Chris Gilson takes a look at the week in Brussels blogging.

The EU centre and the crisis

One of the main stories this week is the IMF’s admission that it made mistakes in the way that it and its Troika partners of the EU and European Central Bank (ECB) carried out Greece’s first bailout in 2010. The European Commission strongly disagreed with these findings, according to Lost in EUrope. Some of it was true traces the IMF’s problems to its earlier bailout of Argentina in 2001.

Lost in EUrope looks at the European Commission’s recommendation to Belgium that it abolish the automatic indexation of wages to the cost of living. This policy sees Brussels (the Commission) against Brussels (the Belgian government). The European Citizen looks at UK Foreign Secretary William Hague’s suggestion last week that national parliaments could give draft EU bills a ‘red card’, which would reject legislation on the basis of subsidiarity. He says that so long as there are limited ways of expressing political differences across Europe, strengthening national parliaments in this way would be an incoherent approach.

This week saw the monthly meeting of the ECB. Prior to the meeting, Open Europe suggests that little is likely to change in the ECB’s policy, as there has not been a significant downturn.  After the meeting, Lost in EUrope reports that the ECB’s economic forecast shows that the EU’s economy is shrinking by 0.6%.

Over the weekend, Coulisses de Bruxelles says that Germany and France’s recent agreement for a European banking resolution authority is a very important one in the road to achieving a true banking union in Europe. The FT’s Brussels blog has more details, saying that European Commission’s proposals for authority do little to address Germany’s concerns. Later, they look at Commission proposals to move the regulatory control of the Libor banking rate to Paris, from the UK. This move is part of a larger campaign to restore faith in the largely unregulated business of compiling benchmarking rates.

After warnings from the ILO, Lost in EUrope wonders if social unrest due to the one sided nature of austerity is only a matter of time. Similarly, Eurocentric says that austerity policies may yet lead to a middle class crisis in Europe, as that group, and the poor, bear the brunt of these policies.

Ahead of Croatia’s accession to the EU on 1 July, Con acento Hispano, writing at Blogactiv.eu welcomes the new member state, saying that it shows that the EU should be open to further expansion, especially for the states of the former Yugoslavia.

Across Europe

The New Federalist looks at the history of the UK’s often tempestuous ‘marriage’ to the EU, characterising the current debate over EU membership as a mid-life crisis for the country. On a similar theme, Grahnlaw critiques UK Foreign Secretary William Hague’s ‘vague’ proposals to reject further empowering the European Parliament whilst the UK’s Balance of Competences exercise is still underway. Euromove at Blogactiv.eu looks at the UK’s refusal to grant EU citizens certain social security benefits if they do not pass a ‘right to reside’ condition. Meanwhile, Open Europe examines just how generous Europe’s social welfare systems are for other EU citizens.

Revolting Europe says that over €550 billion was handed out to shareholders in France between 1991 and 2011, and increased by a factor of seven over that time, showing the widening gap in inequality in the country.  Lost in EUrope says that, despite criticisms, the French economy is not actually doing as badly as many say it is. Meanwhile, French Politics looks at the fortunes of radical left Parti de Gauche leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying that his poll ratings have fallen from 47 to 35% despite the difficulties of the rival Parti Socialiste, which many would expect to work in his favour.

Jon Worth has an interesting profile, framing Italian politician, Beppe Grillo. Lost in EUrope looks at another Italian politician, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has said that the Italian government should say “I’ll do it this way”, and reject diktats from Brussels. They say that new Prime Minister Enrico Letta cannot ignore these calls for a greater anti-austerity stance against Brussels, as Berlusconi’s party holds a number of key posts in the government.

The European Student Think Tank takes a strong line against the possibility of shale gas fracking in Romania, saying that the country has no way of evaluating the environmental impacts of using the technology.

EU Foreign policy and the European neighbourhood

The weekend sees an escalation of the protests against Turkey’s increasingly autocratic Prime Minister Erdogan and his government. On Saturday, Erkan’s Field Diary has a photo round-up of images from the protests, solidarity marches, and events in other parts of the world. Charlemagne has some useful background on the protests, saying that they are not just about trees, nor do they constitute a revolution. Rather, they are the manifestation of long standing resentment towards the ruling AK party.

Lost in EUrope says that the EU’s reaction to the protests will be telling given their recent attempts to court the Turkish government and Prime Minister Erdogan into closer ties with the EU. It’s not that simple says that, given the country’s very fast growing economy, commentators should not rush to compare events in Turkey with Egypt and the Arab Spring. Turkey 2018, writing at Blogactiv.eu offers a counter view of the protests saying that they have been exaggerated and have been used as a way for the leader of the opposition CHP party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, to critique the government.

New Eastern Europe looks at the demographic problems facing some Eastern European countries, and especially Russia. They argue that they must build on existing measures and look at pro-family policies in countries such as France.

The EU-China trade row over solar panels continues this week, with China now stating that it will investigate the French wine industry for alleged illegal EU subsidies, according to Open Europe. Germany has been the most vocal in its protests to Brussels over the EU’s punitive tariffs against China, but Lost in EUrope has a look at some of the ways that Germany protects its own industries against foreign competition.

Ideas

European Union 2.0 looks at how lessons from examples of participatory budgeting in the US could be used in Europe, especially given the European Commission’s Community Led Local Development programme.

Spotlight on Geopolitics at Blogactiv.eu looks at the disenchantment with elites felt by many EU citizens, especially in the face of large-scale tax avoidance by companies such as Google and Apple. Meanwhile, Nada es Gratis wonders, why are we so worried by inflation?

Graph of the week

The OFCE blog looks at how the transmission of the ECB’s monetary policy has been impacted by the crisis:

And finally… 

What has President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy been up to this week? This week he attended the EU-Russia summit, met with the speaker of Azerbaijan’s national assembly, Ogtay Asadov, and the Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy.

New Eastern Europe has an interview with Garry Kasparov, former chess champion on Russian politics.

Real Time Brussels looks at Belgium’s royal reforms, including the possibility that King Albert II and the royal family may have to pay tax.

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Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics. 

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