“Europe” is not considering extending the Solvency II rules for the insurance industry to pension funds in a way that would force the closure of final salary pension schemes.

Articles (14 Feb) in the Daily Express, the Daily Telegraph and the Independent paint an incomplete and sometimes misleading picture

There is a current review of the rules applying to pension funds. But the Commission will not put forward proposals for some months yet.

Those proposals will definitely not “cut and paste” Solvency II provisions into pension rules. They will be based on detailed impact assessments and will be designed to make pensions safer – so that people do not contribute for many years and then lose out – without undermining the supply of occupational pension provision.

Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier has made a comprehensive public statement (10 Feb) on these issues, regrettably not referred to in any of the articles. It is …

Comment posted in response to City attacks ‘flawed’ EC analysis of transaction tax merits (Daily Telegraph website, 13 Feb 2012)
There is no contradiction – as alleged by today’s letter from financial sector representatives – between the European Commission’s general position on the benefits of derivatives and Commissioner Semeta’s arguments supporting the financial transaction tax (FTT) in the Telegraph on Friday.

In using the term “socially useless” activity, Commissioner Semeta was not referring to derivatives in general and there is nothing in his article that could justify that reading.

Rather, he was alluding to certain types of activity, such as some automated High Frequency Trading, that redistribute rents instead of creating value. This type of activity offers no positive contribution to the rest of the economy and arguably played a part in bringing about the financial crisis.

Lord Turner, of course, famously made a similar point.

With regard to the figure of 90% decrease in trading of …

Dear Sirs

Of course it is essential that doctors working in the UK can communicate properly with their patients “Foreign GPs must speak good English”, 8 Feburary 2011. No one would argue otherwise.

But EU legislation concerning the recognition of qualifications for medics should not be blamed. Whilst it does not allow the systematic testing of medics language skills as part of recognising their qualification as a doctor, the Commission has made clear it does not oppose proportionate language testing in the UK for doctors from other EU member states.

Yours faithfully

Jonathan Scheele
Head of European Commission Representation in the UK

Seeking asylum from Europe
Britain is bound by a series of European treaties that limit our capacity to pursue an independent asylum policy.
(Daily Telegraph, page 27, 15 February 2000)
This was corrected two days later by Home Office Minister Barbara Roche who said, “Far from being a European treaty, it is the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees – signed by more than 120 countries – that obliges the United Kingdon to assess every asylum claim on its merits.”

The last producer of Caerphilly cheese in Caerphilly has been forced to close having been told that it was illegal to take delivery of unpasteurised milk in metal churns.

Western Mail, p1, 25 April 1995

Daily Telegraph, p5, 25 April 1995

Daily Mail, p5, 25 April 1995

Daily Star, p9, 25 April 1995

The Sun, pp6 & 9, 25 April 1995

Daily Mirror, p13, 25 April 1995

Today, p15, 25 April 1995
The transportation of milk is governed by two Directives (Council Directive 92/46/EEC and 94/71/EEC) regulating the transportation of heat-treated and pasteurised milk from the farm to the dairy or processing plant. They ensure that churns and tanks of more than four litres must be ‘hermetically sealed before and during transport by means of a watertight sealing device’.
However, these provisions only apply to heat-treated or pasteurised milk. Raw or unpasteurised milk, though covered by both Directives, may still be transported in open churns. Despite this, general practice …