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Call for single IMF seat for eurozone

Chair of Eurogroup says French president is considering the idea.

 

Eurozone swings into deficit

Exchange rates and oil prices in push eurozone into the red in March, while EU27 trade gap widens sharply.

 

US, EU begin fresh ‘open skies' talks

Second phase of liberalisation talks focuses on mergers and aligning rules governing the US and EU aviation markets.

 

Spain facing court over Endesa case

European Commission threatening to take Madrid to the European Court of Justice.

 

EU-Latin America summit

Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde, the foreign minister of Peru (centre), receives Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, in Lima. REUTERS

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission (right), pictured outside the presidential palace in Lima, Peru at the start of summit of some 60 countries. On the agenda are climate change, poverty reduction and trade. REUTERS
 

Commission sets out rules for lobbyists' fees

Voluntary register welcomed by lobbyists, criticised by campaigners.

 

Ministers set for clash with Commission over pesticides

Commission wants to avoid hazards; some member states aim to manage risks.

 

Commission wants quicker fine for energy-market sinners

Regulatory change is part of packaging allowing cross-holdings in energy companies.

 

Michel on aid mission to Myanmar

Seeks access to cyclone-hit state for aid workers; junta under pressure to relent.

The European commissioner bids to open up Myanmar for foreign aid workers. REUTERS

 

Barrot and Tajani set for June dates with MEPs

Parliament will vet Barrot at informal hearing; Tajani must face transport committee.

 

EU and US lead charm offensive

Last-ditch talks to seal deal ahead of US election; effort to win backing of emerging economies.

 

Patent plan could sink if international treaty floats

Change in mood towards an international accord.

 

Asylum pact aims to bring harmony

France is seeking a pact that could harmonise the EU's fragmented asylum system.

 

Franco-German threat to CAP health check

Commission plans for agricultural reforms are meeting opposition from the usual suspects.

 

Tax-evasion report demanded

EU finance ministers start process of closing tax loopholes.

 

Eurozone ministers attack executives' pay

Finance ministers flag intent to curb ‘golden handshakes' while also calling for restraint in wage deals for employees.

 

EU backing renewable energy in overseas territories

Extra funds for energy initiatives are foretaste of proposals designed to revitalise Atlantic and Indian Ocean islands.

 

Probe ordered into Scandinavian fuel market

European Commission is worried StatoilHydro could use purchase of Jet fuelling stations to raise prices.

 

EU to restore cultural sites in Balkans

EU hopes funding for 26 sites will encourage further investment into tourism.

 

Disappointment clouds Balkan investment plans

Attempt to harmonise investment floundering.

 

Call for greater scrutiny of auditors

European Commission highlights greater independence, transparency and oversight as crucial to improving the quality of audits.

 

End to decade-long ban on US poultry on horizon

European Commission backs end to ban on US poultry and easing of regulations on EU poultry farmers.

 

Other recent news:

Expansion of Erasmus programme slows

Ukraine pushing for closer ties with EU

Lithuania lifts veto on EU-Russia deal

Ukrainian-Russian legal dispute looms over pipeline

Microsoft appeals against EU fine

MEPs oppose football quotas

Airline sector slammed for poor practice

Piebalgs drafts compromise plan

Parliament makes wish-list for extended powers

Italy given two weeks to justify Alitalia loan

UN chief under pressure to back co-existing missions in Kosovo

Slovakia set to adopt euro

Biofuels should not be ‘scapegoated'

MEPs push for unbundling of energy sector

EU to fund key projects in neighbouring states

 

Analysis                                 

 

The heaviest weight falls on small shoulders


Member states are bracing themselves for the seasonal influx of illegal immigrants from Africa. But the burden is not divided equally.

Armed forces of Malta. REUTERS

 

Why Georgia should be on EU minds

Tensions are rising in Georgia ahead of next week's presidential elections as Russia reinforces its ‘peacekeepers' in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

 

After victory, what now for Tadic?

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.

 

A brave new era for GM crops?

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.
 

 

 

+ More news   
Careers

Charting an energy-efficient career path

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.
 

Diary

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.

Views

The paper clip

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.

 

A clear case for an EU public prosecutor

The Regaldo trial, a case that should lift an anathema.

 

Why it's uncool to be an Islamic extremist

Many extremists are drawn to terror in a misguided search for adventure.

 

Changing climate. The US, with a new president, might yet take the lead. REUTERS 

From worlds apart to partners

The EU and US approaches to climate change are set to converge after the presidential election.

 

Let's build unions east and north, too

A job for the best kind of bureaucrat: stop these dreamers.

 

Riding on the euro in the economic fast-lane

Members of the world's second reserve currency would gain enormously from shedding the euro's fragmented decision-making process.

 

Not everyone buys into engagement with Russia

Germany's political and financial investments in Russia are making some of the EU's newer member states uneasy.

 

Hiding corruption behind the curtain in Romania

The EU should get tougher in forcing the Romanian government to come clean about corruption.

 

Cartoon of the week

Danziger

Cartoon by Danziger. Copyright CAI/NYT Syndication.

 

Boris Tadic, Serbian president. REUTERS

The surprise that may await Europe

Why there is sense in a link-up between the pro-EU victor of Serbia's elections and the party founded by Slobodan Milosevic.

 

What this financial crisis teaches us

The lessons of the West's financial crisis are numerous, but the underlying one is that we should be more open-minded and commonsensical.

 

Medvedev's Russia

As Russians enter a new era uncertain whether it will differ from the old, experts share their expectations of Russia's new president.

 

This Europe

 

Whistling west

A supporter of Macedonia's main ruling party. REUTERS

A supporter of Macedonia's main ruling party, the ruling centre-right VMRO-DPMNE, at a rally ahead of early parliamentary elections on 1 June. The campaign has been marred by violence, including a shooting on 12 May described as an “assassination attempt” on Ali Ahmeti, the leader of the ethnic-Albanian DUI party, which is currently in coalition with the VMRO-DPMNE. The government fell last month after Greece vetoed the country's entry into NATO over the former Yugoslav republic's name. The country emerged from a brief civil war between government forces and ethnic-Albanian rebels in 2001. REUTERS.

 

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People

Geert Dancet

Geert Dancet

The formula for independence

The first head of the EU chemicals agency is under pressure to prove his independence.

 

Polish network failures?

Better perhaps to learn personnel management skills.

 

Roll on, simplification

Advanced linguistic safety features.

 

Hammering home the facts

All work and no play makes Janez a dull minister.

 

Kroes gets a view to the river

A ‘builder and titan' meets a problem skyscraper.

 

An Austrian-Slovak ‘peace accord'

Roll out the (pork) barrel.

 

 

Interviews

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Davies demands carbon capture and storage

MEP wants coal-fired power stations to have ‘CCS' after 2014.


 

Books

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An angel and the devil in hell on earth

An intrepid war reporter merges a true story of hope amid the horror of Chechnya with some ugly truths about Vladimir Putin's Russia.

   


 
 

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European Voice 15 May

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