Jorge Valero
Michel gives control to member states to facilitate recovery fund deal
European Council President, Charles Michel, proposed on Friday (10 July) to give more control to member states over the recovery funds to overcome Northern member states’s opposition to the ambitious stimulus.
Donohoe wins Eurogroup presidency
Ireland’s minister of Finance, Pascal Donohoe, will be the next Eurogroup chief, outgoing president Mario Centeno announced.
Election day: Calviño and Donohoe neck and neck in Eurogroup race
Eurozone finance ministers are split on whether to pick their Spanish colleague Nadia Calviño or Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe as the next Eurogroup president during a videoconference on Thursday (9 July), EU sources and diplomats told EURACTIV.com.
Dutch MEP Paul Tang to chair new tax subcommittee
Dutch Labour MEP Paul Tang is expected to be elected the chair of the new European Parliament’s subcommittee on taxation on Friday (10 July), after the political groups reached an agreement on his choice, Parliament sources have told EURACTIV.com.
Italy, Spain and France worst performers as recession deepens
Italy, Spain and France will register the worst economic downturn among eurozone countries this year as the contraction will be more severe than previously expected, according to the latest European Commission forecast published on Tuesday (7 July).
Six months to reflect on the new world we want
Decision makers should ‘take a breath’ and come up with a comprehensive plan to achieve the digital and green future we want in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, officials and experts said.
Europeans save up to €2 billion thanks to caps on bank cards fees
Bank cards fees for European merchants and consumers have decreased over the past years thanks to the new EU rules, generating savings of up to €2 billion annually, according to a European Commission report published this week.
EU fiscal watchdog wants to scrap ‘unrealistic’ 60% debt limit
The European Fiscal Board on Tuesday (1 July) recommended to get rid of the EU's debt threshold of 60% of GDP and instead adopt realistic debt targets specific to the bloc's national economies.
Mastercard senior executive: ‘We want to help to achieve European sovereignty’
The European Commission will unveil later this year a strategy to integrate the retail payment sector in Europe and reduce dependency on third-country credit card firms. Mastercard, one of those players, is supportive of the EU strategy, its senior executive, Jason Lane, told EURACTIV.
Calviño, Donohoe and Gramegna compete for Eurogroup helm
Ministers Nadia Calviño (Spain), Paschal Donohoe (Ireland) and Pierre Gramegna (Luxembourg) will compete for the Eurogroup Presidency. While Calviño could become the first woman to chair the body, her colleagues promised to become ‘bridge builders’ between the different positions.
Eurogroup race hits milestone with no official candidates yet
The deadline for eurozone finance ministers to put forward their candidacy to chair the Eurogroup ends on Thursday (25 June), with no official contenders yet, although Spain’s Nadia Calviño, Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe and Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna are seen as leading the race.
LEAK: Commission pushes UK for ‘high degree of convergence’ in GDPR review
The European Commission will tomorrow (24 June) highlight the importance of the UK abiding by EU data protection rules as part of a future relationship between the two parties, in the first review of the landmark general data protection regulation, obtained by EURACTIV.
Commission to present ‘strong’ rules for Facebook’s Libra
The European Commission will present later this year new rules to develop a “sound” crypto-asset market in the EU, including for stablecoins such as Facebook’s digital currency Libra, financial services commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, said on Tuesday.
No progress on trade, investment, Hong Kong as EU wraps-up tense China summit
No tangible progress was made on several key issues as leaders from the EU and China met for a tense virtual summit on Monday (22 June), amid tensions over tariffs targeting Chinese firms and Europe's fears over Beijing's growing global authority.
The Brief – Ceci n’est pas une troïka
The Commission is going to great lengths to stress that the proposed recovery fund will not be a bailout programme. “This is not an adjustment program with a different name,” the Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said in May. We are not back to troïka times.
Leaders pledge to agree on recovery package next month
EU leaders held “constructive” discussions on Friday on the EU’s €750 billion recovery fund to overcome the coronavirus crisis, and pledged to reach an agreement next month, despite the enormous differences among the member states.
Socialists to lead European Parliament’s new tax subcommittee
The Socialist group will chair the European Parliament's new permanent subcommittee on tax matters, which will focus on tax fraud and tax evasion, group officials told EURACTIV.com
Fiscal adjustment needed to unlock recovery funds, EU official warns
EU leaders will discuss for the first time on Friday (19 June) the €750 billion recovery fund proposed by the Commission to overcome the coronavirus crisis. But in order to access EU aid, member states will have to bring down their ballooning public debt, an EU official explained.
EU seeks to beef up its defences against foreign subsidies
The European Commission outlined on Wednesday (17 June) new tools to address the disruption caused by subsidised foreign companies operating in the single market, including the possibility to block the acquisition of European firms.
Brussels launches investigation against Apple for abusive practices
The European Commission opened two parallel investigations into Apple on Tuesday (16 June) to see whether the US tech giant has excluded rivals and imposed unfair conditions on 'app' developers via its Apple Store and its payment service Apple Pay.
IMF’s Georgieva: Kudos to Europe for the recovery fund
The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, congratulated the EU for stepping up its collective response to the COVID-19 crisis with the proposed €750 billion recovery fund, but cautioned that the proposal will first have to survive “long nights of negotiations".
Independent report unveils flaws in Greek bailout
Eurozone creditors who designed and supervised Greece's bailout paid “insufficient attention” to the Greek social needs, had inadequate strategies and pursued damaging fiscal adjustment in the bailout programmes agreed with Athens, an independent evaluation concluded
Spain’s Calvino boasts ‘key role’ in Eurogroup to support her candidacy
Spain’s minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño highlighted her “key role” in preparing the Eurogroup response to the COVID-19 crisis, as the eurozone finance ministers will pick a new president in early July.