Sara | Europe Tomorrow, Sustainable Finance

Put my old central bankers hat on when asked by Euractiv.

Europe’s push to slash financial regulations is kind of a a strange sight to behold given that Europe, unlike the US and Switzerland, successfully avoided a banking crisis in March 2023.

And bank profitability seems just fine!

Israel doesn’t trust the UN? On what basis? Their unproven accusations at UNRWA were just an excuse. Because look at their refusal to allow IAEA inspections. Again, based on what? They put themselves outside the international community.
Let UNRWA do its job!

I detect confusion between a Trumpian trade “deal” and a real trade agreement. A Trumpian deal is based on the assumption that governments can simply tell companies what transactions they will do, whether in trade or investment. Most governments cannot do that. 1/

EU acts against dumped imports of vanillin from China Today the Commission imposed definitive anti-dumping duties of 131.1% on imports of vanillin originating in the People’s Republic of China.

There are some measures, but I think it’s investigated per product, eg. tyres, steel, biodiesel, or in the short report below: vanillin.

policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-acts...

There is still quite some stuff escaping notice, but they’re not as naive about China as they used to be.

We developed solar panels in the 80s and 90s by gov support, but then didn’t protect the industry. We also have ASML, still a global monopoly company located in the Netherlands. It’s true we need more industrial policy, but I do hear signs in that direction, eg. protection against Chinese dumping.

In the current situation,yes, it was the best option. But the EU needs to show how it will avoid similar situations in the future. We’re stronger together with European defence, European tech etc.

Yes, it will all depend on what the member states do next. Business as usual until the next humiliation or stepping up security, tech development etc to increase our independence. This could be a chance to show we need to do more together and make Europe stronger. If not, we will be bullied further.

Europe’s Season of Humiliation Will Last for a While France’s Emmanuel Macron says the continent is seen as a geopolitical pushover. There’s no easy fix.

Thought-provoking piece by Bloomberg. With some points from my work.

The EU has bought time placating Trump with the trade deal. But if this summer of humiliation is to not turn into a century, the question is what the bloc will do with the time it bought.

1/

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

I will repeat myself as long as it is needed: in #defence, there are no substitutes for the will.

The finest weapons in the world are useless if their users falter.

Our societies and the #EU have to be worth defending. And our people, not just small parts of it, must feel they are worth defending.

I’ve read that the US pushed its regulations onto the UK, eg. lower food safety standards. That will only make it harder to trade with the EU and makes the UK more dependent on the US, despite having a 10% tariff and a lower tariff for the EU.

Eens met 1 uitzondering: de koers van Nvidia staat hoger dan ooit, en heeft de laatste dagen veel minder ingeboet dan veel andere bedrijven. Slecht gekozen voorbeeld 🙂

I think it isn’t that simple. ‘They’ll like it if we just explain it well enough’ is a blind spot.

Any input from poorer people who resisted the idea or had serious doubts before participating about why they didn’t support it?

how we control our lives and we way we set expectations for ourselves and our families. UBI in a pure sense ignores that.
It’s the same with direct democracy: lower class says they don’t feel heard, but when you organise a citizen council middle class educated people are over represented.

I find this a very positive take. I like the idea of simplifying the system and am not against UBI, but I think there is a lack of enthusiasm with lower class, while the middle class finds this brilliant. I think it has to do with identity and meaning. Money is something people ‘earn’ and work is

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De politici die nu makkelijk willen scoren door te zeggen dat Brussel te laf is geweest, werden geraadpleegd tijdens de onderhandelingen. Niemand wilde escalatie.
Europa heeft geen troefkaart achter de hand om terug te slaan. Hopelijk leren ze daar wel uit.

I support Borrell’s comments, but him being High Representative or something wouldn’t change much, I think. The EU structure is both a strength and a weakness, in this case it proves to be a weakness. Qualified majority is necessary and wasn’t found. Sad and frustrating 😔

Oh, more LNG… and they already don’t produce enough to provide to their domestic market and Europe 😂 It’s gonna be an easy excuse why we didn’t buy more.

Fossil Fool How Europe took Trump for a ride

Hm, OK Paul 😂
A smart as well as entertaining read on the EU/US deal:

open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

Paul Krugman:
“The EU made two sort-of pledges to Trump. First, that it would invest $600 billion in the United States. Second, that it would buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy, mainly oil and gas, over the next three years. The first promise was empty, while the second was nonsense.”

Question is: will they learn from it? If they really are going to spend billions on US arms and drag their feet on the European defence industry, our fate is sealed. If they’re just buying time till we can do more ourselves, then it might not be all that bad.

What happens behind the scenes in the EU while negotiations are prepared.
Aa usual, the precarious balance between national interests and European cooperation paralyses the EU. Member states should be willing to take a hit if it benefits the bloc in the long run.

A nice take on the deal: how the EU is kicking the can down the road.

Surely the EU knows, member of the EP Bas Eickhout wrote about this yesterday too. Just hard to know what they’re thinking.

I could only read the free part of the article. Yes, economically it makes sense probably, but the EU needs to communicate its strategy because the average person only sees a surrender and that hurts the trust in the EU. That has serious consequences.

The EPP writes 2 conflicting statements: what the US does is wrong because against the rules-based order, and we have to work with our transatlantic partners. Does that just refer to Canada then? Because the US isn’t reliable anymore.

How the $250 billion a year for US energy products is completely unrealistic.
So is the EU just thinking ‘whatever, we’ll renegotiate when we fail the threshold’? Or, ‘let’s wait for the next election and negotiate with the Dems’?

Not that I believe in that strategy. Too much damage.

Yes, the mind-shift in European companies hasn’t happened yet. I understand the red tape is easier in the US and it’s easier to get funding. We should work on that in the EU. But where you’re located and invest becomes increasingly a political decision, not just an economic one.

Yes, and then the EU was stuck because we don’t have equipment to send at the moment and normal procurement takes years in defence. The US needs to deliver to Ukraine or things could turn around there. It all sucks, but here we are.