Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

EUROPE

Berlin could block French bid for EU finance job

The former French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici appears lined up to land the EU’s top finance job. But Germany, whose leaders are reportedly not keen on a Frenchman being in charge of the Commission's monetary brief, could yet scupper the move.

Published: 16 July 2014 16:46 CEST
Berlin could block French bid for EU finance job
Ex-French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici is not Germany's ideal man for a top EU job, it seems. Photo: AFP

Earlier this year Pierre Moscovici was booted out of France’s top finance job, but now he looks set to land one in Brussels. That’s unless Germany manage to thwart his bid to become the EU commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the newly elected President of the European Commission, is believed to have already earmarked Moscovici to succeed Olli Rehn, if he is nominated as France’s representative on the Commission.

But reports in Le Monde on Wednesday claim Angela Merkel and her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble are not keen on Moscovici being given a role that allows him to evaluate and sanction member states’ budgets and reforms, given the fact that France has been unable to meet EU deficit targets.

Merkel who is in Brussels with other EU leaders to thrash out who gets the tops jobs, may yet throw a spanner in the works.

“If we name the ex-French minister for finance to be the commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, who did nothing to enforce the stability pact, it like trying to hunt for the devil using Beelzebub,” German MP Norbert Bathle, from Merkel’s CDU party, told the newspaper Handelsblatt this week.

Germany has long been irritated by France’s inability to respect an EU set target that forced France it to bring its deficit down to below the threshold of 3 percent of its GDP.

The European Union in June last year agreed to give France an extra two years, until 2015, to bring its deficit under the EU-agreed ceiling.

There has been talk recently of Paris approaching Brussels for a further extension, although new Finance Minister Michel Sapin has insisted the deadline will be met.

Germany’s own finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said as recently as last week that France must respect the agreements to reign in its public debt.

On Wednesday a spokesman for the French government refused to respond to German concerns simply telling Les Echos newspaper: “What is important is that the new European Commission and its members are committed to what the Council decides, knowing that the stability and growth pact prevails.”

In Brussels on Wednesday President François Hollande could have a tough job to convince Merkel of the merits of the man he wants on the Commission. His only chance might be to convince the German chancellor that France's economy is heading in the right direction.

No announcement is likely to be made on Wednesday surrounding Moscovici, who is still not assured of being nominated as France's representative on the Commission, with former Justice Minister Elisabeth Guigou also pushing her case for the role.

EU leaders in Brussels are however expected to decide who will fill the top roles of EU foreign policy chief and European Council President.

Our colleagues at The Local Italy are covering those talks in their live blog. You can keep up to date with the action by clicking here.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SHOW COMMENTS