The Lisbon Treaty is creeping in!

Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero has said the EU’s new 10-year economic plan, set to be
agreed over the coming months, should have binding goals and ‘corrective measures’ for
member states that do not comply. He also suggested that the European Commission be
given new powers to police the fledgling plan, currently known as the 2020 Strategy. The
Lisbon Treaty provides for unspecified penalties, the range of which is likely to be
expanded incrementally using the EU method; change is steady and slow so that the political
impact is minimised and reaction muted. ‘It is absolutely necessary for the 2020 Economic Strategy ... to take on a new nature,
a binding nature’, said Mr Zapatero. The Spanish leader suggested that potential
penalties could include cutbacks in payments from the EU budget. The calls for greater and
more co-ordinated European efforts to tackle the ailing economy stand next to Spain's
domestic situation, where, like in Ireland, years of rapid expansion ended abruptly with
the onset of the financial crisis and the implosion of the country's property bubble.
‘Our main aim is to introduce a qualitative leap
in our economic union by means of new
common policies’, he said, pointing to the need for a greater role to be played by the
commission. ‘The Lisbon Treaty allows for more co-ordination, and for that to be truly effective,
we need to equip the European Commission with new powers.’
EU President, Van Rompuy has meanwhile said that the bloc's ‘long-term outlook is not bright’,
citing severe industrial decay in the wake of the deepest European recession since the Great
Depression adding that the lingering effects of the crisis may include a drop in investment on
a ‘permanent basis’ and higher ‘structural’ unemployment, adding that western Europe
risked losing its industrial base. ‘Germany is the exception, but the Benelux countries, Italy and
the UK are de-industrialising rapidly’, he said.
Lest we forget!
Outgoing EU Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has still made no public
comment over how he obtained a €1.6m loan on a €1.5m apartment from a building society
that did not provide 100% mortgages at the time. McCreevy will be entitled ‘to generous
pensions and allowances’ when he leaves Brussels.
So much for EU competition policy! SR Technics which recently made 1,200
workers redundant at Dublin Airport has moved its operations to Malta – a move
announced by the government in the immediate wake of the announcement of Budget 2010.
SR Technics’ closure of Dublin base was ‘part of restructuring process’ and
the government was not worried about the investment coming Malta’s way’, Maltese
Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said (Times of Malta, 27 November 2009). (To Be Continued) People's News Digest

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