.Brussels takes control of taxation and spending in eurozone countries
The European Union is to gain dramatic powers to control tax and spending in crisis-hit eurozone countries under a deal to save the currency.
The EU will have to agree the national budgets of heavily indebted countries under a deal to be signed tomorrow at a summit in Brussels attended by David Cameron.
The move will mean Greece losing control over its own budget, after Germany and the International Monetary Fund laid down increasingly harsh conditions for the indebted nation to receive its second £100 billion eurozone bail-out.
With the country on the brink of default, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, yesterday revealed that a “fiscal compact” was set to be signed by European Union leaders at their summit tomorrow.
The move to closer integration between the eurozone economies comes just days before Tory Euro-sceptics launch a campaign to repatriate powers over policing and justice already handed to the European Union.
Conservative MPs will put pressure on the Prime Minister to harness a “block opt-out” that will allow Britain simultaneously to withdraw from European Arrest Warrants, compulsory sharing of data with other police forces, and more than 100 other laws handed to Brussels.
They will be angered by the EU’s new powers over eurozone countries, which will see institutions paid for by all of Europe’s taxpayers concentrating more of their staff and resources on members within the zone.
Euro-sceptics also strongly oppose harmonisation of taxes. But global leaders see closer integration of the eurozone economies as the only answer to the ongoing debt crisis.
Mrs Lagarde, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said: “In addition to having a monetary zone, the eurozone needs to develop this fiscal consolidation compact that is currently under work and that we hope will be validated on Monday at the leaders summit.”
Last night, George Osborne, the Chancellor, said Britain may give more money to the IMF – a move opposed by Euro-sceptics – and that he would have to think very hard about turning down a request from the fund if other countries believed there was “a credible case” for ploughing more money in.
“We are not in the euro, we don’t want to be in the euro, but do we want to be in the IMF? The answer to that question in my mind is yes,” he said.
A leaked EU document revealed German plans for Greece to agree all its spending plans with a eurozone “budget commissioner”, who would have the power to veto tax and spending plans.
The scheme caused anger in Athens yesterday. Anna Diamantopoulou, the education minister and a former EU commissioner, described the idea as “the product of a sick imagination”.
Tomorrow’s meeting will also see European leaders discuss ways to help their economies grow amid fears that the Continent may slide back into recession this year.
While Germany is calling for budget cuts and greater fiscal discipline, the IMF and others warn that such austerity could “strangle” growth.
Tim Geithner, the US treasury secretary, has also warned of the risk that austerity leads to a recessionary “cycle”.
As Europe’s leaders plan to bind Europe’s economies closer together, Tory Euro-sceptics are to put pressure on their leader to harness a unique “block opt-out” that will allow the UK to withdraw simultaneously from a raft of EU laws.
The mechanism would let Britain free itself from initiatives such as the European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) and greater sharing of DNA data of British nationals with foreign police forces.
It would also thwart plans to give the European Court of Justice greater jurisdiction over British courts and head off plans to create an independent EU prosecutor that could launch investigations into British companies and citizens.
Britain has until June 2014 to decide whether to use the block opt-out, but Tory Euro-sceptics are calling for Britain to do so as quickly as possible because delaying the decision reduces the number of laws that can be repatriated.
EAWs allow UK nationals to be deported to other member states. There has been a sharp rise in such requests in recent years, with some issued by EU states for minor offences, such as the theft of two car tyres and a stolen piglet. The Sunday Telegraph has campaigned for these warrants to be reformed.
The block opt-out, made possible under the Lisbon Treaty of 2007, would no longer make it mandatory for Britain to share its DNA database. Critics say that equivalent databases in Europe are less secure.
Open Europe, a think-tank, says at least 100 MPs could join the campaign to exercise the block opt-out. The group will argue in a report tomorrow that if Britain decides to do so it can still “cherry pick” the police and justice laws it wants to sign up on a case-by-case basis.
Open Europe’s report will be discussed by an all-party group of MPs this week.
If the Prime Minister does agree to an opt-out on justice laws, he risks a damaging row with the Liberal Democrats, who favour closer integration with Europe on crime and justice matters.
A spokesman for the Home Office declined to comment on whether the Government would seek to use the block opt-out. A Downing Street spokesman also declined to comment.
Telegraph
The EU will have to agree the national budgets of heavily indebted countries under a deal to be signed tomorrow at a summit in Brussels attended by David Cameron.
The move will mean Greece losing control over its own budget, after Germany and the International Monetary Fund laid down increasingly harsh conditions for the indebted nation to receive its second £100 billion eurozone bail-out.
With the country on the brink of default, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, yesterday revealed that a “fiscal compact” was set to be signed by European Union leaders at their summit tomorrow.
The move to closer integration between the eurozone economies comes just days before Tory Euro-sceptics launch a campaign to repatriate powers over policing and justice already handed to the European Union.
Conservative MPs will put pressure on the Prime Minister to harness a “block opt-out” that will allow Britain simultaneously to withdraw from European Arrest Warrants, compulsory sharing of data with other police forces, and more than 100 other laws handed to Brussels.
They will be angered by the EU’s new powers over eurozone countries, which will see institutions paid for by all of Europe’s taxpayers concentrating more of their staff and resources on members within the zone.
Euro-sceptics also strongly oppose harmonisation of taxes. But global leaders see closer integration of the eurozone economies as the only answer to the ongoing debt crisis.
Mrs Lagarde, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said: “In addition to having a monetary zone, the eurozone needs to develop this fiscal consolidation compact that is currently under work and that we hope will be validated on Monday at the leaders summit.”
Last night, George Osborne, the Chancellor, said Britain may give more money to the IMF – a move opposed by Euro-sceptics – and that he would have to think very hard about turning down a request from the fund if other countries believed there was “a credible case” for ploughing more money in.
“We are not in the euro, we don’t want to be in the euro, but do we want to be in the IMF? The answer to that question in my mind is yes,” he said.
A leaked EU document revealed German plans for Greece to agree all its spending plans with a eurozone “budget commissioner”, who would have the power to veto tax and spending plans.
The scheme caused anger in Athens yesterday. Anna Diamantopoulou, the education minister and a former EU commissioner, described the idea as “the product of a sick imagination”.
Tomorrow’s meeting will also see European leaders discuss ways to help their economies grow amid fears that the Continent may slide back into recession this year.
While Germany is calling for budget cuts and greater fiscal discipline, the IMF and others warn that such austerity could “strangle” growth.
Tim Geithner, the US treasury secretary, has also warned of the risk that austerity leads to a recessionary “cycle”.
As Europe’s leaders plan to bind Europe’s economies closer together, Tory Euro-sceptics are to put pressure on their leader to harness a unique “block opt-out” that will allow the UK to withdraw simultaneously from a raft of EU laws.
The mechanism would let Britain free itself from initiatives such as the European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) and greater sharing of DNA data of British nationals with foreign police forces.
It would also thwart plans to give the European Court of Justice greater jurisdiction over British courts and head off plans to create an independent EU prosecutor that could launch investigations into British companies and citizens.
Britain has until June 2014 to decide whether to use the block opt-out, but Tory Euro-sceptics are calling for Britain to do so as quickly as possible because delaying the decision reduces the number of laws that can be repatriated.
EAWs allow UK nationals to be deported to other member states. There has been a sharp rise in such requests in recent years, with some issued by EU states for minor offences, such as the theft of two car tyres and a stolen piglet. The Sunday Telegraph has campaigned for these warrants to be reformed.
The block opt-out, made possible under the Lisbon Treaty of 2007, would no longer make it mandatory for Britain to share its DNA database. Critics say that equivalent databases in Europe are less secure.
Open Europe, a think-tank, says at least 100 MPs could join the campaign to exercise the block opt-out. The group will argue in a report tomorrow that if Britain decides to do so it can still “cherry pick” the police and justice laws it wants to sign up on a case-by-case basis.
Open Europe’s report will be discussed by an all-party group of MPs this week.
If the Prime Minister does agree to an opt-out on justice laws, he risks a damaging row with the Liberal Democrats, who favour closer integration with Europe on crime and justice matters.
A spokesman for the Home Office declined to comment on whether the Government would seek to use the block opt-out. A Downing Street spokesman also declined to comment.
Telegraph
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