The Nation Newspaper

Tag: EU

  • EU’s finance chief to unveil capital market plan

    The EU’s new financial services chief has pledged to set out his plans for a pan-European capital market by the middle of next year, aiming to reduce companies’ reliance on banks and help revive the bloc’s fragile economy.

    Jonathan Hill, the European Commissioner for financial services, said he was seeking to create an integrated capital market over the next fives years and would develop a plan by next summer following a public consultation.

    “We still do not have a fully functioning single market for capital,” Hill told a conference of EU officials and business leaders. “I will be bringing forward proposals to deliver a capital markets union; a project for all 28 EU Member States.”

    Channeling more money into small companies is seen as crucial for Europe’s efforts to avoid economic stagnation because small and medium enterprises provide two out of every three private sector jobs in the European Union.

    Following the worst financial crisis in a generation, banks are reducing riskier lending, a problem in a continent where banks account for 80 percent of corporate loans.

    A capital markets union would mean the EU moving beyond public subsidies and loans to coordinate financing for companies and infrastructure through project bonds, public-private partnerships and infrastructure funds.

    Hill said his first steps would be to push a proposal for European long term investment funds for infrastructure and businesses, to develop a framework for securitisation and to carry out analysis of private placements – the sale of securities to a small number of chosen institutional investors.

    “I am interested in ideas for more market finance instruments – but not just in safe short-term debt, but in longer term stable debt that encourages long term investment, and in real risk capital that encourages innovation.”

    The European Central Bank is at the heart of wider efforts to create a capital markets union by trying to revive securitization, or the bundling of loans into bonds to raise cash for companies to invest.

  • Merkel would accept ‘UK exit’ from EU

    Merkel would accept ‘UK exit’ from EU

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly warned David Cameron she would rather see the United Kingdom leave the European Union than compromise over the principle of free movement.

    Der Spiegel news magazine quotes German government sources as saying she feared the UK was near a “point of no return.”

    Chancellor George Osborne dismissed the story as speculation about how Germany may react to a future UK policy shift.

    But he insisted ministers would act in the national interest in addressing public concerns about immigration.

    He told BBC Breakfast that concerns about abuses of the benefit system were causing “great unhappiness” but the UK would approach future negotiations in a “calm and rational” way.

    Mr. Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s continued membership before holding an in-out referendum.

    The prime minister has insisted that freedom of movement of workers would be “at the very heart of my renegotiation strategy for Europe.”

    But Mrs. Merkel is said by the magazine to have made clear she will withdraw her support for the UK’s continued EU membership if he continues to push for migration reform which requires fundamental changes to the principles of the organisation.

    The German chancellor’s warning to Mr. Cameron is reported to have come in a meeting on the fringes of the latest EU summit in Brussels last week.

     

  • Nigeria’s cocoa export cost to EU rises 30%

    Nigerian cocoa-processing companies say the cost of exporting their products to Europe has been inflated by 30 percent because of a stalemate in agreeing new trade terms with the European Union (EU).

    Nigerian cocoa butter and cake exports are charged from 4.2 per cent to 6.1 per cent of freight-on-board values as taxes at EU ports without an agreement, Felix Oladunjoye, executive secretary of the Cocoa Processors Association of Nigeria, or Copan, said in a phone interview Lagos, the commercial capital.

    Nigeria is the only country in West Africa yet to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement protocol on free trade by the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, he said.

    “It makes Nigeria-origin cocoa butter and cake less competitive in the international market. It is a direct loss of revenue to the local processing industry,” Oladunjoye said.

    Apart from having to export at a cost disadvantage, many of them are burdened by unserviced debts estimated collectively at about 40 billion naira ($241 million), preventing new credit lines from banks, according to Akin Olusuyi, managing director of Ile-Oluji Cocoa Products Ltd. and vice president of Copan.

    Eight processing companies located in the main cocoa-growing region in the southwest have a combined installed capacity of 155,000 metric tons a year.

    Since 2011 they’ve run at 25 per cent to 27 per cent of installed capacity, according to Oladunjoye. Processors also struggle to obtain beans in a local market dominated by exporters’ buying agents, he said.

    Nigeria is the world’s fourth-biggest producer of cocoa after Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia. Nigeria produced 350,000 tons of cocoa in the 2013-2014 season, according to the Agriculture Ministry.

    A government incentive plan to encourage exporters of agricultural items with subsidies ranging from five per cent to 15 per cent has been slow to come into effect, according to Oladunjoye.

    A backlog of applications going back to 2011 is still awaiting approval at the Finance Ministry, he said.

    Three phone calls to numbers listed for Nigeria’s Trade and Investment Ministry went unanswered.

    Finance Ministry officials weren’t immediately available to comment, an official who answered its phone number said.

    Nigeria had in May rejected the proposed trade agreement with the EU because it requires abolition of import duties for manufactured goods from Europe, saying it would lead to dumping of goods and loss of jobs.

     

     

  • China, EU close to ending telecoms row

    China and the European Union (EU) are closing in on a deal to resolve a long-running telecoms dispute by the end of the month, people close to the matter  have said.      They say this will potentially put an end to one of the most divisive issues between the two big trade partners.

    The EU’s trade chief is ready to drop an investigation into what Brussels says are illegal subsidies to Chinese makers of equipment for mobile telecom networks if China makes concessions.

    Imports of such equipment into the EU are worth an annual 1 billion euros (81 million pounds) and bring Chinese companies into competition with European firms including Ericsson, the world’s biggest mobile telecom equipment maker, Nokia Siemens Networks and Alcatel-Lucent.

    Beijing is considering a deal in which China promises to limit its export credits to China’s No. 2 telecoms equipment maker Huawei and the smaller ZTE, people close to the talks told Reuters.

    Both sides would also agree to monitor the market share of Chinese telecoms companies in Europe and European companies in China. They would also cooperate on industrial research and standardisation in the telecoms sector.

    Resolving the telecoms issue could dramatically change the tone of the bilateral relationship.

    Europe is China’s most important trading partner and for the EU, China is second only to the United States (U.S.). A successful telecoms agreement could pave the way for a wider free-trade accord in the future.

    “The two parties have reached a common understanding on all the four issues and they are looking to cut a final deal,” said one person close to the talks who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

    Another person said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht wants to reach a deal before he leaves office on Oct. 31.

    “This investigation was De Gucht’s issue. He doesn’t want to leave this with his successor,” the person said, saying that De Gucht had held phone conversations with China’s Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng.

    According to an EU document seen by Reuters, the Commission says Huawei’s swift rise in the European telecoms equipment market-from a 2.5 per cent market share in 2006 to a 25 per cent share today- could only have been achieved with state aid that global trade rules say are illegal.

    The document said Huawei and ZTE have prices that are 18 per cent below those of EU producers, hurting the profitability of European manufacturers.

    Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will meet senior EU officials at a summit in Milan between Oct. 16 and 17 and is expected to discuss the issue. The European Commission declined official comment.

    Failure to reach a deal could potentially see the EU executive launching an anti-subsidy procedure imposing punitive levies on Chinese telecoms equipment exports.

     

     

     

     

  • EU condemns soldiers’ death sentence

    The European Union (EU) has condemned the recent death sentence handed down to 12 soldiers.

    The soldiers were sentenced to death by firing squad by a military court-martial over alleged mutiny.

    The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the European, Mr. Thorbjørn Jagland expressed the region’s concern on the occasion marking the World Day against Death Penalty, held on Thursday.

    A statement issued by the EU stated that no execution has taken place in its member states in the last 17 years.

    The statement reads:  “On the European and World Day against the Death Penalty, the European Union and the Council of Europe reaffirm their strong and absolute opposition to capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and their commitment to its worldwide abolition.

    “We are deeply concerned about setbacks in some countries, such as recent mass trials leading to a vast number of death sentences, the extension in domestic legislation of the scope of the death penalty’s use, or the resumption of executions after a period of several years.

    “No execution has taken place in our member states in the last 17 years. The European Union and the Council of Europe welcome the fact that all Member States of the European Union have now ratified both Protocols 6 and 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights, and urge all other European States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify these instruments which aim at the abolition of the death penalty.”

  • FG urges EU to invest in proposed Development Bank

    FG urges EU to invest in proposed Development Bank

    THE Federal Government has urged the European Union (EU) to invest in the proposed Wholesale Development Bank through the union’s development financing outfit, the European Development Bank (EDB).

    The Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, made this appeal while receiving a delegation of the European Union led by its Ambassador to Nigeria, Michel Arrion, in his office in Abuja.

    Yuguda also revealed that the bid for a Wholesale Development Bank has raised significant interest among global funding agencies.

    According to him the World Bank has pledged $500 million while other development- oriented financial institutions like the African Development Bank (ADB) have also committed some funds for the take off of the bank.

    The minister explained that the aim of the bank is to boost the growth of the real sector by ensuring long- term financing and drastically cutting down interest rate.

    He added that the Federal Government would soon be embarking on a road-show to some specific countries to raise more capital.

    Yuguda urged the EDB to take advantage of the investment opportunities open in the proposed bank.

    He thanked the bank for its rigorous procedure in ensuring that the facilities granted Nigerian banks were aligned to the nation’s development priorities.

    The EU envoy hinted that EDB is already well established in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal as a development financier, adding it would like to boost its activities in Nigeria by funding long- term projects.

  • EU to fund 2015 elections

    EU to fund 2015 elections

    The Federal Government and the European Union (EU) signed yesterday a N3.3 billion (€15 million) financial agreement for the 11th European Development Fund to support the nation’s electoral cycle.

    Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the agreement was to support the rule of law, governance and democracy, which specifically is to contribute to the rejected reinforcement of democracy in Nigeria.

    The support, he said, is also aimed at strengthening planning, policy and operational capacities of the electoral management body in the country, including an improved legal framework for election.

    The minister said the programme of support for Nigeria’s electoral cycle for the period 2011-2015 is conceived to support civil organisations involved in electoral process and to improve the democratic quality of political engagement.

    EU’s Deputy Head in Nigeria Richard Young said: “The EU seeks to build on the success of the previous elections by committing these funds to the new project.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    “It is clear that a peaceful transparent, all inclusive and credible election is the prime of any thriving democracy. The EU will continue to partner with the Federal Government to implement workable electoral system.”

  • EU to keep Russia sanctions in place over Ukraine

    EU to keep Russia sanctions in place over Ukraine

    The EU is to keep sanctions against Russia in place, judging that Ukraine’s peace deal is not fully effective.

    EU ambassadors who met on Tuesday had noted some “encouraging developments” since the 5 September ceasefire was agreed, an EU spokeswoman said.

    But other parts of the peace deal “will need to be properly implemented”, said the spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic.

    The sanctions target senior Russian officials, as well as Russia’s oil industry, defence firms and banks.

    Western governments and the Ukrainian authorities in Kiev accuse Russia of supplying the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine with heavy weapons and soldiers.

    Russia denies the allegations.

    EU and US sanctions have been in place since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March.

    At least 3,200 people have died in fighting since April in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and thousands of civilians have fled the conflict.

    A shaky ceasefire has held since 5 September, and the two sides have since agreed to set up a 30km (19-mile) buffer zone.

    But there have been frequent flare-ups of violence.

    At least seven Ukrainian soldiers died in a clash with pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk airport on Monday – the deadliest single incident for the military since the truce deal.

    A tank shell hit the vehicle carrying the troops, officials said.

    More heavy shelling was reported on Tuesday in the Donetsk airport area.

     

     

    Last week Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told the UN General Assembly that Russian troops were still operating in eastern Ukraine.

    He urged the West not to lift sanctions until his country regained control of all its territory.

    Both the US and the EU have said sanctions could be lifted if the situation on the ground improves sufficiently.

     

  • ‘More than 3, 000’ Europeans with IS

    ‘More than 3, 000’ Europeans with IS

    The number of Europeans joining Islamist fighters in Syria and Iraq has risen to more than 3,000, the European Union’s anti-terrorism chief has told the BBC.

    Gilles de Kerchove also warned that Western air strikes would increase the risk of retaliatory attacks in Europe.

    United States-led forces have launched nearly 200 air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq since August and on Monday began targeting IS in Syria.

    The United Kingdom parliament is due to vote on possible air strikes in Iraq on Friday.

    IS has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months.

    Mr. de Kerchove said the number of 3,000 included all those who have been to the region, including those who have returned and those who have been killed there.

    The CIA estimates that IS may have up to 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria – three times as many as previously feared.

    Mr. de Kerchove said that IS declaration of a caliphate in June may have played a role in drawing more support from Europe.

    “If you believe in this, probably you want to be part of it as early as possible,” he said.

    He warned that air strikes by the U.S and its Western allies had increased the risk of a violent response from militant Islamists against European targets.

    “I think we have to acknowledge that it will,” he said.

  • EU’s financial watchdogs warn of funding squeeze

    Three European Union (EU) financial watchdogs have warned that a funding freeze will hamper efforts to help Europe avoid another financial crisis.

    The 2007-2009 crisis led to new laws that forced banks to hold more capital so that taxpayers do not have to rescue them again. Insurers also face tougher capital requirements, while the EU has also agreed to set up new protections for investors.

    Three EU watchdogs are responsible for writing the rules to apply and enforce these new laws.

    Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA), said there was a growing disconnect between the rising level of rule-making and the EBA’s lack of resources.

    “We are really struggling,” Enria told the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee, one of the major EU bodies that approved laws now being fleshed out by regulators.

    The EU’s executive European Commission is proposing to freeze EBA’s budget for next year at around 33.6 million euros, a move Enria said would make it difficult to deliver on its allotted work.

    “It is becoming an issue of survival and seriousness in completing our tasks. We have exhausted all possible creative solutions on our side,” Enria said.

    The EBA will be forced to decide which tasks to complete or to postpone, he told the committee.

    Regulators have come under pressure to step up their activity after supervisors across the world failed to spot the build-up to the crisis.

    Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), said the watchdog will not meet some of its legal obligations in supervision, in analysing market risks or in collecting data as it prioritises rule-making.

    The commission has proposed a budget of 33.3 million euros for ESMA next year, compared with a request from the watchdog for 38.6 million euros and 14 new posts. This year it received 33.2 million euros.

    “With the current resources, we cannot meet the deadlines in the legislation,” Maijoor told the committee.

    The regulators are funded partly by the EU and partly by national regulatory bodies, which are strapped for cash themselves.

    Gabriel Bernardino, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), told the committee his agency faced a 10 per cent budget cut next year.

    “Are we serious? We need to have courage,” Bernardino said.

    Meanwhile, the European Union must shift more of the cost of a new rescue fund for banks onto the region’s biggest lenders, lawmakers told the bloc’s financial services chief.

    EU leaders have decided to complete a banking union by setting up an agency to shut failing euro zone banks and establishing, over eight years, a 55 billion euro back-up fund.

    Michel Barnier, the bloc’s financial services commissioner, has overseen the introduction of a welter of new rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of the financial crisis that forced taxpayers to shore up banks. He is finalizing a plan in coming weeks detailing how lenders will contribute to the new rescue fund.

    Very small German banks, such as Sparkassen and Volksbanken, have argued they will not have to make use of the planned fund, since their risk profile is so low.