Aktuelles > EM Germany Weekly Round-Up | week ending 17/10/2014

Artikel Details:

Europakommunikation

EM Germany Weekly Round-Up | week ending 17/10/2014

EM Germany’s weekly round-up summarises the past week’s key European issues in a brief press review, which also includes a look at EM Germany’s activities and topics trending globally on Twitter. German version here.

EM Germany weekly round-up – the week’s highlights in print, at EM Germany and on Twitter

11/10- 17/10/2014 – Newspapers have been keeping themselves very busy with the weakening economy in Germany. At the start of the week, the German government clearly cut its growth forecast for this and the coming year. This caused a debate in Germany about whether they should stick to their aim for a balanced budget or whether new debts for investments can be taken on. The Social Democrat and Left parties and economists urged the German government to use its financial scope for investments (Deutschlandfunk).

“Blame the best pupil in the class”, is what the Frankfurter Rundschau wrote on Tuesday about Eurogroup chief Dijsselbloem’s criticism of Germany’s lack of zeal to reform. Before the Eurogroup meeting last Monday, Dijsselbloem said he was worried about the lack of reforms in the larger EU states and supported greater investment. Rome and Paris were also called upon to make more of an effort for their competing power. Some at the Eurogroup’s meeting expressed concern that Germany and France could again water down the rules of the stability and growth pact (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)).

On Tuesday, former Bavarian Minister President Edmund Stoiber presented his working group’s final report on reducing EU bureaucracy. Stoiber positively summed up his work over the past seven years: in the meantime, Brussels has become mindful of avoiding unnecessary regulation. EU Commission President-designate, Jean-Claude Juncker, has entrusted his First Vice President Frans Timmermans with the task.

A big story this week was the Federal Constitutional Court asking the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to examine whether the European Central Bank (ECB) had exceeded its mandate when it announced buying up government bonds in 2012. The differing positions on the ECB’s policy have been causing clashes during negotiations in Luxemburg. FAZ wrote: “court battle on the Euro rescue”, while SZ talked of a “political balancing act”, in which the ECJ tries to find a compromise between critics and proponents. The complainants, who at the time brought the case to court in Karlsruhe, accuse the ECB of exceeding its competencies and taking unauthorised action on economic policy. Proponents say that Draghi’s announcement to, if necessary, buy up unlimited government bonds from Eurozone countries hit by the crisis, had contributed to stabilising the currency. According to the papers, the negotiations also concern the relationship between national and European law (FR, SZ). According to SZ, the Federal Constitutional Court reserves the right to have the final word, even after a ruling by the ECJ.

In terms of foreign policy, Russia’s current policy was in the media’s spotlight once again. The Federal Government reacted cautiously to Putin’s announcement at the weekend of the withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian border (FAZ, Handelsblatt). Berlin is unsure, whether to take it seriously. The SZ, however, called Moscow’s announcement a hopeful sign, that the parties involved in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine could possibly reach a compromise. The German-Russian Petersburg Dialogue, planned for the end of October, has been postponed in view of the current political tensions. The postponement was supported by German newspapers (FAZ, FR, SZ).

Erdogan‘s lack of support for Kurds in the Syrian city of Kobane has been criticised by the German daily newspapers. The reconciliation process with the Kurds is said to have been halted because of this. Erdogan’s refusal to pledge military support against IS to the Kurds could damage Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy (Tagesspiegel).

The threat of IS was also a topic of discussion during EM Germany‘s De-Briefing on justice and home affairs on Tuesday. The EU is looking for common measures to prevent young Europeans from travelling to Syria to join IS. Other topics included plans for a European prosecutor’s office and the current measures in asylum and refugee policy. This kicked of the week’s series of debates, which continued on Thursday with a debriefing on agriculture and fisheries. Main points discussed during the debriefing were decisions on fishing quotas and the EU’s handling of the ban on imports of fish and agricultural products into Russia.

EM Germany’s newly elected board met for the first time on Friday. Board members deemed the structure and the composition of the new EU Commission largely as positive. Overall, there is noticeable development which has given the Community Institutions, the Commission and the European Parliament (EP) more importance. The dissolution of the Eurosceptic EFDD group in the EP was also commented on. Fundamentally, it would indeed be positive when as a result of this occurence right-wing populist parties were to become weaker. However, it cannot give the impression that Eurosceptics are now out of the picture. There are still 100 Eurosceptic MEPs in Parliament. The status of party groups facilitates engagement with their positions.

On Twitter, the #EPhearings2014, particularly the late nomination and hearings of the Slovakian candidate Violeta Bulc (#Bulc), drew a lot of attention. Twitter debates on the current Asia-Europe Meeting taking place in Milan can be followed under the hashtag #ASEM. Discussions on last week’s and the coming week’s EM Germany debriefings can be found via #EBDdebrief.