European Union

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Draghi, left, and Schäuble, bottom right, at the IMF spring meetings in Washington last week

The European Central Bank holds its monthly monetary policy meeting tomorrow amid one of the most overheated political environments for Mario Draghi and his fellow governors since the height of the eurozone crisis. And despite the German government’s long-stated insistence that central banks should jealously guard their independence and not be pressured by elected officials into making decisions that are politically expedient, the most pointed criticism is coming from Berlin.

The most surprising broadside came nearly two weeks ago from Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, who publicly claimed to have told Mr Draghi that his loose money policy was to blame for about 50 per cent of the votes received by the ascendant anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party in last month’s regional elections. Mr Schäuble also called on the US, UK and the eurozone to band together in pressuring their central banks to “carefully but slowly exit” their economic stimulus policies. Hardly the model of respecting central bank independence.

Mr Schäuble’s remarks appear to have opened the floodgates. Hans-Peter Friedrich, a former interior minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and a member of the Bavarian sister party of her governing Christian Democrats, told the mass-market Bild tabloid at the weekend that Mr Draghi’s replacement “must be German” and respect the Bundesbank’s tradition of “monetary stability”. Axel Weber, the former Bundesbank chief who nearly beat Mr Draghi out for the top ECB job in 2011 before resigning, told the Wall Street Journal this week that more monetary easing would be counterproductive.

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EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence meet on 19 April 2016 to examine the EU's regional strategy against Daesh, in particular regarding Syria and Iraq. They are also to discuss how to counter hybrid threats in order to foster the EU and its partner countries resilience. The EU's capacity building in support of security and development is also to be discussed.

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Meeting room in the Dutch maritime museum where finance ministers will gather on Friday

Coming to terms with painful truths can take a long time, and the EU’s struggle to acknowledge an original sin built into its banking regulations is a case in point.

It’s a problem that dates back decades, and that finance ministers are going to tentatively grapple with at an informal meeting in Amsterdam this week. It centres on the regulatory treatment of sovereign debt, and we’ve got our hands on the options paper prepared for ministers by the Dutch presidency and posted it here.

While the subject may sound arcane, it’s extremely politically charged. The latest ructions over how to treat bank holdings in government debt are fanning the already hot flames of discord between Rome and Berlin, with Brussels as ever squeezed uncomfortably in the middle.

So what’s the problem? The EU has highly detailed legislation covering different aspects of banks’ activities, in order to ensure that institutions have enough financial reserves to cope with the risks that they are taking with their investments.

The rules cover everything from mortgage lending to complex trading in derivatives, but they have one glaring loophole, namely that many of the normal requirements, such as capital rules and exposure limits, don’t apply to banks’ purchases of European governments’ own debt.

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On 21 April 2016, the Council adopted the final text of a directive strengthening rights of children in criminal proceedings.  The directive provides a number of procedural safeguards for children (i.e. individuals below 18) who are suspected or accused of having committed a criminal offence. The directive includes additional safeguards compared to those that already apply to suspected and accused adults.

A core provision of the directive relates to assistance from a lawyer. Member states should make sure that suspected or accused children are assisted by a lawyer, where necessary by providing legal aid, unless assistance by a lawyer is not  proportionate in the light of the circumstances of the case.  Other important provisions of the directive concern the provision of information on rights, the right to have an individual assessment, to a medical examination, and to audio-visual recording of questioning. It also provides special safeguards for children during deprivation of liberty, in particular during detention.

This final adoption of the directive follows a political agreement  between the two legislators in December 2015 and the subsequent approval by the European Parliament on 9 March 2016. Once published in the EU Official Journal, member states will have three years to transpose the provisions into their national laws. Denmark, the UK and Ireland have opted out of this directive and will not be bound by it.

Background

Since 2009, the work in the European Union on strengthening procedural rights for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings has been carried out on the basis of the roadmap, which was adopted by the Council on 30 November 2009. The roadmap sets out a gradual approach towards establishing a full catalogue of procedural rights for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings.

Four directives have already been adopted on the basis of the roadmap: Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation, Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information, Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer, and Directive 2016/343/EU on the presumption of innocence and the right to be present at the trial.

On 21 April 2016, the Council approved the conclusion of an agreement with San Marino aimed at improving tax compliance by private savers.

The agreement will contribute to efforts to clamp down on tax evasion, by requiring the EU member states and San Marino to exchange information automatically.

This will allow their tax administrations improved cross-border access to information on the financial accounts of each other's residents.

The agreement upgrades a 2004 agreement that ensured that San Marino applied measures equivalent to those in an EU directive on the taxation of savings income. The aim is to extend the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts in order to prevent taxpayers from hiding capital representing income or assets for which tax has not been paid.

The new agreement was signed on 8 December 2015, when similar agreements were concluded with Liechtenstein and Switzerland. It was concluded (on 21 April) at a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, without discussion.

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Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 19 April 2016 the Netherlands presidency reached an informal agreement with the European Parliament regarding the opening of the domestic rail passenger markets in the member states and the strengthening of the independence of rail infrastructure managers to ensure effective and non-discriminatory access to infrastructure. The agreement is provisional and subject to approval by the Council.

The negotiators reached agreement on all three proposals of the 'market' pillar of the 4th railway package: a revised regulation governing public service contracts, a revised directive on establishing a single European railway area and a regulation repealing the regulation on the normalisation of accounts of railway undertakings. 

The new rules aim to improve the quality and efficiency of rail services in Europe. They should encourage investment and innovation as well as fair competition in the rail market. Together with the technical pillar of the 4th railway package, they are an important step towards the completion of the single European rail area. 

The Dutch State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Sharon Dijksma, said: "Thanks to the cooperation and the flexibility of all parties involved, we have reached an ambitious provisional agreement. When this agreement is endorsed by the member states, it will improve the quality and efficiency of railway services in Europe". 

The presidency will submit the outcome of the negotiations for approval by member states at a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee on 27 April.