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New cold war in Europe as Russia turns off gas supplies
Fears of a deep chill spread across Europe yesterday after a row between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices cut supplies to the rest of the continent on a day of plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfalls, reports the Independent.
The EU said the situation was "completely unacceptable" as thousands of businesses were urged to switch fuels, and households struggled to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures.
Reuters quotes Czech Europe minister Alexandr Vondra, who has urged the two sides to reach a compromise this week.
El País says that at least 16 European countries, 11 of them in the EU (and including Italy, France and Germany) have already suffered drastic reductions in the supply of gas, and many have not even received one cubic metre, due to the supply cut issued from Moscow yesterday.
The Irish Times says that Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were hit by supply cuts today, as confidence ebbs away that the standoff will resolve itself any time soon.
The Guardian says that supplies to Romania were also halted early on Wednesday, through the Mediesu Aurit gas import station.
Meanwhile, a delegation from the European parliament is due to meet Gazprom and Naftogaz representatives on Thursday in a bid to resolve the dispute.
Fight for Gaza ceasefire gathers pace
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, claimed last night a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip was "not far off" as he unexpectedly returned to Egypt after talks in Syria, which is the chief Arab ally of the Hamas movement fighting Israel's invasion, reports the Guardian.
It says Sarkozy flew from Beirut back to Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea for a second, unscheduled meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
However, a story in the LA Times alleges that the EU is being seen as punching far below its weight in the diplomatic arena because it cannot decide who pulls the strings in foreign affairs.
While the US is caught between two presidencies (Barack Obama will not be inaugurated until 20 January), the EU has been "trying to fill the diplomatic void", says the paper.
But calls for a ceasefire by the EU's two delegations to the Middle East - one led by the Czech presidency and one by the former presidency in the person of Nicolas Sarkozy - have been rebuffed, reinforcing the impression that the US is the major broker in the conflict.
El País, meanwhile, says that a ceasefire plan put forward by Mubarak only hours ago has received the support of the US and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.
And Le Figaro reports that Israeli soldiers have evacuated Khan Yunis, one of Hamas's strongholds, as talks focus on Mubarak's ceasefire plan.
The Independent also says that Israel has instituted a three-hour daily respite from bombing, suspending its operations from 1pm to 4pm to allow humanitarian aid to flow through the city of Gaza.
Czech EU presidency declares aversion to financial regulation
Czech prime minister Mirek Topolánek has given a boost to economic liberalism by declaring his aversion to protectionism, regulation and bureaucracy in a presentation of his country’s priorities for the EU presidency, reports El País.
The prime minister and his Europe minister, AlexandrVondra, also confronted the two main crises they have been faced with in the first month of their presidency: the Israel-Gaza conflict and the gas standoff between Ukraine and Russia.
They also said the Czech Republic would ratify the Lisbon treaty in February, leaving Ireland as the only country not to have signed up to it.
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Poland: No referendum needed for joining euro
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said that he doesn’t see the need for his country to hold a vote on joining the euro, reports the Irish Times, adding that an assent to join the single currency was bound up in the referendum on joining the EU itself.
The paper quotes Tusk, who reportedly favours adopting the euro by 2012. “I don't see any reason why we should hold a national referendum on euro-zone accession. It's like asking whether we still want to be in the EU. A referendum on the euro took place together with the EU accession one.”
However, it goes on to say that he’s unlikely to get support from the main opposition party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice (PiS), which is essential to secure the two-thirds majority in parliament he would need for a constitutional amendment to legalise the single currency.
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EU renews threat to regulate credit default swaps
The EU on Tuesday revived its threat to regulate credit default swaps after banking representatives backed away from a December agreement to process trades through a clearing house in the region, reports the IHT.
EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy had pushed industry groups and regulators into a tentative agreement on 10 December to make over-the-counter transactions less risky by processing them through a central counterpart, which would make good if a buyer or seller failed.
The plan, similar to actions in the United States, came in response to the financial crisis.
