News in brief
Asylum ruling
The European Court of Justice ruled on 21 December that asylum-seekers should not be transferred to a member state where they risk being treated inhumanely. Asylum-seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Algeria had appealed against being transferred back to Greece, through which they first entered the EU. Under the terms of the Dublin II convention agreed in 2003, asylum-seekers should apply for asylum in the first EU member state that they enter. In view of criticism of Greece’s treatment of asylum-seekers and their applications, the court ruled that member states cannot send asylum-seekers back to Greece, since their rights would not be respected.
Waste deal
Member states and MEPs reached a deal on new rules for electronic waste (WEEE) on 21 December. A 65% collection target for WEEE will come into effect in 2019, with an interim 45% target in 2015. As a compromise, governments will be able to use an alternative calculation method suggested by MEPs of 85% of WEEE generated each year.
ECB purchases
The European Central Bank provided banks with €489 billion in three-year loans on 22 December as part of its efforts to tackle the eurozone crisis. The ECB had never before offered loans on a three-year maturity and the amount borrowed was the largest the ECB has ever provided in a single operation. Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB, had been urging banks to take the loans to ease liquidity problems.
Croatian government
Croatia’s new centre-left government led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic´ was sworn in on 23 December. The parliament voted later the same day to hold a referendum on 22 January on Croatia joining the EU. Croatia is planning to become the EU’s 28th member in mid-2013.
Bosnian government
Political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina agreed on 28 December to form a coalition government led by Vjekoslav Bevanda. Talks between political parties from Bosnia’s Serb, Croat and Muslim communities had been under way since the 2010 October elections. The European Commission welcomed the announcement and encouraged the government to revitalise its bid to join the EU.
Greek elections
Evangelos Venizelos, Greece’s finance minister, told members of the socialist Pasok party on 28 December that elections would be held at the end of April. The centre-right New Democracy party, one of three parties in the governing coalition, has been calling for elections to be held earlier. It had initially insisted that, as a condition for supporting the national unity government, elections should be held in February.
Bail-out fund
Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister, said that the eurozone’s bail-out fund needs significantly larger resources if it is to be effective. Speaking in Rome on 29 December, Monti said that he would seek the backing of fellow national leaders to increase the firepower of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), although he did not mention any figures. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, is opposed to increasing the EFSF’s size beyond €500bn.
Spanish austerity
The Spanish government announced spending cuts and tax increases worth €14.9bn on 30 December after figures showed that Spain would miss its deficit reduction target for 2011. The latest data indicated that the deficit would reach 8% of gross domestic product this year, instead of the 6% forecast earlier. Taxes will be increased by €6bn and spending cut by €8.9bn. Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, welcomed the announcement as “a very important step to shore up public finances and reassure financial markets”.