The state of the European Union: EU-27 Watch No 9 published

Actually, EU-27 Watch offers more than it promises. Despite its name, the Internet platform compiles materials on European policy debates in 31 countries, as reported by researchers from national research institutes (think tanks): 27 EU member states as well as the four candidate countries for accession, Croatia, Turkey, Macedonia and Iceland.



The EU-27 Watch No 9 now published is an important overview of the European Union as seen from national capitals through expert eyes.



Under the Current Issue, the Introduction by Katrin Böttger and Julian Plottka provides an excellent summary of European Union events and opinions during the latest six months: The EU in 2010 – between excitement over the Lisbon Treaty and anxieties about the financial and economic crisis.



Alternatively, you can access the pdf version of the EU-27 Watch No 9 Introduction (and the Questionnaire) as a pdf file. The main policy areas covered are:


• Implementation of the Lisbon Treaty;
• Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy;
• European economic policy and the financial and economic crisis;
• Climate and energy policy; and
• Other current issues and discourses in the reporting countries.



Economic policy

Note that EU economic policies and the financial and economic crises are discussed extensively, not only in the dedicated chapter, but in the own-initiative chapter on domestic debates as well (Other current issues). The economy is the central issue right now, even if the remedies to apply are far from clear at this stage.



Countries and policy areas



There are now two ways to approach the new EU-27 report. You can read the country sections on the various policy debates, or you can peruse the policies you are interested in sorted into country contributions.

One thing I missed from the old EU-27 reports was the convenient possibility to access or download the whole publication as one file, at one go.




Ralf Grahn



P.S. It is easier to understand a language than to use it correctly, and as Eurobloggers we should promote interaction among Europeans. Grahnlaw has adopted a multilingual comment policy:

I do my best to read comments in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish or Swedish, even if the Grahnlaw blog and my possible replies are in English.

European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) revision

In Revision of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) (6 May 2009; MEMO/09/221) the Commission has published an overview of the provisions of the EGF’s Founding Regulation 1927/2006 to be amended.



In short, the rules of the EGF have are being adapted to take account of the financial and economic crisis, besides its original aim to aid measures against redundancies caused by structural change.

More information is available on the EGF web pages of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.



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European Parliament vote

The reason to publish the Memo seems to have been the approval by the European Parliament 6 May 2009 of the Commission’s proposal, the near unanimous vote being 538 for, 35 against and 37 abstentions.


At this stage the provisional EP resolution can be found among the adopted texts of 6May 2009 (Part 2; page 19).



Here are the exact references to the adopted text:


P6_TA-PROV(2009)0365
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund ***I
European Parliament legislative resolution of 6 May 2009 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 on establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (COM(2008)0867 – C6-0518/2008 – 2008/0267(COD))

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It is natural that with growing unemployment and the European elections looming, the institutions of the European Union wish to be seen as doing something to counter the ill effects of the financial and economic crisis.


Ralf Grahn

Economic crisis: EU state aid overview

The financial sector catastrophy and economic recession have led to enormous pressures on Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes and her services.

The Commission has done its best to guide national administrations and EU businesses on the available options and the (changing) limits set to rescue measures, while working on the concrete packages proposed by the member states.

The latest compilation is the press release State aid: Overview of national measures adopted as a response to the financial and economic crisis (22 April 2009, MEMO/09/174), which summarises the guidance (Communications) from the Commission and the decisions adopted with regard to the financial sector and the real economy, as of 22 April 2009.




Ralf Grahn

Open Europe and Ulrich Beck

Once in a while Open Europe’s daily press summary contains a gem among the constant Jeremiads.



One example was Ulrich Beck's article in the Guardian This economic crisis cries out to be transformed into the founding of a new Europe (13 April 2009).



Recommended reading for all and sundry.

More Europe and why.


Ralf Grahn

Economic crisis: EU State Aid Scoreboard

Theoretically the member states of the European Union have pledged the mind-boggling amount of 3,000 billion euros to counter the financial crisis and the economic recession, although the measures are highly unevenly spread across the member states.

In an unprecedented situation, the Commission has tried to uphold some respect for fair competition in the internal market against protectionistic urges, while allowing justified rescue measures.

In due time economic historians may come up with pondered views on how it should have been done, but for now the approved measures are on record for member states, financial institutions, firms and the public to digest.

The Report from the Commission: State Aid Scoreboard – Spring 2009 Update – Special edition on state aid interventions in the current financial and economic crisis, Brussels, 08.04.2009 COM(2009) 164 (30 pages), offers an overview of state aid measures1 undertaken by EU Member States in the context of the current financial and economic crisis and reviewed by the Commission until 31 March 2009 as well as an overview of the Commission's coordinating action in setting out general principles governing these aid measures.





The Table of contents offers a glimpse of the State Aid Scoreboard:

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 3

1. Early cases: Application of the standard rules on rescue and restructuring aid........... 5

2. Worsening of the crisis: Difficulties in the application of the standard rules on rescue and restructuring aid..................................................................................................... 8

3. The need to coordinate support to financial institutions: The Commission's Communications .......................................................................................................... 9

4. Measures adopted by Member States in support of financial institutions: schemes and ad hoc cases................................................................................................................ 14

4.1. Guarantee schemes covering the liabilities of financial institutions.......................... 16

4.2. Recapitalisation schemes ...........................................................................................18

4.3. Recent ad hoc cases (outside schemes)...................................................................... 20

5. Real economy and financial crisis: The 'Temporary Framework'.............................. 21

6. Procedures.................................................................................................................. 27

7. Conclusions................................................................................................................ 28

Annex 1: Where to find information on State aids................................................................... 30


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However the actions are judged by posterity, we can ask: Where would Europe stand without its internal market, competition and state aid rules, arbitrated by the Commission?


Ralf Grahn

EU temporary state aid: Officially published

The European Commission’s Communication ‘Temporary Community framework for State aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis’ has now been published in the Official Journal of the European Union 22.1.2009 C 16/1:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2009:016:0001:0009:EN:PDF

The nine pages of the Communication form a richly documented crash course in EC (EU) state aid law, both previously existing principles and new temporary measures to counter the economic recession.

The Commission applies the Communication from 17 December 2008, the date on which it agreed in principle its content, but not beyond 31 December 2010.


Ralf Grahn