European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has presented his blueprint for “genuine” Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which provides for the creation of a eurozone budget, ministry of finance and eurobonds. The plan, which will require changes to European treaties, will be debated at the European Council summit on the reform of the monetary union on December 13 and 14.
More Europe to ease the crisis – Luxemburger Wort
Brussels has approved €37 billion in financial aid for nationalised Spanish banks, which, in exchange, have pledged to slim down their operations by 60 per cent. Bankia (which will receive €17 billion from the package), Catalunya Caixa, Novagalicia Banco and Banco de Valencia will have until 2017 to complete a restructuring programme that notably involves the offloading of half of their subsidiaries. The banks will be required to cease lending to real estate developers and to focus on business in their regions. "Now credit should start to flow again," announces the daily.
€37 billion – La Gaceta
According to financial experts, the bilateral tax deal between Austria and Switzerland signed in April of this year will not generate the €1 billion for the Austrian exchequer which Vienna had expected and had counted on in its budget. Moreover, the Swiss money will arrive in the form of monthly bank transfers set to begin in August 2013, and not in a single payment. In 2010, it was estimated that there were €20 billion of undeclared Austrian funds in Swiss banks.
Swiss tax billions melting away – Die Presse
Lord Justice Leveson's report into the future of media regulation will be published today after a 16-month public inquiry that has seen the industry face unprecedented criticism. The report will announce whether reforms will involve a system of statutory regulation or a more robust model of the existing self-regulation. The ruling government coalition is threatened with a split as Conservatives are believed to back a strengthened independent complaints body, while the Liberal Democrats are thought to support state regulation.
Cameron and Clegg at odds on Leveson as D-day dawns – The Guardian
Today's demonstration by dockworkers in front of the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon, where the bill reforming the ports will be discussed, has gained support at the European level. Many union leaders from abroad are in Lisbon and will join the protest. The dockers' strike in Portugal started in September and has almost completely paralysed the national ports.
Support to Portuguese dockworkers paralyses 200 ports in Europe – Diário de Notícias
The minister of defence, Alexandr Vondra, of the Civic Democratic Party, has resigned following a failed bid to gain election to the senate. According to a number of observers, he could replace Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO Secretary General next year. Close to Washington, the former dissident who played a key role in the Velvet Revolution, can count on the support of the American administration.
Vondra heads to NATO, and government heads for new reshuffle – Mladá Fronta DNES
Poland ranks 14th in the world in the latest OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking, ahead of Germany, France, and Sweden, enthuses Gazeta Wyborcza. The study measures educational achievement of 15-year-old students in almost 70 countries around the world. The ranking is headed by Finland with two other EU countries, the UK and Holland, ranked among the first ten. Poland is the global leader in the category measuring the number of employees with secondary education active on the labour market.
Poles leave school smarter – Gazeta Wyborcza
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