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EUROPEAN UNION

Schäuble ramps up threat against big deficits

Talks on toughening budget rules to prevent a new European debt crisis heated up Monday as Germany called for the hammer to drop on countries that repeatedly run excessive deficits.

Published: 27 September 2010 14:42 CEST
Schäuble ramps up threat against big deficits
Photo: DPA

Germany launched the opening salvo in intense negotiations between European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels as part of a task force looking into ways to strengthen the 27-nation bloc’s fiscal discipline.

The moves to punish budget-busting nations came as trade unions prepared to lead demonstrations in Brussels and other parts of Europe on Wednesday to protest austerity measures launched by EU states to bring down huge public deficits.

In a letter to his EU counterparts, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said he “chiefly supports” tough proposals, including fines against deficit sinners, to be unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday.

Schäuble backed measures to give the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact “more bite” by speeding up the penalty process and imposing sanctions on a “quasi-automatic” basis.

Nearly every EU state exceeds the pact’s deficit limit of 3.0 percent of GDP, but the path towards penalties is long and the bloc has never imposed sanctions against any state.

Pressure to tighten EU rules rose after a massive fiscal crisis in Greece forced the eurozone to bail out Athens in May and led to the creation of a €750 billion warchest to prop up any other weak member state.

The Greek debt crisis was followed by a wave of austerity measures across Europe, which has caused discontent.

Spain, which is slashing spending to reassure the markets, is bracing for a strike on Wednesday while protests will take place in other European capitals, including 100,000 people expected in the streets of Brussels.

Despite the social unrest, Brussels wants to twist the arms of states that fail to curtail spending.

European Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn wants the sanctions to kick in semi-automatically, with penalties only avoided if a majority vote against them.

One proposal being considered by the commission would force rule-breakers to deposit the equivalent of 0.2 percent of their gross domestic product, an amount that would be converted into a fine if corrective measures were not taken, EU sources said.

Another measure would punish countries that surpass the EU’s debt ceiling of 60 percent of GDP by forcing them to slash the excess by five percent each year for three years.

The commission also wants to smooth out cross-border imbalances, with sources talking of possible fines running to 0.1 percent of GDP for countries that fail to meet targets aimed at bringing up the rear.

In his letter and a position paper, Schäuble called for the suspension of voting rights and the freezing of EU development and farm aid funds for countries that fail to respect the rules.

“The creation of stronger incentives to prevent and correct excessive government deficits stands at the very core of our endeavours to enforce fiscal and economy governance in the EU,” he wrote.

Schäuble and other finance ministers will air their views within the task force on cross-border economic governance chaired on Monday evening by EU President Herman Van Rompuy.

Set up by national leaders, it is due to present its own findings at a summit next month.

The panel has struggled on sanctions so far, with ideas for cutting future aid for poorer regions hitting opposition notably among ex-Communist eastern European states.

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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