European politics

European integration: the next five years... and the following decades

The EU Makes History: Takes The Clearest Step Towards Integration And Cooperation In years

After more than four days of arguing, European leaders agreed on a historic European Recovery Fund worth €750 Bn, that will be split between €390 Bn in grants and €360 Bn in loans. This split represents a 52%/48% compromise for the Frugal Four versus the initial proposal of two thirds of the Fund being disbursed as grants. This is the analysis of Esty Dwek, Head of Global Market Strategies at Natixis IM Solutions, on the agreement reached at the European Summit.


Brussels Summit

EU Leaders One Step Closer To Agreeing On Recovery Fund

Monex Europe | The euro found support in anonymous reports this morning that the frugal four countries are now satisfied with €390bn of the fund coming in the form of grants. The initial proposal included a total of €500bn to be allocated in grants, but the leaders failed to find a compromise on the overall size over the weekend. The talks will resume at 4pm CEST today.


The FAANG companies are moving Wall Street

The Ruling In Favour Of Apple Undermines A Mechanism For Cleaning Up The EU’s Public Accounts

Intermoney | The European justice ruled last week in favour of Apple over Ireland’s advantageous tax treatment. In 2016, the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager considered that Ireland’s tax treatment applied to Apple was irregular and distorting competition in the single market. Now, in an appealable judgment to the EU Court of Justice, Brussels is considered as not having been able to properly argue that reasoning.


Hydrogen EU

EU Pushes For Renewable Hydrogen To Reach Climate Neutrality By 2050

On 8th July, the EU announced its hydrogen strategy as a priority within the Green Recovery Plan. Clean hydrogen will be a key tool for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in sectors that are highly dependent on fossil fuels. The European Commission aims to achieve 40GW of renewable hydrogen capacity by 2030, which is an ambitious target as it represents 2.7 times the estimated global capacity in that period. Even so, it is only 5% of the global capacity that would be needed to achieve the Paris agreement objectives. 


EU Germany together

A More European Germany Than Ever Presiding Over Europe

Lidia Conde (Frankfurt) | Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union Council from July. The other member states’ expectations are high. All the dimensions of the health, social and economic impact of the coronavirus are still unknown. But we know that the consequences could be immense. All together to relaunch Europe” is the German Presidency’s motto and one which is not just words. Germany and its Chancellor Angela Merkel are committed to it.


Jean Castex

France’s Cabinet Reshuffle Signals Shift To More Political Integration At Critical Juncture

Scope Ratings | The appointment of a new prime minister and a shift towards greening the economy could help to restore political integration across government levels over the medium term but reviving the economy remains the key near-term priority. Emmanuelle Macron is facing the multi-faceted challenges of reviving the economy, addressing the climate imperative and resetting his presidency amid declining approval ratings.



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Brexit Negotiations Back On: But The Difficult Problems Of The Past Remain

Intermoney | As the pandemic has eased in Europe, long-standing problems have returned to the forefront, one of which is the ever-present Brexit. According to the FT, there is greater willingness to bring positions closer together, so that there would be a breakthrough in the negotiations from 29 June, However, the conflictive issues remain and include: the UK’s demand to hold on to the access to its fishing waters, the disagreements over how to create a regulatory playing field to protect companies from unfair competition. There is also Brussels’ desire to wrap up all the parts of a future relationship into a single legal agreement.


EU recovery fund

Ten Out Of 27 EU Members Are Critical Of The European Recovery Plan

We approach at the European Council on Friday with two distinct groups of countries clearly expressing concerns about the Commission’s proposal. Some because they do not welcome any attempt to share risks, while others believe the programme benefits nations they consider to be rich. These are the axis of the frugals (Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden) and the Visegrads (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia). These would be joined by Finland and Estonia, which have also shown their discomfort with the proposal.