And cannons to the left of me:
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Monday he would propose strengthening international controls on hedge funds at next month’s Group of Eight summit ? a suggestion that came as his government struggles to fend off challenges from both right and left ahead of national elections.
This article provides a reasonable background brief on the vote.
The number of infertile couples seeking help abroad has tripled since lawmakers in Roman Catholic Italy crossed party lines last year to approve one of Europe’s most restrictive laws on assisted reproduction. They wanted to crack down on what many saw as a medical Wild West where a 62-year-old woman had become a mother and a maverick doctor has bragged about cloning babies.
But far from ending the controversy the legislation has sparked the most heated moral debate since divorce and abortion were legalised in the 1970s and has prompted Pope Benedict, elected in April, to make his first foray into Italian politics. This weekend the standoff will come to a head with a four-part referendum that, if passed, would significantly change the law. The poll has shattered traditional political alliances and elicited emotional appeals from church pulpits.
Things really are starting to hot up: The European Commission said Wednesday it is investigating the reasons why Italy’s central bank intervened in foreign takeover bids for Italian banks.
The European Union’s head office said it had received a letter from the Bank of Italy explaining its actions in the recent takeover bids by the Netherlands’ ABN Amro NV for Banca Antonveneta SpA and Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya SA Argentaria for Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA.
The Bank of Italy monitors the country’s banking sector and has the power to veto all mergers and acquisitions. However, EU open market rules mean banks from other member nations should be allowed to operate in the Italian market under the same conditions as Italian rivals.
The Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio has rejected criticism that he favors domestic players over foreign banks, insisting last week that regulatory decisions are “neutral with regard to the nationality of the players involved.”
The European Commission is asking the Maltese government to explain its policy of banning journalists from immigrants? detention centres in response to a petition signed by 100 journalists and editors last February.
European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini told the European Parliament that the Commission was demanding information from the Maltese government about the total media ban imposed by Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg.Replying to parliamentary questions made by Labour MEP Joseph Muscat and H?l?ne Flautre (Greens), Frattini said he was aware of the journalists? petition and of Borg?s media ban and that he was seeking information from the government. The Commission is also aware of the conditions in immigrants? detention centres which have been the subject of much criticism from international human rights agencies and organisations.
According to the German research institute DIW, the number of migrants from the EU 10 accession countries was far less than many anticipated.
According to the Berlin-based Deutsches Institut for Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), the number of people who have migrated from the new member states to the older members can be estimated at 150,000. Of them, over 50,000 arrived in the UK.
The DIW figures are lower than other estimates, including that of the UK government, which claims to have received some 130,000 work permit applications over the past 12 months. DIW explains the discrepancy with methodological differences.
In DIW’s opinion, those EU-15 states that have applied stringent immigration policies to prospective workers from the new member states could be missing out on an influx of much-needed qualified professionals.
I don’t think it’s fair to talk about European regulatory madness as long as there isn’t a directive handling… Cheese Rolling (from the BBC, hat tip to viewropa)
“Cheese Rolling is one of the oldest customs to have survived in Great Britain. It’s been going on for hundreds of years and some say it has its roots in pre-Roman times.
Today it is as popular as ever and the crowds turned out in large numbers at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire to watch yet more brave souls risk life and limb chasing after a 7lb Double Gloucester cheese. The winner gets to keep the cheese they’ve chased after!”
Angela Merkel, the German opposition Christian Democrat leader, has promised that initiatives to cut unemployment would ?be at the centre of my thoughts and actions?. Laudible ideals, delivering on them may prove rather more difficult than Ms Merkel imagines. Still, she is focusing the debate on the relevant areas:
Mrs Merkel acknowledged that Germany was one of the most expensive countries to do business. ?We have to be better [than competitors] to the same extent that we are more expensive [than them]?, by being ?quicker and more flexible?. She said ?globalisation is now the context in which our ideas of democracy and of a social market economy must prove themselves?.
Policy priorities would include measures to reduce government debt and to cut non-wage labour costs paid by employers as social security contributions, in part by introducing a new tax-funded health insurance system. Labour market measures would include a loosening of job protection rules and more decentralised collective bargaining.
In fact they are so relevant and to the point that it is hard to see Schr?der disagreeing with them. Interesting campaign in prospect.
The Guardian Newsblog has a nice summary of the reasons Why the French are saying ‘non’. I’m not sure they will in the end, but in case they do, it will be a political earthquake. To help us understand the near B-plan European future, Janis A. Emmanouilidis and Bettina Thalmaier from the Center for Applied Policy Research and the Bertelsmann Foundation have put together an executive summary of their thoughts on this issue (that is also available in German).
“Italy will do all it has to in order to respect the Maastricht paramters…….”we’ve never deliberately aimed at exceeding the 3pct ratio. The fact that this may be happening now is merely due to the state of the economy”.
EU Policies minister Giorgio La Malfa
Last week, the Swedish finance minister said that we should consider allowing immigration of labor. (Link in Swedish) This has long been demanded by the right-wing opposition, but the Social Democrats were against it, partly because of opposition from the unions. This is just a trial baloon, not a shift in policy, and is unlikely to lead to anything i the short run. In any event the opposition is favored to win the 2006 elections.
Sweden is very much the odd man out here, no?