EU-DIGEST - special edition

Eurosceptics celebrate a triumph of the little people against the Euro juggernaut. Ireland's 'no' vote against the treaty on the European constitution is, in such minds, the brave assertion of democracy against bureaucracy. The European elite in Brussels, with its dark plans to hobble Europeans everywhere, deserves a good kicking for producing an unloved, incomprehensible set of reforms. It has got it. Ireland has stood up for Europe.

This is nonsense from top to bottom, a farrago of lies and disinformation. The European Union is a painfully constructed and fragile skein of compromises that allows 27 democratic states on our shared continent to come together and drive forward areas of common interest to further their citizens' well-being. The elite that plots this is a nonexistent phantom invented by populist demagogues. The beleaguered, unloved treaty would have improved Europe's effectiveness and tried to address its much talked about democratic weaknesses.

The reality is that Ireland's 'no' voters have trashed an EU that is precious but weak. Most 'no' voters, grabbing on to the worst fear rather than reasoned fact, have unknowingly set in train a political dynamic that, unless carefully handled, could lead not just to Ireland but Britain leaving the EU. Everybody will be the poorer.

Note EU-Digest: "if the Euro Sceptics in Britain and Ireland eventually get their way, the day might even come where Ireland and Britain will be replaced by Russia as a member of the EU. Russia in a way has far more to contribute to the EU as a whole than Ireland or Britain. If this happens it would finally get rid of two countries who have always been treating the EU with a certain amount of disdain and who look at their EU membership as "wanting to have their cake and eat it also."

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The tricky practice of placing value on a company's illiquid holdings has been responsible for many of the multibillion-dollar write-downs that have hobbled the U.S. banking industry in the past year and threatens to do the same to insurers' balance sheets. Under a proposal for an international accounting standard, insurers may have to change the way they value insurance contracts, a move that could strike at the overall value of the carriers.

While it is unclear when, or even if, U.S. companies will have to comply with rules being crafted by the International Accounting Standards Board, which is based in London, the possible convergence of U.S. and international rules has left insurance companies fearing the worst.

Financial services companies faced unprecedented volatility in their financial statements after valuing illiquid mortgage-linked securities this year, leading to some $300 billion in write-downs and credit losses by companies like Citigroup, the world's biggest bank, and American International Group, the biggest global insurer.


For the complete report from the IHT on the above story and other European related reports go to EU-Digest

UK juddering down a rockier policy path than the US - by Gerard Baker

For all the fashionable chatter in economic circles about how the world has decoupled from America in the past few years, the crisis unfolding in Britain is proceeding along remarkably similar lines to the one that has engulfed the US. Nothing better illustrates the point than the bleak state of the incumbent party’s political prospects. In Britain the governing party toils below 30 per cent in the opinion polls, the Opposition wins control of London and takes its first parliamentary by-election in 30 years. In the US the approval rating of the President barely touches 30 per cent and his party has lost three “safe” congressional seats in special elections in the past three months.

Note EU-Digest - the reason why Britain is still coupled to the US can all be traced back to the "meeting of the minds" between former President Reagan and former UK PM Thatcher, as to the alignment of economic policies of the US and Britain. Both Britain and the US can thank these two politicians for the disastrous state these two nations are in. On top of that, Britain's aversion of the EU and everything it stands for, including its superior long-term economic policies which do not align themselves blindly with the US is coming to haunt them in a big way.

For the complete report from the Times on line click on this link

Britain is Europe's most popular destination for asylum seekers, official figures out Tuesday showed, as a report found that the term had developed negative connotations among native Britons. Figures from the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office showed that Britain received 7,700 asylum applications (including dependants) this year -- 300 more than France, the second most popular destination in Europe.

Some 164,635 foreign nationals became British, up seven percent on 2006. The number outstripped the previous record of 161,700 set in 2005, when there was a rush to beat new tests on "Britishness" and the ability to speak English. Nationalities with the largest numbers of citizenship applications granted were Indian with 14,490, Filipino (10,840), Afghan (10,555), South African (8,150) and Pakistani (8,140).

For the complete report click from AFP on this link