Author: staff
Integrating the 1.4 billion people around the world with no access to a bank account into the financial system is a top priority for governments around the world. Euronews Business looks at the role microlending can play and the legacy of Muhammad Yunus. Microfinance, which consists mainly of micro-loans (less than €25,000) tailored to micro-enterprises (91% of all European businesses) and people who would like to become self-employed but are facing difficulties in accessing the traditional banking services, is an increasingly important tool to bolster financial inclusion.That’s according to the World Economic Forum, which published a report on 9 September…
LONDON — The U.K. government is using artificial intelligence to help put together its landmark review of Britain’s armed forces in what amounts to a radical shakeup of how Whitehall functions. Britain’s Ministry of Defence is deploying a custom-built AI program to sift through submissions for a comprehensive review of the nation’s defense capabilities, the department confirmed to POLITICO. The AI model was created by Palantir, a U.S. tech firm, which won the government contract over the summer. It’s the first time the British government has used AI to help publish a major review and comes as part of a…
Mujtaba Rahman is the head of Eurasia Group’s Europe practice. He tweets at @Mij_Europe. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier inherited a deep fiscal crisis, which has only grown deeper during his first month in office. In his inaugural speech to parliament last week, Barnier tried to turn the fiscal bad news to his political advantage, challenging the disparate and mutually detesting forces within the National Assembly to put country before ideological or factional interests. This is no longer a time for petty quarrels or ideological obsessions, he said. It’s time for concerted, national action to prevent this crisis from becoming…
BRUSSELS — The European Union will continue to struggle to help Ukraine, allowing other global powers to deal with Russia’s full-scale invasion as a fateful U.S. election looms, in a year where it has done little and won’t be able to do much more. First, EU institutions were paralyzed by the European election. Now, the bloc foresees another year of stalling as the EU’s bureaucrats await the results of the German election in the fall of 2025. EU diplomats and officials said they were worried Brussels has been stuck in a rut for months. In Brussels, there’s been a distinct lack…
LONDON — Whoever said life was too short to bear a grudge didn’t tell Boris Johnson. The former prime minister’s book “Unleashed” is out Thursday after weeks of teasing revelations. Johnson, a former journalist, hasn’t forgotten how to grab a headline, and is promising the real lowdown on his tumultuous three years in No. 10 Downing Street, plus his Brexit-filled rise to the top. POLITICO read his book at lighting speed and found (probably) all the people he’s decided to unleash on in a bid to sell a few more paperbacks. 1) Queen Elizabeth II Information shared between the monarch…
LONDON — Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to the United Kingdom on Thursday for talks with Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as Ukraine continues to press allies for more military support in its fight against Russia. It will be the Ukrainian president’s second visit to Starmer since the British PM took office in July. The trip comes as Western powers mull whether to allow Ukraine to fire long-range weapons into Russia — and just after the postponement of a key summit at which Ukraine had been set to present a “victory plan.” Zelenskyy will also meet with the leaders of…
The storm has caused damage in Portugal and Spain and left other countries on alert. The storm was a major hurricane as it moved between Bermuda in the Caribbean and the Azores in the mid-Atlantic over the weekend, peaking at a category four status. Kirk has since weakened to a post-tropical storm. The storm caused flooding in Portugal and left 300,000 people without power. Almost 600 incidents were recorded by the Civil Protection on Wednesday, most cases related to fallen trees.Spain also saw heavy winds and rainfall, with waves as high as 7 metres crashing ashore, that is according to…
Anti-poverty campaigners complain that the European Commission is promoting business interests over development in its Global Gateway, the EU’s answer to China’s multi-billion Belt and Road initiative – but officials argue a private sector focus is more efficient. The EU’s flagship project to exert influence over the developing world is prioritising domestic business over fighting poverty, campaigners have warned. A report issued on 9 October by Oxfam, the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) and Counter Balance says the EU is too focused on commercial interests as it seeks to replicate the success of China’s Belt and Road investment scheme. “The presence…
LONDON — Never say politics is predictable. Right-wingers Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick will do battle for the Conservative Party leadership after centrist contender James Cleverly fell at the final hurdle despite a late surge. Tory MPs — who had to whittle down the list of contenders to just two before a vote of the wider party membership in the coming weeks — decided Badenoch and Jenrick should be the final two candidates. Badenoch bagged 42 votes, and Jenrick netted 41. Cleverly, the shadow home secretary who urged the Tories to get united and be optimistic, enjoyed a boost in…
It’s a common claim bandied about by far-right MEPs as the immigration debate grows ever more toxic. But do the figures match the rhetoric? It may seem like a perennial concern, but the debate on immigration to the EU has heated up significantly in recent months.Far-right politicians in France, Germany, Hungary and beyond have pointed to supposedly “unprecedented” migrant arrivals as a threat to European security and identity.Berlin has brought in new border controls, Budapest has threatened to send busloads of migrants to Brussels to show the EU the apparent urgency of the issue, and Spain’s prime minister has hashed…