David O’Sullivan: The EU at 70 – still going strong?

Watch back this evening’s Hume Foundation inaugural European Spirit of Peace Lecture, delivered by David O’Sullivan (former EU ambassador to the US) which looked at the EU 70 years on and asked whether it was going strong. He had cautionary words for those conflating the Irish constitutional issue with practical aspects of the NI Protocol which he said was “unhelpful” and could “destabilise many in the Unionist community”.

Belfast International Airport MD: “Am absolutely spitting useless faceless EU bureaucrats…”

As ever, the significant part of the story behind United Airlines’ decision to end the Belfast-New York route – despite an “irregular” three year NI Executive £9 million rescue deal – lies, not in the headline, but in the details.   The first point to make, given the positioning of some parties on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, is that the airline’s decision comes after the European Commission blocked the rescue package under state aid rules.  AS the BBC report …

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EU Standardised Driving Licence, mostly, Trumps Political Psychosis

Sinn Féin TD, Dessie Ellis, has taken umbrage with the Irish National Driver Licence Service for refusing to indulge some nationalists’ political psychosis on the recently standardised EU driving licence.  From the Irish News report Sinn Féin’s Dessie Ellis spoke out after a renewed licence issued to Co Tipperary resident Thomas Murray stated ‘Northern Ireland’ as his place of birth. The 79-year-old Belfast-born driver, who has lived in Co Tipperary since 1973, previously owned a licence that simply had ‘Ireland’ …

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Why are [some] Irish politicians so reluctant to take Vestager’s €13 Billion and run?

So today should be interesting in Dublin. It should be a make your mind up day for the Irish Cabinet to decide on whether Ireland should, as a member state, challenge Tuesday’s ruling of European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager. It could fall in several ways. It may force the government to assemble a water tight argument on the politically embarrassing tax justice issues involved in launching an appeal, or perhaps defer the pain by looking to the court to seek clarification …

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IMF to Tsipras: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

After more of the familiar lies and misdirection yesterday, there were some optimistic noises from Brussels last night as the leaders of Germany, France and Greece met on the side-lines of the EU-Latin America summit.  They were short-lived. Having tried to play the International Monetary Fund, and its managing director, Christine Lagarde, last week, the game theory academics in the Syriza-led Greek Government are being treated to a practical lesson in hard-ball negotiations by the IMF.  As the Guardian’s Larry Elliott …

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Jean-Claude Juncker: “[Tsipras] must explain that some of the promises upon which he was elected will not be honoured…”

As Mick has noted, at the weekend the under-pressure new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took undiplomatic aim at the governments of Spain and Portugal [But not Ireland! – Ed] in an attempt to explain the outcome of European negotiations to his Syriza party coalition. The European Commission has been quick to step in to act as a “mediator” after receiving complaints from the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, but not before those governments had responded in kind. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hit back …

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Live: Hogan being interviewed for post of Agriculture Commissioner…

Best followed in line with the Twitter stream… Live Blog Phil Hogan’s Commissioner designate hearing   Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Euro crisis: “It’s politics without policy choice…”

The pressure is definitely beginning to tell on the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso at the G20 summit in Mexico.   No news yet from Greece, and the markets are still betting against Spain.  He may, as he claims, have a “vision of where we need to go“, or he may, as Michael White says, be sticking his head in the sand.  In any case, at Crooked Timber Niamh Hardiman has been looking more closely at the end-game for the political trilemma. …

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Euro crisis: “I am not sure whether the urgency of this is fully understood in all the capitals”

It would be fair to say that there remains a difference in opinion of the correct response to the euro crisis.   The BBC quotes European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. European governments need to agree urgently on steps to forge a closer union because of the eurozone’s “systemic problem”, the head of the European Commission says. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called for a “vision of where we need to go”. “I am not sure whether the urgency of this …

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Euro crisis: “With that we buried the Maastricht Treaty, the legal basis for currency union”

A couple of interesting reports in the Irish Times with relevance to the ongoing euro crisis.  First, from Derek Scally in Berlin …Mr Asmussen, a member of the ECB governing council, said growth measures – agreed without reopening the fiscal treaty – could help drive European integration. “The benefits of a currency union are so outstanding that they should be stabilised by deepening, which means a fiscal union and banking union as well as a democratic legitimised political union,” said …

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Euro crisis: “Barroso absolutely confident that Spain can meet its economic challenges.”

With Spain probably in recession, again, and the cost of its government borrowing topping 6%, again, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso is being ridiculed for his optimistic futuring.  As the Guardian’s Eurozone crisis live-blog notes European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has just been quizzed about the eurozone crisis, at a summit on sustainable energy. Barroso attempted to calm fears, telling his audience that he is “absolutely confident that Spain can meet its econonic challenges”. Alas, Barroso didn’t explain …

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“I am determined to develop a response which fully matches our responsibility under the Habitats Directive…”

With the Northern Ireland Fisheries Minster, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, displaying Helleresque logic in her efforts to avoid European Commission fines over the Executive’s failure to act to conserve atlantic salmon stocks, BBC NI’s environment correspondent, Mike McKimm, has an update on the NI Executive’s continuing inaction over environmental vandalism at Strangford Lough – a designated Special Area of Conservation, an Area of Special Scientific Interest and a Ramsar (protected wetland) site.  From the BBC report Unless the departments can persuade the European Commission otherwise, they …

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“However, the Minister told us that she was too busy to see us.”

With potential European Commission fines still pending for the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to protect a special habitat in Strangford Lough, another area of contention, environmentally, has opened up – with further potential EC fines.  This time, it’s commercial salmon fishing.  And the Department responsible for licensing the nets used is the NI Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL). On the 12 January the NI DCAL minister, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, publicly called for a voluntary moratorium on the taking of salmon.  …

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Strangford Lough: “It is not as if the two departments did not know what needed to be done.”

It’s worth stating at the beginning that the European Commission haven’t, yet, imposed a fine for the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to protect and restore a special habitat, of [protected species] horse mussel beds, in Strangford Lough – a designated Special Area of Conservation, an Area of Special Scientific Interest and a Ramsar (protected wetland) site. But, BBC NI environment correspondent, Mike McKimm’s latest report suggests it won’t be long coming… Agriculture implement fishing regulations and controls in Strangford Lough. Environment tries to …

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Euro crisis: “it is time to send for the Borg…”

You can follow the latest developments in the eurozone crisis at the Guardian’s live-Business blog as pressure mounts on Italian Prime Minister designate, Mario Monti – who was nominated to replace Silvio Berlusconi three days after the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, appointed Monti a Lifetime Senator.  From his Wikipedia entry In 2007, Monti was one of the first supporters of the first European civic forum, Etats Généraux de l’Europe, initiated by European think tank EuropaNova and European Movement. In December 2009, he …

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Taoiseach on euro crisis: “I think we have to get on with what we have now…”

Oh dear…  RTÉ reports Taoiseach Enda Kenny sticking his head in the sand insisting that the status quo is perfectly adequate to deal with the eurozone crisis. Speaking in Warsaw, Mr Kenny admitted there had been a lot of discussion among eurozone leaders about where the crisis was headed, and that there would be a good deal more discussion before heads of government meet in mid October. When asked if he supports Treaty change in order to facilitate a deeper …

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Barroso: “Nobody should be under any illusion: the situation is very serious”

Everyone’s got something to say ahead of tomorrow’s emergency EU summit on the existential European debt crisis.  Whether you believe any of them is another matter entirely… Taoiseach Enda Kenny is echoing Frau Bundeskanzlerin. Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he is also hopeful that Ireland will be on the agenda at tomorrow’s meeting. However, in a statement issued today, Mr Kenny said he did not believe the meeting would solve all of the euro zone’s problems. “The crisis in the euro area …

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Bini Smaghi: “The crisis has shown that the euro is an incomplete construct and needs to be completed.”

Via the Irish Economy blog.  In a speech at the 8th European Seminar in Poros, on 8th July, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, did a reasonable job of identifying the problems highlighted by the sovereign debt crisis – although he denies it’s an existential crisis for the EU.   But, as a true believer in the “European Project”, his solution may not be to everyone’s taste… From his 8th July speech In my view, we should strengthen …

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“border control and Schengen governance need to be strengthened to prevent irregular migration”

In the Irish Times Arthur Beesley reports on the European Commission’s recommendations following France and Italy’s call for reform of the Schengen Agreement.  From the Irish Times Formal legislative proposals to revise the Schengen system are likely within the next two months, according a communique on migration [Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström] issued yesterday. Her paper also calls for the relaxation in emergency situations of the rules under which applications for asylum must be processed in the EU country of first …

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Euro crisis: “The Government is due to consider a potential programme of asset disposals…”

Greece were the first of the PIGS to request a EU-IMF bail-out – with the threat of contagion, as Mack’s timeline records, leading to the construction of a wider mechanism which Ireland, eventually, availed of.  The result, according to ECB executive Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, of the “choice of economic model” by “successive governments, and their voters”. As Tim Garton Ash commented at the time, “The crisis of the eurozone has only just begun.” A year on and, as BBC Europe editor Gavin Hewitt noted …

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