LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s assessment is that a Brexit agreement can be reached with the European Union in September, the UK chief negotiator David Frost said on Thursday ahead of a round of negotiations with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier next week. “As we keep saying, we are not looking for a special or unique…
BOLOGNA — As monetary and fiscal authorities have acted aggressively to blunt the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact, public debt and central-bank balance sheets have swelled rapidly. In the European Union, this trend is compounded by a new 750 billion euros ($886 billion) COVID-19 recovery fund, which includes the issuance of so-called “recovery bonds” guaranteed by…
Getty Images The European economy has fallen into its worst recession on record as strict quarantine measures earlier in the year to stop the spread of the coronavirus brought economic activity to an abrupt halt. According to figures released on Friday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, gross domestic product dropped by 11.9 percent in the…
Collage sources: EU Website NEW YORK (IDN) – Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” is a play featuring two characters waiting for a character, Godot, who never arrives. As such, it is a useful metaphor for the goings-on of the European Union (EU). Observers of the EU’s evolution in the capital of Brussels have witnessed a…
The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (pictured) expressed confidence at a closed-door meeting with member state envoys to the bloc last Friday (24 July) that a new deal with Britain was possible, diplomatic sources have told Reuters, write Francesco Guarascio, Gabriela Baczynska. His comments after the latest round of EU-UK negotiations contrast with his downbeat public assessment that…
Emmanuel Macron from the Elysée Palace during a televised interview on TF1, in Paris on July 21, 2020. © AFP – LUDOVIC MARIN A historic rescue plan for economies left shattered by the coronavirus epidemic was hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday as “the most important moment in the life of our Europe since…
GRANSEE, GERMANY – JULY , Photographer: Keuenhof/Pool/Getty Images (Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed a united front with Italy’s Giuseppe Conte days ahead of a crucial European Union summit, warning that EU leaders need to deliver a “massive” response to the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The German leader’s common line with the…
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, hold a joint news conference via video conference to mark Berlin taking over the EU’s rotating presidency from July 1 until the end of the year, in Berlin, Germany, July 2, 2020. Kay Nietfeld/Pool via Reuters As Germany takes over…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel aims to strengthen a divided European Union and help its hard-hit economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic when Germany takes over the rotating presidency of the 27-member bloc on Wednesday. Critics have in the last three months raised questions about the future of the bloc as national borders shut…
Lotus cars – Photo Brian Snelson LONDON – An EU-UK no-trade deal would have a big negative effect on British manufacturing, says a report Wednesday, particularly on volume car production, as it tries to recover from the slump caused by Covid-19. The worst-case scenario would introduce delays at the UK-EU border and add costs and disrupt…