EU-DIGEST

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the euro currency has significantly helped Europe assert itself despite turbulence in the financial markets worldwide. In her written statement marking the 10th anniversary of the European Central Bank (ECB), Merkel said: 'The euro, which is the second most important currency in the world, has significantly contributed to Europe's ability to successfully assert itself in the global world and despite turbulence in the financial markets.'

Labels: ECB, EU, Germany, Merkel

Merkel tops EU-wide poll

A poll by Harris Interactive found most European citizens consider German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be the most influential leader in Europe

Asked about concrete leaders, Europeans strongly favour Angela Merkel, who leads the chart in European countries. She is considered to be the most influential leader in Europe by 38% of the French, 29% of the Germans, 30% of the Spanish, 27% of the Italians and 18% of the British. Nicolas Sarkozy scores 18% in his own country, 10% in Germany, 16% in Spain, 13% in Italy and 9% in Great Britain. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a modest rating of 1% in France, 3% in Germany, 7% in Spain and 11% in Italy.

A big difference is obvious regarding the perceptions of the Americans, who consider Brown the most influential leader in Europe with 23%, compared with 8% for Merkel and 9% for Sarkozy.

Note EU-Digest: the poll clearly shows how ignorant of the American population is in general when it comes to any knowledge of world wide politics.

Labels: EU, Merkel, Political

Germany pours cold water on Sarkozy union - by Ian Traynor

President Nicolas Sarkozy was last night forced to back away from an ambitious scheme to launch a French-led "Mediterranean Union" linking the EU's southern states in a political club with the Maghreb, Turkey and Middle Eastern countries including Israel. Sarkozy had planned to launch the bold new union when France took over the presidency of the EU in July, but climbed down after fierce opposition from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. At an EU summit in Brussels last night, Sarkozy and Merkel jointly proposed a much looser grouping, to be initiated at a summit of EU and Mediterranean countries in Paris in July. Worried that the Sarkozy scheme would split the EU while leaving the wealthier countries of Germany and Scandinavia footing the bill for an exercise in French aggrandisement, Merkel was said to have threatened to boycott the Paris summit unless Sarkozy scaled back his plans.

Labels: EU, Europe, Mediterranean region, Merkel, Sarkozy

Sarkozy, Merkel Find Compromise Over Mediterranean Union Spat - by Bryan Parkin and Francois De Beaupuy

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel said they resolved a policy spat over a plan to set up a Mediterranean Union that strained a traditional show of Franco-German unity ahead of a European Union summit. Sarkozy and Merkel said after talks late yesterday in Hannover, Germany, that a French initiative to improve cooperation between the north and south Mediterranean seaboards would not be an exclusive club but open to all 27 states of the EU. Merkel has criticized Sarkozy's initiative, indicating that exclusivity may hurt Franco-German ties in the 27-state trade bloc.

``We've made efforts to reach out toward each other - that's the rule of the game on European matters,'' Sarkozy told reporters after the 90-minute talks with the German leader. ``In coming days, you will see that we found a compromise on the Mediterranean Union that excludes nobody.''

Labels: EU, France, Germany, Merkel, Sarkozy

Merkel and Sarkozy to dine on brief encounter

Amid friction in the Franco-German relationship, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to dine Monday with President Nicolas Sarkozy during a brief encounter at the CeBIT computing trade fair. Sarkozy will be in Hanover, Germany to highlight the software prowess of France, which has been appointed this year's "partner nation" of CeBIT, an annual, 75-nation expo that begins Tuesday. The president has regularly flown the flag for French exports, so there was no question of missing the Monday evening ceremonies to launch the fair, which focusses on the computing needs of government and big corporations.

Sarkozy's plan to set up a Mediterranean Union, an organization for southern European Union states to consult with non-EU neighbours, has annoyed Berlin, which objects to a forum where it will be on the outer. Merkel says she supports closer relations in the region but opposes setting up a new organization to manage them.Berlin's warnings against "parallel structures" have been rejected by Sarkozy aides, who say there has been a Council of the Baltic Sea States since 1992 on the EU's northern flank. But the Germans say this is not a valid argument, since most of the nations on that sea are now EU members.

Labels: EU, France, Germany, Mediterranean region, Merkel, Sarkozy

Merkel rebuffs Sarkozy on Mediterranean Union plan-by John Thornhill and Bertrand Benoit

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, pointedly told France's ruling UMP party yesterday that the future stability of the Mediterranean region affected the whole European Union and that all 27 member states should be involved in the engagement process. Mrs Merkel's comments, at a joint appearance in Paris with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, appeared to be a polite rebuff of his proposals to launch a Mediterranean Union, linking those EU member states that border the sea with their north African neighbours. However, Mrs Merkel said that her CDU party was united with Mr Sarkozy's UMP party - both on the political centre-right - in the view that the EU should offer Turkey a privileged partnership rather than full membership as envisaged by current accession talks.

Labels: EU, Mediterranean region, Merkel, Sarkozy

Italy's Prodi sees strong euro impact on energy imports curbing trade deficit

Italy's prime minister Romano Prodi sees the strong euro cutting the cost of imported energy fuels, bringing down the country's trade deficit with the rest of the world, said a source close to Prodi. Speaking after yesterday's summit between Prodi and German chancellor Angela Merkel, the source said both countries with their strong industrial sectors are seeing a similar trend in the trade balances with the rest of the world.

Note EU-Digest: It is shameful how some corporations in Europe including petro-chemical corporations are profiting from the strong euro and not passing these benefits on to the consumer. Consumers in the EU are not seeing the price of gasoline (which is tied to the dollar) drop, or for that matter just about any product which is bought outside the EU and quoted in US dollars. For example Nike shoes (made in the Far East) selling in America for around US $ 65.00 (43 euro's) are still being listed in Europe for over 100 euro's. Instead of whining about the strong euro European politicians should go after corporations who are price gouching and getting away with making huge profits.

Labels: EU, European Economy, Germany, Italy, Merkel, Prodi

Merkel consolidates power as Bavarian rival steps aside

A longtime rival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel exited the political stage at the weekend, leaving her more powerful than ever but faced with mounting tensions in her ruling coalition. Edmund Stoiber stood down as Bavarian state premier and head of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the regional sister party of Merkel's conservatives and a member of her government, after 14 years at the helm.

Stoiber, 66, who unsuccessfully ran for election as federal chancellor in 2002 after beating Merkel for the conservatives' nomination, will now work in Brussels as head of a group charged with cutting European Union red tape.

Labels: EU, Germany, Merkel, Politics

Sarkozy sees French, German growth unaffected in lasting way by market turmoil

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said he is convinced that the current turmoil on financial markets will not affect the growth of the French or German economies in a lasting way, Sarkozy's office said.

Labels: European Economy, Merkel, Sarkozy

Merkel: Europeans must defend core values of freedom, democracy against Islamic terrorists

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Europeans to take a joint stand against Islamic terrorists and defend what she called the European Union's core values of democracy and tolerance. Merkel, whose nation held the rotating EU presidency from January to June of this year, urged EU citizens to view the union not only as an economic bloc, but one of common values.

"We need the European Union as a community of shared values," Merkel said Sunday in an address at the Academy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.

Labels: EU, Evangelicals, Islam, Merkel

Merkel and Sarkozy, Europe's political dream team working hard at Summit

An EU-Digest special news update on the EU Summit

European Unity the big winner at EU Summit: Kudos to Merkel and Sarkozy for a job well done

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Mrs. Angela Merkel emerged the top negotiators of the EU summit and deserve lots of praise. When pressure needed to be applied on the Poland’s recalcitrant Kaczynski twins, it was Mr. Sarkozy who took charge, personally telephoning Warsaw and even offering to travel to the Polish parliament, the Diet, to explain the new treaty.

All the constitution’s main elements, in particular the permanent EU president and its foreign minister now renamed a “high representative” - have been resurrected. The new EU foreign policy Czar to be called High Representative for European Union Foreign and Security Policy, will chair meetings of EU foreign ministers as well as becoming a vice-president of the European commission. There will also be a universally elected President of the EU. The final deal is consistent with the history of the EU. Europe took another federalist step forward, with governments for the common good giving up some of their sovereignty. The driving force of the EU, the French-German axis, remains not only intact but also very effective, with Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy now at the helm. An impressive first time performance for Mr. Sarkozy at an EU Summit, and another demonstration of Mrs. Merkels's unique negotiating skills.

Labels: EU CONSTITUTION, EU SUMMIT, Merkel, Sarkozy

Merkel's Two Front Battle: Blair Taking a Tough Line on the EU Treaty

Two days before the crucial summit on the EU treaty to replace the stalled constitution, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is digging in his heels. Britain, he says, will not give up any sovereignity. But he may be making life difficult for his successor.While Europe focuses on Warsaw's intransigence over the new draft treaty to replace the failed European Union constitution, another source of dissent is coming from the other end of Europe. Britain continues to say that it is willing to block any treaty that smacks too much of a constitution and that transfers too much power to Brussels.

Labels: Blair, EU CONSTITUTION, Merkel

Labels: EU CONSTITUTION, Merkel

So is the world a better place after the G8 summit? The answer might surprise you - by Geoffrey Lean and Raymond Whitaker

When George Bush first met Angela Merkel, shortly after she became the Chancellor of Germany 18 months ago, he thought he had finally found a friend from "Old Europe". Believing - like British ministers at the time - that the right-wing former East German would be far less interested in the environment than the red-green government she had toppled - he patronizingly suggested that they could forget the Kyoto protocol.

"Mr President, you are mistaken," Mrs Merkel announced, drawing herself up to her full 5ft 8in. "I am one of those responsible for the protocol." And she told him how, as her country's environment minister, she had chaired the meeting that had made the crucial breakthrough on the road to Kyoto, and then led its negotiating team when the treaty was agreed.

Labels: Bush, G8, Merkel, Sarkozy, Tony Blair

Preview: G8 summit is key diplomatic challenge for savvy Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has built up a formidable reputation as a tough and savvy negotiator. Her diplomatic skills will be severely tested, however, at next week's meeting of the world's leading industrialized nations.The German leader has made clear she will still press G8 leaders to commit to cutting global greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 and limiting the worldwide temperature rise this century to two degrees Celsius. Other Europeans have taken a tougher line. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a recent interview that he wanted Washington to adopt a more ambitious position, including backing for binding emission targets.

Labels: EU, G8, Merkel, USA

The gambler who is betting on the constitution - by Wolfgang Münchau

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, took two large calculated gambles at the beginning of Germany’s presidency of the European Union. The first was an emphasis on climate change, the second an attempt to revive the EU constitution. Not everybody thought this was a smart choice at the time. The first gamble paid off handsomely for Ms Merkel in political terms, no matter what you may think about the details of last month’s climate deal. I would expect the second gamble to pay off as well.

Ms Merkel has some personal qualities that matter immensely in this difficult process. She is a good listener, and talks straight but does not hector. A physicist by training, she has good attention to detail. Having grown up under the communist East German regime, she is better than most other west European politicians at dealing with central and east European leaders.

Labels: EU CONSTITUTION, Leadership, Merkel, Unity

Europe declares on 50 - by Bruno Waterfield

The Daily Telegraph has obtained a draft copy of the “Berlin Declaration” to be agreed by Tony Blair and Europe’s other leaders on Saturday and unveiled on Sunday.Mrs Merkel will use a working lunch in Berlin on Sunday to hold Europe’s leaders to a timetable to resurrect elements of the old constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, such as a European foreign minister, EU president and new powers to tackle global problems such as climate change.

Speaking to this newspaper earlier this week, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso warned Britain against trying to ditch the old constitution. “That treaty was signed by all the member states of the EU, they put their signatures there, so I believe they have the obligation to work constructively find a solution as close as possible to the original,” he said.

Labels: EU 50, EU CONSTITUTION, European Unity, Merkel

Angela Merkel Takes Place as Europe's Unifier - by Frederick Kempe

Don't miss the most significant story in the noise around this weekend's 50th birthday bash for the European Union in Berlin. Party hostess German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as the West's most influential and promising leader in her second year in office, due to deeply held principles, good timing and no competition.

One can watch how she plays this unique hand this weekend as she tries to script a homily to the EU's past and future, followed by a visit to Washington for an EU-U.S. summit April 30, culminating with the G-8 leadership gathering at the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, on June 6-8.

The more important point is a broader one: She has won both European and U.S. confidence in her role as an honest broker who is less interested in her own ego than using Germany's influence to achieve the right outcomes. She established that role shortly after her election by hammering out a difficult EU budget deal between the U.K. and France.

Labels: EU 50, European Integration, Merkel