Spain dreams of 'economic government' in Europe

Spain plans to use its EU presidency to push for a form of European economic government, with the promise of rewards for members who meet binding targets - and the threat of sanctions for those that don't.

The Spanish government intends to introduce the initiative at an EU summit in Brussels on February 11 which will focus on ways to revive sluggish growth, Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told reporters on Thursday.

In doing so, Madrid is clearly posting its desire to play a leading role in European affairs despite the new leadership dynamic created by the Lisbon reform treaty, under which Belgium's Herman van Rompuy has become the European Union's first permanent president.
Spain hopes the EU can agree on a replacement for the bloc's long-term growth strategy known as the Lisbon Agenda, which was supposed to make it the world's most competitive economy by 2010 but which did not achieved its aims because governments were under no obligation to conform.

Spain, which began its six-month EU presidency stint on January 1, now plans to learn from that failure and introduce a new 10-year growth strategy.

"It is vital to have a new kind of strategy for 2020, to make it more efficient," said Zapatero.

The new 2020 plan "must include incentive measures, and corrective measures" for states that fail to fall into line, he said.

He mentioned information technology and energy as sectors where this could be applied.

Spain's secretary of state for European affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido, said the idea would be to reward countries with EU aid when they meet the binding targets, and to sanction those that do not.



That would imply that the EU would have the right to oversee national budgetary priorities, in addition to the existing stability pact, which imposes limits on public deficits for eurozone members.

But Spain risks crossing Britain and other countries with more liberal economies, which fear a loss of sovereignty on economic issues.

"But I know that a certain number of countries back greater economic unity, France for example," Zapatero said.

Paris for some years has pushed for an "economic government", at least within those nations that share the euro single currency, despite resistance from Germany which sees it as a threat to the independence of the European Central Bank on interest rates.

France floated such a plan in late 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. Now Zapatero wants to pick up the baton. "The idea is still on the table," he said.
Spain assumed the EU presidency from Sweden at the start of the year and will oversee the first six-month stint whereby the system of a rotating presidency sits alongside Van Rompuy in his new post as president of the European Council.

Source:telegraph.co.uk/

Europe Eager For Jobs Data

LONDON -- Trading volumes in Europe jumped on Friday as investors awaited a key non-farm payrolls number from the United States.

The most optimistic forecasters expect that the U.S. economy added jobs in December after two years of losses. Nonfarm payrolls shed just 11,000 jobs in November. (See "All Eyes On U.S. Jobs Figure.")

Over the last two years the United States has shed 7.2 million jobs, the biggest as a percentage of all jobs since World War II was ending in 1944-45, according to TradeTheNews.com. President Obama was due to comment on the U.S. economy at 2.40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Europe also had its own jobless numbers to grapple with on Friday. New data from the European Union showed that the Euro Zone unemployment rate had risen to 10% in November, the highest rate since the single European currency was introduced in 1999.

Among the member countries that use the euro, Spain had the highest unemployment rate at a whopping 19.4%, while the Netherlands had the lowest at 3.9%. (See "Europe's Best And Worst Countries To Find A Job.")

Latvia has the highest unemployment rate in all of Europe, at 19.7%, followed by Spain. Both countries suffered from massive housing and construction bubbles and a subsequent dearth of jobs for temporary workers.

Source:forbes.com/

Hopman Cup 2010 Results: Spain Reaches Finals – Defeats Australia

Going into their final Group A Tie against Australia, all Spain had to do was win one set to make it to the finals of the 2010 Hyundai Hopman Cup tennis tournament. When it was all said and done, Spain won more than one set. They made it through Group A play undefeated.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Tommy Robredo make up the team from Spain. They have played flawlessly so far in the Hopman Cup tournament; sweeping through Group A by defeating USA, Romania and now Australia 3-0.

Australia went into the 22nd Hyundai Hopman Cup seeded number one and had high hopes of winning the diamond ball trophy in their home country. An upset loss to Romania to start off the tennis tournament meant they could not lose a set to Spain if they wanted a chance to play in the finals.

Australia's hopes to play in the Hopman Cup finals were dashed in the first set when Martinez Sanchez defeated Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-4. Martinez Sanchez also won the second set 6-2 to win the singles women's match for Spain.

In the men's singles match, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt did not fair any better against Robredo. Hewitt committed five double faults in the first set as Robredo went onto win the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

Australia entered into the mixed doubles match with their fate already determined. They also entered into it having lost their last seven Hopman Cup mixed doubles matches.

Spain would hand Australia their eighth straight mixed doubles Hopman Cup loss and secure themselves an undefeated record so far in this tournament. Spain won the mixed doubles match 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10/7).

Stosur and Hewitt will prepare for the Australian Open later this month in Australia. Spain will prepare to play for the Hopman Cup diamond ball trophy on Saturday against the winner of Group B.

Source:huliq.com/

Portugal's parliament votes in favour of same-sex marriages

LISBON, Portugal — Portugal's parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.

Conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva is thought unlikely to veto the Socialist government's bill, which won the support of all left-of-centre parties. His ratification would allow the first gay marriage ceremonies to take place in April - a month before Pope Benedict XVI is due on an official visit to Portugal.

Right-of-centre parties opposed the change and sought a national referendum on the issue, but their proposal was rejected and the government's bill was passed by 125 votes to 99.

Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.

"This law rights a wrong," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it "simply ends pointless suffering."

Socrates said the measure is part of his effort to modernize Portugal where homosexuality was a crime until 1982. Two years ago his government lifted Portugal's ban on abortion, despite church opposition.

Gay marriage is currently permitted in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. Canada, South Africa and six U.S. states also permit it.

The bill removes a reference in the current law to marriage being between two people of different sexes.

"It's a slight change to the law, it's true," Socrates, the prime minister, said. "But it is a very important and symbolic step towards fully ensuring respect for values that are essential in any democratic, open and tolerant society: the values of freedom, equality and non-discrimination."

Like neighbouring Spain, which introduced same-sex marriages four years ago, Portugal is an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country and previous efforts to introduce gay marriage ran into strong resistance from religious groups and conservative lawmakers.

Paulo Corte-Real, head of a lobby group called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Intervention, said Portugal had become a pioneering country in gay rights.

"This is a historic moment. We just hope (the bill) gets ratified quickly," he said.

Socrates said a referendum was not necessary because the gay marriage proposal was included in the Socialist Party's manifesto in last September's general election, when it was returned to power.

In 2001, a law allowed "civil unions" between same-sex couples which granted them certain legal, tax and property rights. However, it did not allow couples to take their partner's name, inherit their possessions nor their state pension, which is permitted in marriages.

A proposal from the Left Bloc and Green Party allowing gay couples to adopt children was voted down Friday. Gay campaigners said they would continue to fight for gay couples' parental rights.

The main opposition Social Democratic Party proposed granting non-married cohabiting couples of the same sex more rights, as in France, but its bill also was rejected.

Source:AFP

Spain hopes to speed up Turkey's EU talks

Spain, which has assumed the rotating EU presidency, hopes to speed up Turkey's passage toward European Union membership, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Friday.

He said he hoped to open talks on another four of the 35 policy chapters that all EU candidate nations must successfully negotiate prior to membership.

Madrid has long backed Turkey's entry into the EU, a move opposed by heavyweights like France and Germany, which have proposed a "privileged partnership" between the bloc and the mainly Muslim country rather than full EU membership.

"We have four chapters in mind, and we hope to open them," Moratinos told reporters in Madrid.

The biggest hurdle to Turkey's EU membership is its lack of relations with Greek Cyprus.

Eight chapters remain totally blocked due to Ankara's failure to open its borders to EU-member Greek Cyprus.

Greek Cyprus itself has reserved the right to block six others.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey intervened in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

"We are trying to get some progress in the talks" on Cyprus, said Moratinos.

"We know it's a very tricky issue, but I hope the negotiations about the future of the island will present some results, some openings," he added.

Spain will hold the EU presidency for the first six months of this year, making Moratinos' plan seem at least ambitious.

All the negotiators in the Cyprus talks, including Turkey and Greece, "are aware of the timing factor," Moratinos stressed, referring to elections to be hold in April in the island's Turkish north, when partisan hardliners could win the day.

Last month, Turkish Cypriot President Mehmet Ali Talat and his Greek counterpart Dimitris Christofias agreed to intensify the United Nations-led peace process in efforts to reunify the long-divided island this year.

Source:hurriyetdailynews.com/

Spain calls for common EU stance on airport body scanners

The thorny topic of airport security has divided EU nations. Spain, which currently holds the EU presidency, has called for a common policy over using body scanners that takes concerns about privacy into account.

The Spanish EU presidency has called for a common European position on airport body scanners after member states clashed over the introduction of new security technology.

Spanish Transport Minister Jose Blanco Lopez made his appeal after EU experts met on Thursday to discuss the proposed measure. A number of EU countries, including Spain, are unhappy about possible privacy issues relating to the scanners, which can "see through" clothing to create three-dimensional images of passengers.

Lopez said that a common approach to security would be more sensible than member states taking unilateral measures. Britain and Italy have decided to install the devices, while the Netherlands will increase the number in use from 15 to 60.

"It's better for Europe to have a common position because it makes no sense for European passengers to travel from London to Madrid and back and have different controls," said Lopez.

"A common position would be better for all of us, even if it wasn't binding," he said.

Sparked by bomb attempt

The question of new security measures arose after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jet from Amsterdam on December 25.

"We should not react hastily and assume that full body scanners are the best security measure," said Lopez. "We have to find the right balance between security and respect for freedoms and privacy."

The European Commission said that there had been "an exchange of views" over the technology and that "an initiative" on employing it, which had previously been blocked, was being reconsidered.

"If there are no problems with human rights, health, the freedom of citizens and data use, I cannot exclude that the commission could re-open the question of body scanners," EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said.

Source:dw-world.de/

Spain favors Belgrade-Priština dialogue

BELGRADE -- Spain and many of its EU partners want for Belgrade and Priština to enter a dialogue, says Spanish Ambassador to Serbia Inigo de Palacio Espana.


A file photo of Ambassador Espana attending a news conference in Belgrade (Beta)


That would lead to a joint solution that could be realized in real life, he told Belgrade daily Blic in an interview.

Espana, whose country took over the EU Presidency on January 1, said that he thought that Serbia could obtain the EU candidate status without the Kosovo-Metohija issue being fully resolved, particularly since Spain had not recognized the unilaterally declared independence of the province.

The Spanish ambassador expressed his support to Belgrade's idea to open a dialogue with Priština after the completion of the process before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on the legality of the unilateral secession declaration of the interim institutions of Kosovo on February 17, 2008.

"Minister [Vuk] Jeremić put forward a very important idea at the Ambassadors' Conference when he said that after the court's opinion had been stated, a compromise, sustainable solution could be found through dialogue, that could lead to a further development of relations," Espana said.

In view of Serbia's EU accession process, he stated that, with its last moves at the end of 2009, the official Belgrade showed that it cooperated with the Hague Tribunal, adding that big steps had been made.

"We believe that Serbia fully cooperates with the Tribunal and that it may not be capable to arrest the remaining fugitives," De said.

"If Serbia continues to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, there will be no arguments against the ratification of the Stabilization and Association Agreement in June," the amabassador underscored.

Source:b92.net/