Next steps to EMU – EUbusiness Week newsletter 610 – EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 610 top stories: Cyprus launches banking overhaul as meltdown looms; EU puts airline carbon tax on hold for a year; Member States agree farm reform, but deal not yet done; Obama notifies Congress of US-EU trade talks; EU aims for new vote to ban insecticides harmful to bees; European, US car makers race Japanese in Indonesia

This Week’s Top Stories

1. Cyprus launches banking overhaul as meltdown looms
2. EU puts airline carbon tax on hold for a year
3. Member States agree farm reform, but deal not yet done
4. Obama notifies Congress of US-EU trade talks
5. EU aims for new vote to ban insecticides harmful to bees
6. European, US car makers race Japanese in Indonesia

Publisher’s Note

Two new Communications from the Commission to drive forward economic integration: an “ex-ante coordination of plans for major economic policy reforms” to involve other EU Member States in one country’s major economic decisions; and the Convergence and Competitiveness Instrument, with options for contractual arrangements for countries to undertake specific reforms, and financial help to implement reforms.

A good time for a new blueprint for “deeper and genuine” economic and monetary union? The Commission believes the crisis shows the importance of driving forward the process of economic integration, to ” combine more discipline at national level with more solidarity at EU level”.
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Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

EUBUSINESS WEEK AHEAD

Our sister newswire alerts you to key upcoming legislative developments at the EU institutions during the week ahead, as well as EU-related conferences and events.
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1. Cyprus launches banking overhaul as meltdown looms

Cyprus on Thursday launched an overhaul of its banking sector to avoid financial meltdown after the European Central Bank threatened to pull the plug on emergency funding for the island’s lenders.
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Eurozone ‘ready to discuss’ new Cyprus bailout
S&P cuts Cyprus rating as banking meltdown looms
NGOs accuse Cyprus of a host of economic wrongdoings

2. EU puts airline carbon tax on hold for a year

The EU will put its controversial carbon tax on intercontinental airline flights on hold for a year to give time for international talks to reach a compromise on the issue, a European source said on Thursday.
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Four countries bring air pollution under EU limit

3. Member States agree farm reform, but deal not yet done

European Union agriculture ministers agreed a plan to reform the bloc’s often contested farm policy, its top budgetary item, after marathon talks winding up late on Tuesday.
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4. Obama notifies Congress of US-EU trade talks

President Barack Obama has notified Congress that it would launch trade talks with the European Union aimed at forging the world’s largest free-trade area.
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5. EU aims for new vote to ban insecticides harmful to bees

The Commission says it will try again to get Member States to back a two-year ban on insecticides harmful to bees whose numbers have been in sharp and worrying decline.
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6. European, US car makers race Japanese in Indonesia

Bentleys and McLarens could become a more common sight alongside three-wheeled pedicabs and Japanese cars on Jakarta’s roads, with European auto giants making a push into the Indonesian market.
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EUROPEAN LAW

Terrorist ruling: a top prosecutor of the European Court of Justice calls for it to annul a high-profile 2010 decision that the Commission had no right to freeze the assets of a Saudi national put on a US list of terrorist suspects.
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EU defends Italy envoy in row with India over marines
Latest Court of Justice judgements
EU Law Firms
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Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

Syria: the Union is headed for a showdown over calls by Britain and France to arm Syria’s rebels that are likely to run into a wall of resistance at talks Friday between the bloc’s foreign ministers.
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Eurogroup approves Ireland, Portugal debt extension
Klitschko urges Western sanctions on Ukraine officials
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Commission Watch

Hungary: Hungary’s government expressed its “deep outrage” Thursday over recent criticism of its judiciary by Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.
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EU signs aid deal with Palestinian PM
Kosovo EU progress depends on deal with Serbia: Fuele
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Parliament Watch

Bank supervisor: the European Parliament has approved setting up a single eurozone bank supervisor which supporters say will help stop troubled banks forcing their governments to seek bailouts.
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France needs ‘damn good story’ for deficit breach
This week, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee said investment fund managers’ bonuses must be capped and their salaries linked to their funds’ performance; the Trade Committee recommended restoring Myanmar’s free access to the EU market; and Employment MEPs said that public pensions should ensure decent living standards for all in old age.
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EU diary

27-28 Mar, European Parliament plenary session
27 Mar, Proposals for modernisation of the trade mark system
27 Mar, EC proposal to cut cost of broadband rollout
27 Mar, EC presents 1st edition of Justice Scoreboard
4 Apr, Governing Council meeting of the ECB
15-18 Apr, European Parliament plenary session
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary