem skyscraper.
Roll out the (pork) barrel.
MEP wants coal-fired power stations to have ‘CCS' after 2014.
EU agencies
Unloved children?
Better elections
Politics is still local
Voter IDs
Campaign finance
Economist Diaries and Business Gifts
