Brussels Edition: More Bad Signs?
Brussels Edition: More Bad Signs?
(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.
Anyone on edge over the euro area’s increasingly tenuous economic prospects will be watching quarterly forecasts today from the European Commission. With factory orders plunging, a recession in Germany looks inevitable to investors, while French manufacturers are the least confident they’ve been in six years. A worsening outlook could push European Central Bank policymakers to consider adding monetary stimulus as soon as this month.
What’s Happening
Winning Votes | Incoming EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will wrap up a week-long campaign to win over European Parliament members as she meets today with the Socialist, Liberal and Green political factions. Whether she’s managed to garner majority support in the EU assembly will become clearer at around 4:30 p.m., when its leadership signals whether the vote on her nomination will go ahead as planned next week.
Turkey Sanctions | Whether to slap sanctions on Turkey over its drilling activities off the coast of Cyprus will be among the talking points of EU envoys in Brussels today. Proposals include suspending high-level contact with the country and cutting the flow of funds.
Saving Trade | EU government envoys will also debate today plans for an interim solution to resolve global trade disputes. The World Trade Organization’s appellate body will collapse by the end of this year, and if the rest of the world doesn’t come up with an instrument to react to commercial disputes, the global trade order will unravel.
Court Rulings | The EU’s top court will rule on the Commission’s appeal over the annulment of a 15 million-euro antitrust fine against ICAP, accused in 2015 of helping banks manipulate yen Libor derivatives. Amazon, meanwhile, will find out whether it can be forced to provide phone or fax numbers to people when they buy from its platform.
In Case You Missed It
Top Banker | Christine Lagarde is set to be confirmed in October as the next president of the ECB, after the region’s finance ministers formally signed off on the agreement reached by governments last week. The nomination now goes to the ECB’s Governing Council and the European Parliament for consultation, though neither can block her.
Narrow Win | Members of Britain’s House of Commons voted to back a plan designed to prevent the next prime minister forcing through a no-deal Brexit against the wishes of Parliament. The result was dramatic: Dominic Grieve’s amendment was passed by just one vote.
Bond Cover | Looking at Italy’s debt market, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the embattled nation’s problems were firmly behind it. Read this for more on why Italy’s rallying bonds are masking budget challenges still ahead.
Trade Threat | Facebook warned the EU’s top court that toppling a key system used by companies to transfer data out of the bloc would threaten transatlantic trade. The case pitting Facebook against privacy activist Max Schrems puts at risk the so-called Standard Contractual Clauses, the most efficient alternative to transferring commercial data.
Chart of the Day
What’s next for Brexit? Both candidates to replace Theresa May as U.K. prime minister have promised to renegotiate the deal she struck with the EU, and walk away without an agreement if the bloc won’t budge. This flow chart explores what the coming months might bring.
Today’s Agenda
All times CET.
- 9:30 a.m. EU top court rules on European Commission challenge against overturned ICAP fine
- 9:30 a.m. EU top court rules in a case against Amazon brought by a German consumer group
- Commission releases its quarterly economic forecasts
- EU Council President Donald Tusk to meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan
- EU Parliament’s conference of presidents to meet Commission presidential candidate Ursula von der Leyen
- Lawmakers in economic and monetary affairs committee expected to select chairman
- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa speaks at state of the nation debate
- French, Italian industrial production data
--With assistance from Jonathan Stearns, Stephanie Bodoni, Alessandro Speciale, Nikos Chrysoloras and Zoe Schneeweiss.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daliah Merzaban at dmerzaban@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman
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