Banca March | The lack of support from Germany and Spain for labelling nuclear-derived hydrogen – pink hydrogen – as “green” within the European taxonomy has infuriated the French government, which claimed to have the commitment of both countries. The dispute could call into question the construction of a gas pipeline linking Germany and Spain, as well as delaying European green legislation.
Banco Sabadell: According to press reports, the EU plans to respond to the US $369 billion (€340 billion) Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by relaxing state aid rules on tax credits for green investments. A portion of the €800 billion NGEU fund could also be directed towards tax credits. By relaxing restrictions on tax credits, the EC seeks to emulate one of the advantages of the IRA, simplicity of access. The…
Lidia Conde (Francfort) | Veronika Grimm (Rendsburg, Germany, 1971) sits on the German Federal Government’s Advisory Council of Economists, which analyses the country’s economic development on the basis of scientific criteria and publishes a report every autumn in which it expresses its analyses and forecasts. Following its opinion, the government in turn responds to the council’s recommendations. Now, Grimm predicts that the economy of the continent’s leading power will shrink…
The euro has entered into circulation in Croatia today, bringing the number of European Union (EU) Member States using the single European currency to 20. With Croatia’s accession to the euro area, Hrvatska narodna banka, the country’s national central bank, becomes a member of the Eurosystem. The central banking system of the euro area consists of the ECB and the national central banks of the countries whose currency is the…
Alphavalue / Divancons | Blackstone’s mega property fund (BREIT, $125 billion of assets) has appeared all across financial press headlines in recent days. And it has made it clear there that, according to the terms of the fund, capital withdrawals are limited. The fund manager’s clients can only redeem 5% of their stake in the fund each quarter or 2% every month. All this is leading to investors in other…
The ifo Institute has called for a show of unity toward China. In recent years, the trade imbalance between Germany and China has tipped significantly in China’s favor, but the same is not true for EU-China trade relations, according to an ifo study. “For this reason, it is questionable whether Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s trip to China will on its own be enough to send the right message. It would have…
Fernando González Urbaneja | The new British Prime Minister is young (42), rich (almost a billion in assets), Hindu (family religion) and a graduate of Oxford and Stanford (Fulbright programme). He has been in Parliament for seven years and, after working for Goldman and several investment funds, he headed the Treasury (with Boris Johnson) before rising to become Minister of Finance. A dense professional career that is a credit to…
Pedro Sánchez, Emmanuel Macron and António Costa (who, for Portugal, has also been part of the dialogue) have decided to discard the gas pipeline that had been proposed through the Pyrenees, the MidCat. They have agreed that a new project, BarMar, will replace it. This is an underwater gas (or hydro-product) pipeline that will link Barcelona and Marseille via the Mediterranean Sea bed. This solution, however, has its cost: the…
The coalition of conservatives, post-fascists and populists, led by Giorgia Meloni, won 44% of the votes in both Congress and the Senate, with 96% of the votes counted. “It is the time of responsibility, we will govern for all Italians”, said the very possible future prime minister after an election with a historic abstention rate. With a turnout of 63.9%, Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia had 26.2% of the vote, Enrico…
“… From the 18th century to the present, apart from occasional skirmishes, what we call the West has unilaterally assaulted Russia on 5 serious occasions. Charles XII of Sweden, an undisputed military genius of poor political skill, attacked the Russia of Peter the Great, crossed from the Baltic into the Ukraine with his troops, and, only there at Poltava, in 1709, the Swedish King and his Ukrainian allies were defeated….