BRUSSELS // The European Commission yesterday issued a series of thinly veiled criticisms of how European Union leaders have handled the continent's economic challenges.
Apart from laying out specific and soon-to-be binding policy recommendations for each member state, the commission also urged closer integration and cooperation to tackle the EU-wide debt crisis.
Frustration with Europe's national leaders shone through in the remarks of the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, as he presented the recommendations, which trod a careful line between budget discipline and restoring growth.
He called on Europe's leaders to provide "a clear endorsement of the country-specific recommendations without falling for the temptation to water them down". It is the first time that commission recommendations will become legally binding, but only if adopted at a summit of EU heads of state in June.
Mr Barroso was even more blunt in challenging EU leaders to back up their recent rhetoric on stimulating growth, rather than mostly concentrating on austerity and debt reduction. "If certain heads of government want growth we need a European budget that while tight and relatively small, has the means to invest for the future," he said.
Critics cast the commission as an unelected bureaucratic behemoth that is out of touch with the concerns of most Europeans. But in the current financial and economic crisis, particularly of the euro single currency that is in use in 17 out of the 27 EU countries, it has been given more powers to implement budget rules that the countries themselves have signed up to.
Nicolas Véron of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel told The National that this was a welcome step forward for Europe's ability to deal with economic issues. European governance was "still a work in progress but clearly there is a trend to constrain member states more than before", he said.
Under new rules, the commission has more powers to levy fines on countries that are not in compliance with its deficit targets but it is unclear how this will work in practice.
It was not all deficit reduction and fiscal discipline for the commission this time around. The recommendations also took into account recent calls for a growth strategy for the EU, which has been pushed by among others the newly elected president of France, François Hollande.
Germany was urged to stimulate domestic demand by allowing wages and inflation to rise, something that will help the exports of the more indebted EU countries.
Spain, which is now reeling under a burgeoning banking crisis, was shown some flexibility in meeting its deficit reduction target. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said Madrid could get a one-year extension if it reined in the budgets of its local and municipal authorities and submitted a credible two-year budget for 2013-2014.
After Greece, which is holding new elections in June and that may have to leave the euro single currency, Spain is seen as most under threat from the euro-zone debt crisis. It is struggling with low growth, high unemployment and the fallout from a housing bubble.
Mr Barroso said that concerted European action would be needed to tackle the euro-zone crisis. He mentioned euro bonds, loans for the whole of the euro zone rather than for individual countries, and allowing European emergency funds to be used to bail out banks such as Spain's Bankia, without the whole country being placed in a bailout mechanism.
Neither idea is palatable to voters in economically solid European countries, particularly Germany, which would foot most of the bill.
There was little positive news in the Commission's detailed country reports and recommendations. Germany and Bulgaria were deemed to have met budget deficit targets and millions of euros in European development funds for Hungary were released as the Commission found that the country was moving toward compliance.
Italy, under the technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, was commended for the strides it has taken to fix the country's finances. "In the past few months, the policy response to ensure sound public finances and tackle Italy's long-standing structural weaknesses has been determined and wide-ranging," the report stated. But the Commission outlined many remaining challenges for Italy and for most other countries.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
The Bio
Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959
Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.
He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses
Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas
His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s
Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business
He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery
Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Fines for littering
In Dubai:
Dh200 for littering or spitting in the Dubai Metro
Dh500 for throwing cigarette butts or chewing gum on the floor, or littering from a vehicle.
Dh1,000 for littering on a beach, spitting in public places, throwing a cigarette butt from a vehicle
In Sharjah and other emirates
Dh500 for littering - including cigarette butts and chewing gum - in public places and beaches in Sharjah
Dh2,000 for littering in Sharjah deserts
Dh500 for littering from a vehicle in Ras Al Khaimah
Dh1,000 for littering from a car in Abu Dhabi
Dh1,000 to Dh100,000 for dumping waste in residential or public areas in Al Ain
Dh10,000 for littering at Ajman's beaches
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
BULKWHIZ PROFILE
Date started: February 2017
Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce
Size: 50 employees
Funding: approximately $6m
Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Haltia.ai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202023%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Arto%20Bendiken%20and%20Talal%20Thabet%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AI%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2041%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20About%20%241.7%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Self%2C%20family%20and%20friends%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
