Private Eye also reports on the Court of Auditors report. It quotes Jules Muis, former head of the Commission's own internal audit service saying that the EU's accounts remain "chronically sordid".
WSJ

Andrew Duff: UK opt-outs "judicially flawed" and will crumble
The England Expects blog reports that Lib Dem MEP Andrew Duff - who was one of the European Parliament's three representatives to the IGC - told an audience in Brussels on Monday that the IGC "was a giant exercise to make obscure what has previously been straightforward. Certain issues were suppressed. We need to remind ourselves that the greater part of the 2004 treaty has been satisfactorily salvaged, and will find itself in the amended treaty, and in recalling that the greater part of the treaty has been salvaged, it exposes the features agreed to greater public scrutiny." He also attacked the UK's negotiating position and predicted that the "opt-outs on the charter will prove to be judicially flawed and will crumble."
England Expects

Poland issues European Arrest Warrant for 88 year old whose extradition was already blocked by the Home Office
The Mail reports that an 88 year old widow is to be extradited to Poland after the country issued a European Arrest Warrant on charges that she arranged the show trial and execution of a war hero under the country's Stalinist dictatorship. The Arrest Warrant has been issued despite the fact that the Home Office refused to extradite her last year saying that the case was too long ago. Under the provisions of the European Arrest Warrant the Home Secretary is powerless to block the move which only needs to be rubber stamped by the UK courts.

Benefit claims from A8 migrants double; signs that level of migration has "peaked"?
The Mail reports that benefit claims by Eastern Europeans have more than doubled in the past year. Almost 129,000 newcomers are receiving payments such as tax credits - up from 55,000 12 months ago, the Home Office said. The payments by the taxpayer are worth an estimated £145 million a year. The figures also revealed that more than 220,000 migrants from the new member states have registered to work in the UK in the last year. The Guardian reports that immigration from Eastern Europe has now "peaked", pointing to the fact that 9,000 fewer migrants entered the UK from July to September than in the same period last year.
Guardian

EU farm subsidy changes to benefit lawyers, not taxpayers
The Telegraph reports that Britain will oppose plans by Brussels to cut EU farm subsidies worth £56 million to Britain's wealthiest and largest landowners, amid fears that the cuts will benefit "lawyers and accountants" instead of taxpayers. The Government fears that farmers or landowners seeking to minimise the cuts to subsidies will find ways to break up ownership of large farms, leading to a decline in agricultural productivity and a bonanza for lawyers. An official is quoted saying, "The subsidy cap will not bite and economies of scale for big farms could be lost while lawyers and accountants end up receiving CAP money. Is it a good use of taxpayer money to force member states to introduce something that people can evade?" Another official said, "It is perverse to encourage farmers to become more efficient, which can mean larger farms, and then to put in place a policy that encourages the opposite." Yesterday's proposals from the Commission would cut all individual farm payments above £70,000 by 10 percent, those above £140,000 by 25 percent and those over £210,000 by 45 percent. The Queen would be one of the big losers. The FT reports that Germany is also against subsidy cuts.

Jack Thurston of www.farmsubsidy.org and a former agriculture adviser to the Government criticised the Government's position saying, "Support for the farm subsidy fat cats goes against the grain of Gordon Brown's belief in targeting welfare state benefits at the people in greatest need."

Meanwhile EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel angrily dismissed claims made in last week's European Court of Auditors report that EU farm payments were ending up going to golf clubs, saying it was a "stupid message" which was "completely out of the question" and never "our intention" when pursuing the CAP overhaul. During a press conference she said, "I was disappointed, then surprised, then I became angry to see the Court of Auditors say we paid money for golf courses." She said, "It's a pity that all the efforts and all the improvement that we have made in agriculture to secure that money is duly spent is totally overshadowed by a history of golf courses. And that's why I'm pissed off with that discussion."

In an interview with Le Figaro on the CAP French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier says, "We must conserve the principle of aid. Agriculture must be remunerated for the services that it brings society, notably in national and regional development. That does not mean that we should not review the aid system." He says there is "no question of burying the CAP altogether".
EUobserver Telegraph Times FT EC