UK PM Burnham reopens divisive debate on rejoining EU • FRANCE 24 English

Europe’s latest energy shock is rapidly feeding into consumer prices, with inflation accelerating across some of the euro area’s largest economies and leaving the European Central Bank facing an increasingly uncomfortable policy dilemma.<br><br>September data show particularly strong increases in southern Europe. Spain’s harmonized inflation rate jumped to 5.0%, up from 4.6% in August and its highest reading in several years. Spain’s statistics agency INE said rising prices for fuels and lubricants were among the main drivers. Spain’s domestic CPI rose 4.9%, while core inflation increased more modestly to 3.1%.<br><br>Italy is experiencing a similar energy shock. Headline inflation accelerated from 3.3% in August to 4.2% in September, according to preliminary data from Istat. Regulated energy prices surged 25.9% year-on-year, while non-regulated energy prices jumped 22.2%. By comparison, Italian core inflation remained much lower at just 1.7%.<br><br>The divergence between headline and underlying inflation highlights the extent to which Europe’s latest inflation problem remains an energy story.<br><br>Europe is particularly exposed to global energy shocks because of its dependence on imported oil and natural gas. The latest surge in crude and fuel prices resulting from the Middle East conflict therefore works its way relatively quickly through transportation, manufacturing, and household energy costs.<br><br>Diesel has become an especially painful part of Europe’s latest energy shock. The region remains structurally dependent on imported middle distillates, leaving it exposed when global supplies tighten. Disruptions to Middle Eastern and Russian refining and trade flows have sent diesel crack spreads—the premium of diesel over crude—sharply higher, meaning European consumers are being hit by both elevated crude prices and unusually expensive refining margins. With replacement barrels increasingly competing for long-haul supply, higher freight costs are adding another layer to the price shock.

A kind reminder: <br>UK to re-join the EU with the following <b>absence</b> of previous unique exceptions just like every other member:<br>1. Will adopt the Euro as currency and join the eurozone, which also means forgetting about the once unique extraordinary exception of rebate<br>2. Will join the Schengen area, which includes installing ICAO Compliant eID Cards for services and travel <br>3. Will always place the EU flag alongside the UK&#39;s country flag in public, including on licence plates once more<br>4. Will use the metric system for land vehicle speed and for distance of road/rail/waterway transport network<br>5. Will apply EU law and regulations to its overseas territories in Europe: Crown dependencies (Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey), Gibraltar, plus the OST in Cyprus (Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia)<br>6. Will join not as UK, but as the constituent countries England, Scotland, and Wales (the EU could then adopt Sc. Gaelic and Welsh as official languages); Northern Ireland can decide whom they want to be part of: (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, or (d) Ireland<br>7. The EU/EEA will universally use and apply British English spelling, pronunciation, and wording over American English (e.g., aluminium instead of aluminum, tomāto instead of tomäto, holiday instead of vacation) and the use of the Oxford comma in grammar<br><b>Note:</b> <br>a) The accession criteria to join the eurozone is to limit debt with the planned or actual government deficit should not exceed 3% of GDP; the government debt ratio should not be higher than 60% of GDP. <br>b) A single EU member could veto unresolved issues like Cyprus asking for the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia be handed over; Greece asking for the Parthenon marbles; France asking for some kind of arrangement for the Channel Islands; Ireland asking special rights for Northern Ireland assuming it hasn&#39;t unified yet. <br>c) The negotiation phase of fundamentals could question or reject the democratic structure of the UK meeting political union under the Copenhagen criteria for enlargement on things like having an absence of a codified constitution, the Westminster-style parliament model despite Scotland and Wales having a continental model, the First Past the Post (FPTP) election system, and/or the life peerage nomination of House of Lords members.