Author: staff

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has lowered its benchmark lending rates for the first time in seven months as part of ongoing efforts to mitigate the impact of US tariffs on its economy.The central bank cut the 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates (LPR) by 10 basis points to 3.0% and 3.5%, respectively, both record lows. These are key lending benchmarks based on monthly submissions from 20 major Chinese commercial banks. The 1-year LPR is a reference for corporate and household loans, while the 5-year LPR is typically used as the benchmark for mortgage rates.Today’s rate reduction had been…

“These [partnership] packages will reinforce the link between external action and internal priorities, such as energy security, the supply of critical raw materials,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin wrote in an internal note seen by POLITICO laying out the EU’s next multi-year budget. The potential shift would see the EU’s development agenda emulate that of the U.S. and the U.K., both of whom use foreign aid as leverage to deliver on domestic voters’ priorities. This would be a big change from the EU’s current aid model, which largely comes without strings attached. However, before…

Die EU will neue Sanktionen gegen Russland beschließen. Nach dem für die Ukraine erfolglose Telefonat zwischen Donald Trump und Wladimir Putin geht es jetzt nochmals um Russlands Schattenflotte, um Banken, die bisher helfen Sanktionen zu umgehen und um auch um Nord Stream 2. Romanus Otte erklärt, was die Sanktionen bringen und warum die Europäer dabei weiter auf die USA angewiesen sind.  Auch mit Jonathan Martin in Washington geht es um die Sanktionen. Aber auch die Frage, warum es Trump nicht gelingt, Putin zu greifen und wie man bei den Republikanern sein Scheitern wahrnimmt.  Im 200-Sekunden-Interview: Die stellvertretende AfD-Fraktionschefin Beatrix von…

It takes two to launch a new medicine Many of the decisions that impact when patients get access to a new medicine are outside a company’s control, in fact, two-thirds of the delays to access medicines occur after companies have filed for pricing and reimbursement. For example, in Greece, companies can only file for reimbursement once a medicine is reimbursed in at least five of 11 designated EU countries, delaying filing due to the external reference pricing system. This structural condition adds to other delays, including those linked to limited healthcare funding and launch decisions. As a consequence, measures like…

The race is on for Poland’s new president, with the two candidates neck-and-neck ahead of an election on June 1 that will have an impact well beyond the country’s borders. Sunday’s first round of the election saw centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski squeeze out an unexpectedly narrow victory with 31.4 percent of the vote against Karol Nawrocki, supported by the populist right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, who secured 29.5 percent. At stake is not just who gets to be president — a largely but not entirely ceremonial function — but whether Poland’s effort to reestablish a system governed by…

Nestlé took a “transactional” approach, according to Monday’s Senate report. It shared its wrongdoings with the French government, and, in exchange for ending carbon filter treatments, offered instead to use microfiltration at 0.2 microns. Until that point, French health authorities had established that any filtration below a 0.8-micron threshold would risk altering the water’s composition. But in 2023, the French government allowed local authorities to loosen the regulatory framework through executive action in order to permit the finer microfiltration method. Monday’s report is the result of a parliamentary inquiry by Socialist senator Alexandre Ouizille into the practices of the French…

LONDON — When it comes to rebuilding Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU, the course of true love never did run smooth. But a new pact means it may just get a bit less bumpy.  On Monday negotiators unveiled a sweeping agreement on defense and fishing, as well as a pledge to work towards deals on energy, agrifood rules, climate, migration and policing, after years of Brexit bad blood.  While the devil will be in the final details of the deal, the agreement could pave the way for smoother trade and travel between the U.K. and EU, freeing whole sectors…

Paris intends to present a proposal for discussion by the foreign ministers of EU member countries at the next General Affairs Council on May 27. The proposal, seen by POLITICO, says the EU needs to “increase its efforts” in the face of “an alarming increase of hate speech and hate crimes,” in particular following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Israel’s ground and air campaign has killed more than 52,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the territory’s health ministries. Israel launched its campaign in response to the Hamas attacks in which…

A ce titre, le pacte de sécurité et de défense formalise la coopération entre les deux parties dans des domaines tels que la guerre hybride, la cybersécurité, la résilience des infrastructures et la sécurité maritime. Mais Ursula von der Leyen a clairement indiqué qu’il y avait encore du chemin à parcourir, décrivant le pacte de lundi comme étant seulement “le premier pas vers la participation du Royaume-Uni au programme européen d’investissement dans la défense” et dénommé SAFE. “Nous avons besoin d’une deuxième étape, mais ces achats communs dont nous avons discuté amélioreront notre état de préparation, combleront les lacunes militaires…

Ed Arnold, senior research fellow at the defense think tank RUSI, said the lack of concrete measures in the new partnership showed that “even on something such as defense and security, whereby the second Trump administration should be pushing them very, very close together, it’s just not quite happening that way.” He added that it showed “disagreements remain, despite all of the language used about close alignment.” Shadow Defense Secretary James Cartlidge posted on X: “They’ve surrendered our fishing grounds for 12 years in exchange for no guaranteed defence funding. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.” However, Emily Thornberry, Labour chair…