Theresa Crysmann | In the world’s second biggest lobbying capital after Washington DC, around 30,000 lobbyists also work outside of office hours to advance the interests of their mostly corporate employers. Conservative estimates put the annual value of the city’s lobby machine at €1.5 billion.
University of Surrey) via The Conversation | With the centenary of the end of World War I in November, there have been plenty of sombre occasions for European leaders of late. But perhaps none have been quite as sombre as the brief meeting to sign the withdrawal agreement detailing the UK’s departure from the European Union.
It’s a simple question: Will we be able to feed everyone if the population of the planet rises from about 7 billion people today to 9-10 billion in 2050? Several experts at Citi have tried to anwer this question, starting from mentioning Thomas Malthus’ Essay on the Principles of Population, and concluding that food industry in its current format is unsustainable for future demand.
William Chislett | Spain has moved from a labour market characterised during the Franco regime by heavy state intervention, no free trade unions, the prohibition of strikes and lock-outs, a low female participation rate and paternalistic legislation to one that is flexible, but marked by consistently high unemployment.
Naturgy has reached agreement with Argentina to recover 120 million euros. The company has been suffering significant damage to its accounts from the hyperinflation and the devaluation of the Argentine peso this year.
The Spanish blood products company could invest 5 bn$ in the Chinese pharmaceutical company Shanghai RAAS Blood Products, leader in China, which specialises in the investigation, production and sales of plasma products. The operation would be formalised in Q219. Grifols would reinforce its position in China and would reduce its dependence on the US.
In this new binary world where China is bad and the US is good, there is a great danger of over-looking the very real structural risks in the west at the moment. As told by Mark Tinker, AXA strategist in Asia, one of the current amusing party games might be to play ‘substitute the words US for China in different bearish economic projection’ and see if it worries you more or less.
Repsol has secured 12 new blocks in an area near to Pikka, the largest on-land oil discovery in the US in the last 30 years. The oil company has secured mining domination in a zone situated south of the River Colville (Alaska, US), where ConocoPhillips has also made significant discoveries. Repsol´s partner Oil Search has also secured four leasing contracts.
The EC found yesterday that Italy is in breach of the European Union’s debt criterion, with a debt/GDP ratio of 131.2% for 2017, significantly above the EU’s threshold of 60%. According to the firm Julius Baer, it is obviou the 60% target introduced in the Maastricht Treaty in the early 1990s cannot be binding anymore, given the elevated debt levels across European countries.
Andy Mok via Caixin | President Xi Jinping’s visit to Spain on his way to Buenos Aires at the end of this month will result in the usual and necessary flurry of declarations about strengthening bilateral relations centered on trade as well as discussions on how Spain might support China’s diplomatic initiatives in the EU.