Author: staff

“Mr. Merz, we believed in your political leadership. We trusted you. And we have fought for you,” the letter read. “But we are now asking the question: for what? For a CDU that submits to the left-wing mainstream?” After years of weak, divided government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, many European leaders had hoped Merz would provide stronger German leadership within the European Union. Merz too has vowed to provide that leadership in light of the challenges posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, vowing after his victory in the Feb. 23 snap election “to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so…

As investors wait for European markets to open, overnight in Asia-Pacific, the picture was much calmer than on Monday.However, markets in Thailand and Indonesia tumbled as they reopened after holidays. Trading was suspended briefly in Jakarta when the JSX index fell more than 9%. It was down 7.5% by midday. Thailand’s SET lost 5.7%.In Taiwan, the Taiex lost 4.4%, pulled lower by losses for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., or TSMC, the world’s largest computer chip maker. Its shares fell 4% on Tuesday and are down 13.5% since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2.The rebound for most other…

The current Labour government believes the regulator is instead needed to stop unscrupulous, or simply incompetent, owners from bankrupting football clubs and severing a key part of many English communities. The financial mismanagement of clubs like Macclesfield Town, which was wound up in 2020, and Derby County, which almost followed the same path, are often cited as examples by government figures. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told a recent meeting of executives from across professional football that Bury FC’s 2019 slide into administration was powering her efforts on the bill, according to one person in attendance. Seeing red (tape) However, Premier…

Could Italian Prime Minister Meloni be help the EU avert a trade war with the United States by intervening successfully with Trump? What strategy is she pursuing? Radio Schuman explores these questions today in conversation with Federico Castiglioni, a researcher at the Italian think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali.Following Trump’s announcement of 20% tariffs on EU imports, Meloni stood was one of the few European leaders to caution against escalating, warning that retaliation by the EU would be the worst possible response.Italian media report that she has the implicit support of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and is seen…

– Wie weiter nach den Börsen-Abstürzen?Hans von der Burchard und Gordon Repinski über die Möglichkeiten der EU jetzt auf Trump zu reagieren.– Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: VDA-Präsidentin Hildegard Müller, was sie von der Politik in Berlin und Brüssel erwartet, nachdem die globale Handelsordnung vollends durcheinander gebracht worden ist.– Reaktionen auf den Panic Monday: Wie Washington auf die Börsen-Turbulenzen blickt.   Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen euch jeden Morgen auf den neuesten Stand in Sachen Politik — kompakt, europäisch, hintergründig. Und für alle Hauptstadt-Profis:Unser Berlin Playbook-Newsletter liefert jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen…

“The picture of EU funding for NGOs remains hazy, as information on EU funding — including lobbying — is neither reliable nor transparent,” said Laima Andrikienė, the ECA member in charge of the report, who is also a former lawmaker with the center-right European People’s Party (EPP). The criticism will give ammunition to conservative lawmakers in the European Parliament who want to overhaul the way EU money is dolled out to NGOs, claiming it lacks transparency and is often used to lobby EU institutions — criticisms echoed in the report. Hanging over the report is the question of lobbying. Are…

By 2030, the EU should increase its computing power by 300 percent, and 100 million Europeans should have acquired AI skills, OpenAI said on Monday in recommendations called the “EU’s economic blueprint” targeted at EU policymakers. It also pitched a €1 billion fund for AI pilot projects. Show us the obstacles The EU’s executive in its plan on Wednesday wants to ask the tech industry to “identify where regulatory uncertainty creates obstacles” to developing and deploying AI. The draft text listed measures to boost the computing power and high-quality data needed to train AI models, as well as the industry’s uptake of…

“We have a deficit with the European Union of $350 billion and it’s gonna disappear fast,” Trump said. “One of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re gonna have to buy our energy from us … they can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week. They have to buy and commit to buy a like amount of energy.” Von der Leyen’s offer came after Trump last week slapped 20 percent tariffs on the EU and a minimum 10 percent levy on other trade partners. In response, financial markets across the world have lost trillions of…

Now “is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran,” conservative commentator Tucker Carlson warned in a post on X on Monday. “Nothing would be more destructive to our country. And yet we’re closer than ever, thanks to unrelenting pressure from neocons. This is suicidal. Anyone advocating for conflict with Iran is not an ally of the United States, but an enemy.” Iran previously has rejected the prospect of talks with Trump, with Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi over the weekend calling the prospect of direct nuclear negotiations “meaningless.” Iran has asked for indirect diplomacy,…

The European Commission is considering slapping tariffs of up to 25 percent on a broad range of exports from the United States in response to tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to an internal Commission document seen by POLITICO. The EU executive wants to impose a 25 percent duty on a wide range of U.S. exports, including soybeans, sweet corn, rice, almonds, orange juice, cranberries, tobacco, iron, steel, aluminum, certain boats and vehicles, textiles and certain clothes, and various types of makeup. The total amount of U.S. exports hit by the EU’s tariffs is…