EU needs Luxembourg's negotiating skills - EUbusiness Week newsletter 712 - EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 712 top stories: Greece submits new bailout plan to avoid euro exit; Climate: EU Parliament backs reform of carbon market; EU says MasterCard overcharges customers, retailers; Green Austria on warpath against nuclear power in Europe; MEPs demand public dispute system for US trade deal; Euro increasingly used as funding currency, ECB says

Publisher’s Note

2015 is a good year for EU presidencies: first Latvia, where my grandparents came from; and since 1 July, Luxembourg, where I grew up.

The extent of the new presidency’s challenges and its priorities differ little from Latvia’s, with Greece (maybe less so after this weekend) and Russia continuing themes. Much needed in the next six months will be Luxembourg’s capacity to mediate and reach compromises, without which, says EP president Schulz, Europe “could not progress”.
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Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

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1. Greece submits new bailout plan to avoid euro exit

Greece submitted new bailout reform plans to an impatient eurozone on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to save the country’s collapsing economy and its fragile place in the single currency.
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For Greece’s ill, crisis a matter of life or death
How to do ‘Grexit’: Stepping out of the eurozone

2. Climate: EU Parliament backs reform of carbon market

The European Parliament on Wednesday approved plans to overhaul the EU’s carbon market, a key part of strategies to curb the EU’s global-warming emissions.
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3. EU says MasterCard overcharges customers, retailers

The EU said Thursday that US credit-card giant MasterCard overcharged customers and retailers, having already found rival Visa at fault over fees levied on card payments.
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4. Green Austria on warpath against nuclear power in Europe

Austria’s announcement that it will challenge state aid for a new nuclear plant in Britain marks the latest step in a solo campaign to roll back atomic energy in Europe.
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5. MEPs demand public dispute system for US trade deal

Members of the European Parliament demanded Wednesday that the proposed free trade deal with the United States drop a US-backed private dispute settlement system in favour of public procedures in open court.
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6. Euro increasingly used as funding currency, ECB says

International borrowers are increasingly turning to the euro when borrowing money, thanks to the low interest rates in the single currency area, says the European Central Bank.
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EUROPEAN LAW

Referendum: xxxxxxxxxx.
Latest news from the European Court of Justice
EU law firms
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Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

Migrants: France and Germany agreed Thursday to accept some 21,000 asylum-seekers and refugees as part of EU efforts to deal with the flood of migrants seeking refuge from conflicts across North Africa and the Middle East.
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Merkel insists Greece debt haircut ‘out of the question’
Latvia’s Vejonis sworn in as EU’s first Green president
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Commission Watch

Texting Tsipras: angry Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker berated Euro-MPs who heckled him for looking at his phone during a parliamentary debate Tuesday, saying he was texting the Greek prime minister.
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Juncker wants ‘to avoid Grexit’
EU foreign policy chief says Iran deal ‘very close’
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Parliament Watch

Circular economy: Parliament on Thursday urged EU countries to cut down on waste by getting supermarkets to give their unsold food to charities, rather than destroy it.
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Founder of Germany’s anti-euro AfD quits party
In plenary this week, MEPs debated copyright reform, including ways to improve access to online content across borders while recognizing the importance of territorial licences, particularly for TV and film productions; and looked to the Capital Markets Union to ease cross-border investment and finance for SMEs.
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EU diary

13 Jul: Agriculture and Fisheries Council
13 Jul: Eurogroup
13-16 Jul: European Parliament Committee Meetings
14 Jul: Conference on climate change and food security
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary