| THE HANDSTAND | APRIL2011 |
UPDATE:Eurogroup chief: 'I'm for secret, dark debates'
21.04.2011 @ 10:01 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Eurozone economic policies should only be conducted in "dark secret rooms", to prevent dangerous movements in financial markets, the Eurogroup chief said on Wednesday (20 April), adding that he had often lied in his career to prevent the spread of rumours that could feed speculation.
Juncker: Not a fan of transparency when it comes to economic policy (Photo: Council of European Union)
As exists in the case of monetary policy, all economic decisions should now be discussed behind closed doors, he said
"Monetary policy is a serious issue. We should discuss this in secret, in the Eurogroup," Jean-Claude Juncker said at a Brussels conference on economic governance organised by the European Movement, an organisation that promotes European integration, referring to matters already long since outsourced from national parliaments to independent central banks.
"The same applies to economic and monetary policies in the Union. If we indicate possible decisions, we are fuelling speculations on the financial markets and we are throwing in misery mainly the people we are trying to safeguard from this."
"I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious," he said.
Under his line of reasoning, ministers and EU leaders who discuss financial matters in public put "millions of people at risk" due to wild swings in financial markets produced by their public commentary.
"I am for secret, dark debates," he quipped.
"There is insufficient awareness at the European level when it comes to these issues, because each of us wants to show his domestic public that he's the greatest guy under the sky," Juncker noted.
Having served as finance minister and then premier of Luxembourg for the past 22 years, Juncker pointed out that over the course of his career, despite his Catholic upbringing, he often "had to lie" in order not to feed rumours.
A conference-goer suggested that removing the secrecy in EU meetings could prevent markets from moving on rumour and speculations, Juncker said that could not be done because ministers and EU leaders need time to reach decisions.
"Actions on the financial markets are taking place in real time. We don't always agree at each and every debate on monetary policy, but meanwhile markets are reacting."
Juncker also used the occasion to give his endorsement to changes the European Parliament has made to EU economic governance legislation, amendments that tighten the European Commission's role as fiscal-policy policeman, watching over member-state economic decisions.
He said the European Parliament's amendments are "pointing in the right direction" and he was hopeful that an agreement between member states and the EU legislature could be reached before June, so that EU leaders could adopt the final version at a summit mid-June.
However, the Eurogroup chief could not hide his scepticism as to the effectiveness of all such measures, particularly the so-called Euro-plus-pact aimed at boosting competitiveness and adopted by EU leaders in March.
"I was never a strong believer of this Euro-plus-pact. I can't criticise it too much, since I also approved it, but if I was alone, I would not have adopted it. There is nothing new in it. All ideas had already been on the table of the Council [of ministers], but there was never much political will to implement them."
Surveillance policies, so that countries do not run huge budget deficits and fall into a vortex of debt and low credit ratings, had also been in place, but were ignored by "the very sinners who are now preaching about the need to enhance surveillance" - France and Germany.
Ireland's and Spain's real-estate problems, Greece's lack of budgetary discipline "were all mentioned in the Eurogroup, but ministers rejected the idea of interfering in domestic affairs," he said.
"Every one is now discovering the virtues of co-ordinating economic policies, even though these are rather old and unsuccessful stories," Juncker said, listing a whole series of such attempts: the macro-economic guidelines of the 90s, the stability and growth pact watered down by France and Germany, the Cardiff process, the Luxembourg process, the Lisbon Agenda.
"Don't be impressed when a new process is invented. It was not the absence of instruments, but the lack of political will to implement them [that led to the current crisis.]"
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS (20 April) - Eurogroup chief and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker telling how he "had to lie" in his career in order not to feed market speculations. He was speaking at a conference on economic governance organised by the European Movement.
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Bank lobbying sting nabs three senior MEPs
21.03.2011 @ 09:31 CET
The European Parliament has opened an investigation into allegations that three senior MEPs - all former government ministers - have accepted bribes in return for tabling amendments in the chamber intended to water down legislation regulating the financial industry.
Late Sunday (20 March), the chamber's leadership launched an inquiry into the suggestions made in an eight-month Sunday Times sting operation by the paper's Insight investigative journalism team that three MEPs, former Austrian interior minister Ernst Strasser, Romanian former deputy prime minister Adrian Severin and former Slovenian foreign minister Zoran Thaler, had accepted bribes of up to €100,000 for tabling the motions.
Posing as banking lobbyists, the reporters had contacted some 60 euro-deputies attempting to seduce them with offers of cash in return for tabling amendments to financial regulation bills introduced in the wake of the economic crisis.
In the case of Severin, the MEP emailed the Sunday Times reporters, writing: "Just to let you know that the amendment desired by you has been tabled in due time," and submitted an invoice for €12,000.
Although Centre-right MEP Strasser initially claimed that he had known all along that the lobbyists were actually reporters, he resigned his position on Sunday after the head of the Austrian People's Party called for him to step down.
The other two deputies, members of the parliament's centre-left grouping, the Socialists and Democrats, have been called in for a dressing down by the leader of the S&D, Martin Schulz.
Calling the allegations as "extremely serious" Schulz said in a statement that if the allegations were confirmed, he said, he would take appropriate and necessary measures.
"I am appalled by the sums of money mentioned in the newspaper article," he said.
Severin, who has long battled EU monitoring of Romania for corruption, claiming that his country is no more corrupt than any other member state in the Union, for his part has denied the allegations, saying he did not do anything that is not common behaviour in the chamber.
"I didn't do anything that was, let's say, illegal or against any normal behaviour we have here," the paper reports him as saying in his defence.
Meanwhile, Thaler, who also claims to have known all along that he was being set up, attacked the newspaper for euroscepticism.
"From the very beginning of the immoral offer in December 2010, I knew that it was manipulation, an attempt to compromise and discredit a member of the European Parliament," he wrote in a statement on his personal website.
"[The] Sunday Times is otherwise well known for its open anti-EU editorial policy which it likes to emphasise," said Thaler.
Thaler is also the European Parliament's rapporteur (co-ordinator) on Macedonia's EU membership application, and has recently issued concerns about freedom of the press in Macedonia as a major concern as the country democratises.
He said that he did not take any money that was offered "and I had no intention of doing so in the future."
Transparency and development campaigners immediately called for an investigation into the links between financial lobbyists and lawmakers.
The revelations came as a fresh report from Spinwatch, a UK-based outfit that monitors the lobbying industry, highlighted Goldman Sachs lobbying activities in the wake of the crisis, including how the investment firm had won seats on many of the key advisory groups to European officials in charge of banking re-regulation.
Julian Oram, a campaigner with World Development Movement, a development charity that has worked recently on the role of the financial industry in the global south, said: "Financial lobbyists pose a threat to our economy and democracy. We need an urgent inquiry into the extent to which the financial industry is using shady unaccountable lobbyists to sabotage much needed banking reform regulation,"
The NGO demanded that all details of recent meetings between MEPs and European Commission officials and representatives of the financial services lobby be published.
yet more emphasis on the german models for eu commission .......Doubts over EU parliamentary reform as officials look to German model
18.04.2011 @ 18:49 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A series of question marks have been raised over the European Parliament's pledge to tighten internal rules following the cash-for-amendments scandal, as senior officials look to Germany's Bundestag as a potential template.
"We're obviously studying at a broad range of parliaments, but the German model in particular," a source said on Monday (18 April) on condition of anonymity, a day before a specially-convened working group on internal reform is set to meet for the first time.
Analysts say EU officials are increasingly taking their lead from Berlin (Photo: Herman)
Transparency International (TI) confirmed that key figures within the European Parliament were touting rules within Berlin's Bundestag as a future model, a move the NGO said would constitute a step backwards.
"There are a huge number of deficiencies with the German rules," TI policy officer Carl Dolan told this website.
"MPs in Germany can accept personal donations of up to €10,000 without disclosing them, and they have no rules regarding the disclosure of assets. They declare conflict of interest in parliamentary committees, but these are closed to the public, so its actually worse than the European Parliament," added Dolan.
The disquiet comes amid suggestions that some within the European Parliament are already digging in their heels against substantial reform, despite recent allegations from the Sunday Times newspaper that four MEPs were willing to make legislative amendments in return for a fee. All four have denied wrongdoing.
"We should not jump to conclusions that the current rules are deficient," said one parliamentary official.
European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek has personally pledged to clean up the legislature's tarnished image, outlining a list of seven reform areas and opting to chair a working group of ten MEPs, which will meet for the first time on Tuesday morning.
The initial gathering is likely to establish a work programme for the coming weeks, with one sub-group set to focus on how MEPs interact with EU lobbyists, and another to concentrate on devising a code of conduct for MEPs.
Conclusions should be ready by June, say people close to the discussions, enabling a vote by senior parliamentary officials and political group leaders in July, before the summer recess.
A mandatory register of lobbyists, tighter statements of financial interests and a code of conduct for MEPs are among the measures that Buzek has said he supports.
The Polish politician also told political group leaders last month that he wanted tougher sanctions for rule-breakers, as well as the compulsory publication of a 'legislative footprint' by MEPs who write reports, detailing which outside organisations were consulted during the drafting process.
Some MEPs and pressure groups have said the reforms must go further however, calling for a complete ban on all paid second jobs.
For its part, Transparency International is concerned that the working group may be used to quietly diffuse the current fuss by drawing the debate out over a long period.
"Buzek won't be able to push through his proposals without the support of the political groups," said Dolan.
"They definitely need to publish a list of reforms by the summer, and if they're serious, must hold a number of working group sessions in public."
