NEWSLETTER 18 – 22/01/2010
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TABLE OF CONTENTSEU / FINANCIAL SERVICES.....................................................................................2
Czech Republic should apply IORP Directive - ECJ.......................................................2
EU to export supervision rules to Balkans and Turkey...................................................3
EU / TAXATION.........................................................................................................4
Political agreement on directive to improve tax recovery................................................4
EU / HEALTH.............................................................................................................5
John Dalli has proved himself........................................................................................5
EU / SOCIAL..............................................................................................................6
Construction workers in Lithuania to receive help from EU Globalisation Fund..............6
ECONOMY.................................................................................................................7
Economists predicting jobless recovery.........................................................................7
Survey reveals lack of coordination in regional recovery plans......................................9
United Kingdom wants clear objectives for strong and balanced growth......................10
OTHER NEWS AND EVENTS.................................................................................11
EU launches 2010 European Year: Stop poverty now!.................................................11
The Spanish EU Presidency........................................................................................12
EU / COURT OF JUSTICE.......................................................................................13
Calendar of the Court of Justice...................................................................................13
THE ANALYSIS IN DEPTH......................................................................................14
The Spanish EU Presidency........................................................................................14
NEWSLETTER 18 – 22/01/2010
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EU / FINANCIAL SERVICES
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Czech Republic should apply IORP Directive - ECJ
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled the Czech Republic has acted in breach of European law byfailing to implement the Institution for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) Directive, even though thecountry does not actually have any IORPs.
The judgment issued yesterday on case C-343/08 stated the Czech Republic had failedto fulfil obligations regarding the directive,and had partially failed to transpose therequired legislation within the prescribedtimeframe. The only penalty being imposedon the Czech government is legal costs butthe ECJ made its judgment as it felt it wasnecessary to establish the base rules oncomplying with the directive. Morespecifically, the ECJ said it recognised theCzech Republic believes it would be “obligedto change the fundamental principles of itsnational social security system” if it were toallow the use of IORPS”. However, theDirective does not actually order countries tointroduce any such changes or allow IORPsto establish themselves in a territory, said theECJ, merely to make sure the EC Directivehas been enacted as required under Article22(1). This article provides that: “Memberstates shall bring into force the laws,regulations, and administrative provisionsnecessary to comply with this Directivebefore 23 December 2005.” But the CzechRepublic did not do so, and proceedingsagainst the member state began in 2006. TheCzech government responded at the time byarguing there was no reason for it toimplement the IORP Directive as there wereno IORPs and “neither the political will norsufficient economic potential to introduce anoccupational retirement scheme”. It alsoargued that Article 9 of the Directive wouldrequire it to create a national register ofinstitutions or authorize them, yet thegovernment could not do so as acting on thiswould “require the adoption of correspondinglegislation”. The ECJ answered this retort bynoting that the Czech Republic is not unableto amend or introduce legislation but issimply unwilling to do so at this time, eventhough officials had agreed they wouldintroduce a second pillar into the nationalretirement pension system back in 1993,prior to the adoption of the IORP Directive.On this issue, the Czech Republic concededin an ECJ hearing “a second pillar could beintroduced in the future if the political will todo so were to emerge”. The Czech Republic
NEWSLETTER 18 – 22/01/2010
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national pension system is currently made upof the first pillar state provision and third pillarvoluntary plans, which do not have any link toemployer-based pension provision.
(IPE.com, 18/01/10)
EU to export supervision rules to Balkans and Turkey
The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday (19 January) agreed on a two-year programme of €2.65 million to boost macro- and micro-prudential supervision in the Western Balkansand Turkey.
A hundred and fifty supervisors fromcountries waiting for accession to the EU areto receive training on the bloc's existing andpending rules on financial supervision as aresult of the crisis, according to a statementfrom the ECB yesterday (19 January). Thebeneficiaries of the funds will be the centralbanks and supervisory authorities in Croatia,the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro, Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo.Thescheme will also involve organisationsthat have participated in EU and globaldecision-making on post-crisis financialsupervision. An ECB spokesperson said theprogramme aims "to strengthen the medium-term resilience to financial stress of EUcandidate and potential candidate countries,by supporting the adjustment of banking andfinancial supervision in line with the mostrecently agreed international and EUstandards". The agreement would help thecountries involved to "keep their EUintegration processes on track," Olli Rehn,commissioner for enlargement, added in astatement. According to the ECB, keyorganisations in the regulatory andsupervisory field, such as the BaselCommittee on Banking Supervision, theCommittee of European Banking Supervisorsand the Financial Stability Institute, willpresent the latest developments in financialsupervision to banks in the region. TheEuropean Commission and the EuropeanParliament will contribute their views onpolicy issues. The ECB did not stipulateexactly what would be expected of the banksin the training process, but an ECBspokesperson told EurActiv that the challengewill be to ensure that the beneficiary countries"take ownership of the objectives".
(Euractiv.com, 20/01/10)
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