During talks in Brussels on Friday night, senior British officials reassured other EU countries that David Cameron would not pick a fight over the issue during the summit today. Without its own institutions at a 'federal' or EU level, the main enforcing role the new pact has is the ECJ role and the Prime Minister is not prepared to be accused of sabotaging the eurozone by blocking it. “The British have made it clear that they would not challenge the treaty before it is signed or before it enters into force,” said a EU negotiator in the talks. "Britain is going to give the eurozone the benefit of the doubt so it can put its house in order." The latest and fourth draft of a "Stability, Coordination and Governance (SCG) Treaty" will be given political agreement today, probably with some amendments before being signed in March. The SCG treaty “empowers the Court of Justice to verify the transposition of the balanced budget rule at national level”. “The current draft gives the court the authority to impose financial sanctions in case a contracting party was found by the court not to have taken the necessary measures to comply with its judgement,” says an EU paper on the text. The main debate is between Poland, an other non-euro members over who can attend fiscal compact summits.
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Monday, January 30, 2012
During talks in Brussels on Friday night, senior British officials reassured other EU countries that David Cameron would not pick a fight over the issue during the summit today. Without its own institutions at a 'federal' or EU level, the main enforcing role the new pact has is the ECJ role and the Prime Minister is not prepared to be accused of sabotaging the eurozone by blocking it. “The British have made it clear that they would not challenge the treaty before it is signed or before it enters into force,” said a EU negotiator in the talks. "Britain is going to give the eurozone the benefit of the doubt so it can put its house in order." The latest and fourth draft of a "Stability, Coordination and Governance (SCG) Treaty" will be given political agreement today, probably with some amendments before being signed in March. The SCG treaty “empowers the Court of Justice to verify the transposition of the balanced budget rule at national level”. “The current draft gives the court the authority to impose financial sanctions in case a contracting party was found by the court not to have taken the necessary measures to comply with its judgement,” says an EU paper on the text. The main debate is between Poland, an other non-euro members over who can attend fiscal compact summits.
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7 comments:
What about the "They're not allowed to do this or that stance of a few weeks ago? Yet another ineffectual bout of blustering hot air from a PM who delivers on nothing!
What happens if the opening batsman goes out for a duck at every innings?
What a plonker!!
Bloody spineless b#star#s,they will suffer at the polls for this appeasing behaviour.
Never smile at, or co-operate with, crocodiles.
We're watching you Cameron!
The results of Italy's bond auction are in -- and at first glance it has gone pretty well.
Italy sold €5.57bn worth of five and ten-year bonds (having aimed to sell a maximum of €6n). The interest rates demanded by investory fell significantly, to the lowest levels since October.
Yields on the 10-year bonds dropped to 6.08%, down from 6.98% at the previous auction at the end of December, and was over-subscribed
The five-year bonds sold at an average yield of 5.39%, down from 6.47%, but the total sold - €3.6n - was someway shy of the €4bn target.
This follows a trend of successful bond auctions in 2012, following the €500bn of low-cost loans which commercial banks took from the European Central Bank in December.
Today's yields still put Italy firmly in the 'worrying' camp -- but there should be relief that they were below the 7% mark (where the 'danger zone' is said to begin).
#Portugal bond yields hit new #euro era record highs at open: 10YR 15.8%, 5YR 20.8%
There's widespread industrial action in Belgium this morning, as unions call a strike to mark today's summit meeting.
The general strike -- Brussels' first in almost two decades - has forced the authorities to close down the country's rail networok, and left many trams and busses without drivers.
As this photo shows, the normally heaving train platforms were bereft of commuters this morning.
Some international flights have been cancelled, while some bulk cargo terminals have been shuttered at the port of Antwerp.
The strike is designed to signal opposition to Belgium's fiscal cutbacks. Philippe Dubois, a railway union member outside Brussels' Midi station, told Reuters that:
We are angry because they want to attack our pensions. We want to make some noise.
German finance ministry confirmed that a bigger contribution from public sector creditors as part of the Greek debt deal is not up for discussion at the summit. A spokesman said:
The public sector has done everything [it can] and has a sufficiently large share in stabilising Greece. The focus at the moment is simply on the the participation of the private sector. Therefore there is no discussion of the participation of the public sector.
No helpful given that event the IMF has said nations will probably have to contribute more to get a crucial deal to avert a messy default in Greece.
11.05 With banks and miners on the wane, the FTSE 100 dropped 30 points to 5704 as dealers were troubled by the fact that Greece has not yet finalised a debt-swap deal with private creditors.
Evraz, the Russian steel producer, led the laggards in morning trading, losing 4.5pc as miners tracked a retreat in metal prices. Vedanta Resources also dropped 2.8pc, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation shed 2pc and Antofagasta fell 1.8pc.
Amongst the banks, Barclays shed 2pc while Standard Chartered Bank lost 2pc and Royal Bank of Scotland eased 2pc as the bank's chief executive, Stephen Hester, decided to waive a £1m share bonus.
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