Brussels briefing
Ireland’s so-called clean exit from the bailout programme has so far not done the country any harm on the markets.
And it has not done the Taoiseach any harm either. In fact, many believe that it has enhanced his chances of getting the job of next Commission president if he wanted it.
One of the people who could have been a rival for the job, Latvian prime minister, 41-year-old Valdis Dombrovskis may well not be around the table when the all-important decision is made next year.
His government resigned over the tragic supermarket building collapse that killed 55 people.
While the European People’s Party may not publicly nominate their candidate at their gathering in Dublin in March, the choice of capital city to hold it in could be a significant indication of their preference.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, releases lots of very interesting information but all too often the Irish stats are missing.
Usually in its place is a small “c”, meaning “confidential”. But just why it is confidential is difficult to know. Two recent releases had little information about Ireland.
The percentage of micro industries, the percentage they employ and the sum of their turnover was all given. But for the SMEs and the large industries, they were missing. What is the secret?
Europe Minister Paschal Donohoe has been billed as one of Europe’s leading reformers due to speak at a conference dedicated to EU reform in London next month.
Organised by the slightly EU sceptical think-tank Open Europe and Fresh Start Project, it will focus on the single market and doing business.
Mr Donohoe will share the platform with Britain’s Europe minister David Lidington and Finland’s Alexander Stubb whose portfolio is divided interestingly between external trade and Europe.
The three will address the issue, “Where does democratic authority lie in the EU?”.
The Holy See has not quite got a clean bill of health from the Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism experts on the Council of Europe.
But the agency, Moneyval, was impressed with the wide range of laws and other measures taken in the 12 months since they identified a lot of dodgy dealings and mafia accounts in the Vatican Bank.
Money laundering and financing of terrorism will be more than just a sin in future as new laws make them a crime.
It’s unusual to find the 2009 European Charter of Fundamental Rights being used against EU directives, but a legal opinion from the European Courts says the data retention law contravenes the charter.
The opinion, which is usually adopted by the Parliament in respect of the eventual ruling, came about as a result of the Digital Rights Ireland and a group of Austrian Citizens challenging the directive, saying that it constituted a serious interference with citizens’ privacy rights.
The directive obliges the providers of telephone or electronic communications services to collect and retain traffic and location data.
Dublin Labour MEP Emer Costello says that the European Parliament has been called upon to revise the law — and now the court has backed the petitioners’ call.
Cyber terrorists have turned their attention to mobile devices and are having an easy time getting into them, according to ENISA, the EU’s cyber security agency.
But by taking simple security measures found on the internet, the number of incidents could be halved, the agency says.
Generally, however, nation states appear to have made most progress in the area as the agency says many of them can now infiltrate both government and private targets.
While police arrested the gang responsible for the Police Virus, the operator of exploit kit Blackhole and drugs distributor Silk Road, there are no reports of the agency moving against governments.
For a number of years the EU was putting a lot of emphasis on security and defence issues, including streamlining armaments production so that at least all European products would work together.
With battle groups mothballed and little appetite by governments to become embroiled in wars or even peacekeeping anywhere, this week’s EU summit has the issue on the agenda.
But leaders seem to be addicted to economics at the moment, so full marks to the head of the European People’s Party group, Joseph Daul, for finding a way to combine the two.
Slovenia, for now, appears to have evaded the need for a bailout from the EU, with the latest report on its troubled banks and the country saying it can manage the fallout.
But all bets are off when it comes to Croatia, the EU’s most recent member.
Having made valiant efforts to qualify for membership, the state of its finances is extremely poor, and many believe it will be next in line for a stiff economic programme.
It is not the poorest member of the 28. Latest figures for GDP expressed as purchasing power standards puts Croatia with Poland, Hungary and Latvia at 30%-40% below EU average. Romania and Bulgaria come last at 50% below. Ireland is still in the top three at 20% above.
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