FF split over new Brussels partners

FIANNA Fail's European election candidates were at loggerheads yesterday over the party's move to join a new political grouping in Brussels.

Euro candidate Ned O'Keeffe yesterday said he was "shocked" to see fellow party MEP Brian Crowley still expressing opposition to the party's move to join the liberal group in the European Parliament.

Fianna Fail is a member of the obscure Union for the Europe of Nations, where Mr Crowley is a president.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ff-split-over-new-brussels-partners-1707377.html

Europe puts off Libertas decision

THE European Parliament last night postponed officially recognising the Libertas party after receiving a letter from the founder Declan Ganley.

Two weeks ago the parliament shelved a decision to recognise Libertas and grant it funding of more than e200,000 when two of the seven signatories said they never intended to support them.

Millionaire businessman Mr Ganley has now offered more names to the parliament president Hans Gert Pottering.

Mr Pottering has asked the parliament’s legal experts to investigate whether they can be accepted given that the deadline has passed.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ideyidauoj/

Ruling allows refugees stay if they face serious harm at home

MANY more refugees afraid to return to their own countries should qualify to remain in Ireland following a ruling from the European Court of Justice which says they need only face serious harm if they return home.

As a result, an applicant does not have to prove he or she is specifically targeted if they return to their home country, but should only have to show that because of the level of violence he or she would be at real risk.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/ideyqlojey/

Swing in favour of Lisbon treaty

The latest poll shows that 51 per cent would now vote Yes to the treaty in a referendum, an increase of eight points since the last Irish Times poll in November, with 33 per cent saying they would vote No, a drop of six points. There are still 16 per cent in the “Don’t Know” category (down 2 points). When undecided voters are excluded, the Yes side has 60.7 per cent, with 39.3 per cent in the No camp. That compares to the referendum result last June of 53.4 per cent No and 46.6 per cent Yes.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0216/breaking15.htm

European Parliament puts Libertas funding on hold

An application from Libertas for funding as a political party at the European level has been put on hold.

The European Parliament is authorised to grant funding to parties which satisfy rigorous requirements to show their European qualifications.

An Estonian MP listed as backing Libertas's application now insists that he had not signed any document.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0203/libertas.html

Demographic estimate shows Ireland leads the way for immigration

Ireland has the highest natural population growth of all the EU countries, +12.0 per 1,000. This contrasts with France at +4.5, Luxembourg at +4.3 and the UK at +3.6.

The report said the EU27 population grew by 4.4 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008, due to natural population growth of +1.1 and net immigration of +3.3. In total, the EU27 population is estimated to have increased by 2.2 million in 2008.

In 2008, three-quarters of the increase in the EU27 population is estimated to have come from immigration.

In relative terms, Ireland again leads the way for immigration at +14.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, Slovenia was next at 12.6, Luxembourg at +11.9 and Cyprus +11.7.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/baby-boom-puts-us-on-top-of-birth-rate-league-1595151.html

Cowen confident of 'Yes' vote for Lisbon re-run

Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night said he was "confident" the planned second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty will be successful.

But Mr Cowen said the Government would have to take it "step by step" and stressed he was not yet in position to formally call a second poll by next October.

Following an EU summit, at which he secured concessions on four major issues of concern for the Irish people, Mr Cowen is on track to run Lisbon II.

"On the basis of the agreement today, and on condition of our being able to satisfactorily put guarantees in place, I have said that I would be prepared to return to the public to put a new package and to seek their approval to it," he said.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cowen-confident-of-yes-vote-for-lisbon-rerun-1573730.html

Barroso 'convinced' Irish Lisbon demands can be met

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said today he was “convinced” the EC can satisfy the Irish electorate's concerns over the Lisbon Treaty.

Speaking ahead of this week’s crucial European Council summit on Thursday and Friday, Mr Barroso said the meeting must find a way of enabling Ireland to reverse the No vote on the treaty last June.

“I am convinced that we can respond to [Brian Cowen’s] national concerns while finding a European solution”, Mr Barroso told a news conference in Brussels.

Mr Cowen last week met key European leaders and Mr Barroso to discuss the Lisbon treaty.

Ireland now only EU state to reject Lisbon treaty

The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that the European Union's reform treaty conforms with Czech law, allowing parliament to proceed with ratification. Ireland is now the only member state which has rejected the treaty.

The lack of Czech ratification so far has raised doubts in the EU about the likely performance of the 6-month Czech EU presidency, starting in January.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1126/breaking23.htm

Romanian and Bulgarian work restrictions to stay

THE GOVERNMENT is expected to impose work restrictions for Eeropean Union citizens from Romania and Bulgaria for at least another three years due to rising unemployment levels in the State.

This is despite lobbying by the Romanian and Bulgarian governments, which say the move is discriminatory and treats them as second-class EU members.

The European Commission has also encouraged member states to lift labour restrictions against the two member states.

The Government decided to impose a two-year work permit requirements on Romanian and Bulgarian nationals when the two countries joined the EU in January 2007.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1117/1226700658673.html

Some EU parliaments saw Ireland's rejection of Lisbon as 'disappointing'

A DETAILED survey of all 27 parliaments in the European Union shows that some regard Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty as a "deep disappointment" and as having created a backlash.

The Bulgarian parliament states that it is "disappointed" with the Irish outcome, as do the parliaments of Slovakia and Slovenia.

The response from the German Bundestag says Ireland's rejection will create a backlash for EU reform, while stressing that ratification must continue.

Greece states that its parliament ratified the treaty by a large majority. "[We must conclude] that we all, not only our Irish colleagues, failed to provide the necessary information on the treaty's benefits and [failed] to widen the public discourse."

The Latvian assembly says ratification is not an option but a necessity, and Lithuania says that members of its parliament have expressed their regret about the Irish outcome at various meetings.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1106/1225893546475.html

EC to take on Ireland over borrowings

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said the Government would work constructively with the EU Commission when it begins formal proceedings against Ireland over the high level of borrowing in next year's Budget.

Economic Affairs Commissioner Joacin Almunia said today that he intended opening an excessive deficit procedure against Ireland.

The Government will be expected to say how it will cut borrowing levels over the next three years.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1103/eucommission.html

Libertas registered as political party

The leader of Libertas, Declan Ganley, has said a report in last Saturday's Irish Times that his party has been registered as a European political party is substantially correct.

On RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the possibility of establishing Libertas as a pan-European organisation was being looked at, with the possibility of running candidates in many EU member states in the June 2009 European elections.

He said it would provide an opportunity across the EU to provide a proxy referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1103/libertas.html

State ratified 145 treaties last year

THE Government ratified almost 300 European and international treaties in the seven years leading up to the failed Lisbon Treaty referendum -- 145 of them in the last year alone.

The treaties -- none of which were placed before the electorate -- included agreements on defence, organised crime, extradition, air services, chemical weapons, taxation and mutual assistance in criminal matters.

Details of the treaties emerged as an all-party oireachtas committee begins a review of our contentious referendum process.

The review will examine whether the bulk of future EU treaties can be ratified by parliamentary vote.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/state-ratified-145-treaties-last-year-1511244.html

Active rebuttal of Lisbon misinformation urged

IN THE wake of the Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Commission's vice-president has called for a more vigorous engagement by the commission in responding to "misinformation" about the treaty and the EU.

Sweden's commissioner Margot Wallström, in an internal letter to fellow commissioners on the lessons to be drawn from the Irish vote for EU communications policy, calls for the setting up of a "rebuttal function" within the EU executive to counter the type of misinformation she argues was spread by anti-EU forces during the referendum campaign.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1010/breaking3.htm

Bilderberg Group says Ireland set for Lisbon 'dog house'

IRELAND will be in Europe's "dog house" if we reject the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum, according to the chairman of the secretive global businesss organisation, the Bilderberg Group.

Viscount Etienne Davignon issued the stark caution in a rare interview ahead of addressing an international conference on Lisbon in University College Cork (UCC) on Wednesday.

"Ireland will be in the dog house if it says no for a second time", Davignon told the Sunday Tribune." The other states who ratified the Treaty have now become hostages of the Irish position and the Irish should have had some respect for the opinions of the other states.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2008/oct/05/ireland-set-for-lisbon-dog-house/

EU anger over Irish bailout solo run

The Government's decision to guarantee the debts and deposits of the country's six largest banks drew a thinly-veiled attack from the Brussels Commission today.

The bailout plan was hatched and announced without consultation with the EU's competition authorities who will have to approve the deal.

And today, as EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes still awaited formal notification from Dublin, she pointedly praised British government cooperation with Brussels over the Bradford &Bingley bailout and made clear her displeasure that Ireland had set up bank rescue plans without consultation.

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/eu-anger-over-irish-bailout-solo-run-1487241.html

EU may foot bill for migrants who want to go home

A FINE Gael TD who was branded as racist for suggesting that non-nationals should be offered incentives to return home may have been just a little ahead of his time.

Yesterday it emerged that the Department of Justice is to look at way of tapping into a €629m EU fund that aims to pay economic migrants who voluntarily decide to return to their countries of origin.

The EU's Return Fund will be available to all member states to provide cash to non-EU immigrants who cannot afford to live here or who have failed in their asylum applications.

But the Department of Justice confirmed last night that officials were examining the rules of the fund to see if it could be applied to EU nationals who want to return home.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/eu-may--foot-bill-for-migrants-who-want-to-go-home-1484960.html

Jouyet calls for 'legal arrangement' if Irish vote down Lisbon Treaty

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - A 'legal arrangement' between Ireland and the 26 other members of the European Union must be reached should Irish voters reject the Lisbon EU reform treaty, said French secretary of state for European affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet on Friday.

Should they vote against the treaty, Jouyet told news channel LCI the most important thing is for the process of ratification to continue in other countries and to see what kind of legal arrangement can be reached with the Irish.

http://www.hemscott.com/news/static/tfn/item.do?newsId=64888367255546

Mandelson accuses farmers of lying over treaty

EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson yesterday accused the Irish Farmers' Association of lying to voters ahead of the upcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Mandelson insisted the EU reform treaty should not be linked to any world trade deal.
"The Irish Farmers Association are getting their facts wrong. The first step is for people to understand what's really at stake in these negotiations and why the Irish beef industry can and will be secured," he said.
"Rejecting the treaty would not be in Ireland's interests. It wouldn't be in Europe's interests."
The IFA has threatened to oppose the new treaty, if Mr Mandelson manages to carve a World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement before the vote on June 12.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/mandelson-accuses-farmers--of-lying-over-treaty-1368536.html