EU

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Financial Times, July 28, 2010: Banks have started early-stage planning to deal with the potential fallout on the derivatives and bond markets of a European country being forced to leave the euro. One person close to the process said that because of the sensitivity of the issue only a small number of members, about 12, predominantly banks but also investors, had been approached. Earlier this year, Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, suggested reform-unwilling countries could be expelled from the eurozone - an idea rejected by Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank - Banks plan for loss of eurozone member

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The Daily Telegraph, July 27, 2010: Baroness Ashton has drawn up a secret plan to take direct control of running Bosnia with new European Union powers to target Serb hardliners accused of challenging the state and blocking political reform. A confidential paper, tabled by Europe's foreign minister this week, has urged the creation of a powerful European envoy this autumn, based in Sarajevo, to push through a new constitutional order for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Key to the political reforms, demanded as a condition of EU entry for Bosnia, is a strengthening of a multi-ethnic federal state, mainly controlled by Muslims and Croats, at the expense of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb government. To overcome Serb blocking tactics, Lady Ashton is demanding that her new Bosnian envoy, part of her newly created diplomatic service, be given new powers by the Council of EU foreign ministers to impose travel bans and asset freezes on opponents - Baroness Ashton moves to take control of Bosnia

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BBC News, August 11, 2010: France and Germany have joined the UK in rejecting the idea of the EU levying taxes directly. However, officials in Austria and Belgium have taken a positive view of the EU budget commissioner's idea. Earlier, France's Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche called the EU tax idea "perfectly ill-timed". He said the EU ought to be planning cutbacks now. The EU Budget Commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, told the daily Financial Times Deutschland on Monday that he would present some options next month for direct EU taxes. He said the burden on national budgets could be eased if the European Commission were able to levy direct taxes. EU taxes on aviation, financial transactions and CO2 emission permits could be considered, he said. There were frosty reactions from the UK, France and Germany - all net contributors to the EU budget. Spiegelonline said there was rare unity among the main German parties in rejecting Mr Lewandowski's idea - except for the Greens - Direct EU taxes idea rejected by UK, France and Germany

Slovakia: No Funds for Greece Bailout

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The Daily Express, August 27, 2010: Public support for the European Union has collapsed to a nine-year low in all of its 27 countries. The European Commission says fewer than half of voters across Europe are in favour of the union. The “Eurobarometer” survey – conducted in May – found only 49 per cent of voters backed the EU, four per cent fewer than last year. Trust was lowest in Britain where only 20 per cent of voters have faith in EU institutions. Following the debt crisis, the survey found widespread fears that EU economies will worsen. Pollster TNS asked 1,000 adults in each EU country and found support near that of 2001 when the internet bubble burst - EU support at a nine-year-low

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Financial Times, September 5, 2010: The eurozone debt crisis is about to enter a critical phase as governments prepare to step up borrowing in the capital markets to fund their faltering economies. Some strategists are warning that some of the weaker economies could fail to raise the amount of money they need as eurozone governments attempt to issue double the amount of debt this month compared with August - Fears rise as EU nations aim to raise borrowing

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The Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2010: Europe's recent "stress tests" of the strength of major banks understated some lenders' holdings of potentially risky government debt, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. An examination of the banks' disclosures indicates that some banks didn't provide as comprehensive a picture of their government-debt holdings as regulators claimed. Some banks excluded certain bonds, and many reduced the sums to account for "short" positions they held—facts that neither regulators nor most banks disclosed when the test results were published in late July. The findings undermine a primary goal of the stress tests—namely, to reassure investors and bankers world-wide the soundness of Europe's financial system - Europe's Bank Stress Tests Minimized Debt Risk

Troubles mount for EU bid to re-draw economic government