Author: staff

The bank’s monthly survey shows a rising uncertainty among businesses in Europe’s second-biggest economy. There is an increasing uncertainty for the near future among French businesses coupled with a slight increase in activity in November, according to the Bank of France’s monthly economic survey, which offers an insight into the current business climate in the country. France is currently grappling with a political crisis, as Michel Barnier’s government collapsed following a no-confidence vote, only three months after it took office.As a result, France is facing 2025 without a valid budget and this will remain the case until President Macron names…

Zalando says the deal will help it to build a pan-European e-commerce platform. Germany’s online retailer Zalando said on Wednesday that it had agreed to buy rival fashion group About You for around €1.1bn.Zalando said it would offer €6.50 for each About You share, a premium of 67% on Tuesday’s closing price.It also represents a 107% premium on About You’s three-month average stock price.About You’s management and major shareholders, representing 73% of share capital, have agreed to sell their stakes – according to Zalando’s press statement.The transaction is expected to close in summer 2025, subject to regulatory approvals.About You, which…

Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico’s Jack Blanchard share their daily guide to the day ahead in politics in under 20 minutes. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has been accused of “denigrating” her childhood homeland by Nigeria’s vice president and an adviser suggested she makes Nigeria “sound like a leper colony.” A spokesman for Badenoch has responded by saying: “Kemi is not interested in doing Nigeria’s PR.” With a prison capacity crisis still looming, the government pledges £2.3bn for 14,000 new prison places. As safety repairs are ongoing and demand soaring, Jack and Sam explore Labour’s plans. And…

Gold prices surged to a more than two-week high amid China’s return on gold buying and rising geopolitical tensions following the Syrian unrest. However, an analyst suggests caution. Gold prices rose for the past two trading days, fuelled by mounting haven demands and China’s renewed gold purchases. Expectations for further rate cuts by major central banks have also contributed to the precious metal’s upside momentum. The gold rally extended into the Asian session on Wednesday, with gold futures on the Comex climbing 0.71% to $2,737 (€2,603) per ounce as of 5:12 am CET.Geopolitical tensions drive haven demandOver the weekend, Syria’s…

Our travel guide is updated as soon as a new European strike is announced. Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.Walkouts are sometimes planned months ahead but others are announced last minute, showing that it always pays to check before you travel.Luckily, we have gathered all of the strike information together below.Read on to find out where and when are walkouts taking place.If your flight or train is cancelled or delayed, you will be entitled to a new ticket or compensation. Read our guide for the full details.Italy:…

Shifting allegiances Syrian pro-democracy moderates can’t shake off their memories of when al-Golani first rose to prominence in chaotic war-torn northern Syria, where he’d been dispatched to set up Jabhat al-Nusra, a Syrian branch of al Qaeda. His group initially maintained an alliance with al-Baghdadi’s IS and sought to resolve disputes through mediation. But al-Golani increasingly moved away from the ideology of transnational jihad and began framing his struggle more as an Islamist nationalist one. In a press interview in 2014, he told a reporter he wanted to see Syria governed under Islamic law and emphasized there would be little…

Im Parlament stellt der Kanzler heute die Vertrauensfrage, über die dann am kommenden Montag abgestimmt wird. In den Parteizentralen laufen währenddessen die Wahlkampfvorbereitungen weiter. Die Kampagne der Grünen setzt bisher auf Robert Habeck und Emotionalität. Aber mit welchen Inhalten will die Partei punkten, und wie will sie gegen das Image ankämpfen, dass sie einen maßgeblichen Anteil an der schlechten Wirtschaftslage Deutschlands trägt? Antworten darauf gibt es von Jürgen Klöckner, der im Gespräch mit Gordon Repinski erste Einblicke in die Wahlkampfpläne der Grünen gibt. Im 200-Sekunden-Interview erklärt die Parlamentarische Staatssekretärin im Wirtschaftsministerium und neue Co-Vorsitzende der Grünen, Franziska Brantner, wie ihre…

First, AI professionals in the EU lead in green skills — performing jobs in a more environmentally sustainable way — compared with their peers in the US and UK. Today, 8.1 percent of AI talent in the EU have at least one green skill, compared with 5.8 percent in the US and 7.4 percent in the UK. Given that many green solutions are based on technological innovations such as AI, these twin skill sets can help power a productive green future for Europe.  The EU is also leading on responsible AI, the approach to developing, assessing and deploying AI systems…

“Many companies are asking for predictability and staying the course rather than changing the rules of the game simply because they cannot cope,” he said in an interview on Monday afternoon.  “One of the main criticisms of business is, stop changing course every half year,” he added. “Particularly heavy industry have very long investment cycles, sometimes decades ahead, and you are then not helped by politicians who are in the habit of constantly changing their minds.”  Hoekstra swerved a question on whether that’s a criticism of his own political family, the center-right European People’s Party.  The loudest calls for changing…

Power in Europe, as in previous years, is not gender balanced, not racially diverse and not young. The only person under 40 is Arthur Mensch, the French computer scientist challenging ChatGPT’s monopoly on the generative AI market. Pope Francis is the only non-European member of the ranking. He’s also the most popular personage on social media, with 18.4 million followers on X. That’s six times more than the runner-up, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Check out the full POLITICO 28: Class of 2025, and read the Letter from the Editors for an explanation of the thinking behind the ranking.