Finance & Trade

Spain Announces Support for EU Finance Minister, Budget

August 15, 2017

Spanish President Mariano Rajoy has announced that his government will support French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for greater economic and monetary integration of the EU through the creation of an EU finance minister and EU budget.
Moody's: "No Deal" Brexit Risks UK Credit Rating

August 14, 2017

Business Insider reports that Moody's has published a report warning that if the UK and EU do not reach an agreement on a future trade deal prior to the UK's exit from the bloc, the credit-rating agency could downgrade Britain's sovereign credit rating.
EU Negotiators Agree to "Sustainability" Fund

August 10, 2017

The Council of the EU announced in June an agreement between negotiators of EU member states and institutions on the establishment of a fund of 3.35 billion euros to help finance the global "sustainable development" agenda in developing countries outside the EU and fulfill the bloc's commitments under the UN's Paris climate deal agreed in 2015.
ECB Seeks More Control over Euro Clearing

August 10, 2017

The Irish Independent reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) has pushed the European Commission to grant it more authority over the clearing of euro-denominated transactions, an activity with a large market in London, including the power to demand that euro-clearing firms deemed "systemically important" to EU financial markets move inside the bloc.
Merkel Offers Tentative Support to EU Finance Integration

August 09, 2017

Politico reports that, in a June speech to German business leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered her support to proposals from her counterpart in France on the creation of a eurozone finance minister and pooled budget, so long as "the framework conditions are right."
EU Introduces Measures to Advance Capital Markets Union

August 04, 2017

In June, the European Commission unveiled plans to further the completion of the EU Capital Markets Union through such measures as a "pan-European personal pension product" and further expansion of the framework for supervising capital markets in the European Securities and Markets Authority.
Germany, France Support Bulgarian Euro Accession

August 04, 2017

Bloomberg reports that President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have expressed their support for permitting EU member Bulgaria to enter the ERM-2 exchange-rate mechanism, the precursor group to adopting the euro currency.
OECD Sees No Bar to EU-UK Free Financial Trade

August 03, 2017

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found no bar within its global Code of Liberalisation to free trade in financial services between the EU and UK after Brexit and has urged the continuance of such trade to avoid "starving the EU of the capital vital to its economy and breaking up the valuable City of London."
German Officials Reject EU Common Debt Proposals

August 02, 2017

Reuters reports that, responding to a proposal from the European Commission floating the idea of an instrument that would pool the debt of eurozone member states, a spokeswoman for the German finance ministry stated that her government's position rejecting such common eurozone debt had not changed.
EU Paper Imagines New Powers for Euro Managers

August 02, 2017

Politico reports that, in May, the European Commission released a "reflection paper" calling for ambitious reforms to the eurozone, including the creation of an EU finance minister and a euro area treasury and the transformation of the now-informal Eurogroup into an institutionalized body accountable to the European Parliament.