Brussels Edition: Gripped by Fear

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

Amid ever louder warnings of a possible economic apocalypse as a result of the coronavirus, EU health ministers gather again today in Brussels for an extraordinary meeting to discuss the public health aspects of the evolving emergency — including the security of medical supply chains. We already hear complaints by some officials about a rather lukewarm show of solidarity by member states in sharing supplies with Italy — the epicenter of the illness in Europe. Wary that this may get worse, countries are allegedly hoarding supplies — yet another sign that fear is gripping the continent. 

What’s Happening

Border Crisis | It took longer for EU ambassadors to agree on a joint statement for today's meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers than it took Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan to agree on another ceasefire in Idlib. The ministers will reiterate their support for Greece in its migration spat with Turkey, but their discussion regarding how to back Ankara over its woes in Syria will be far more interesting.

Italian Bridges | Italian infrastructure is crumbling, lives are at risk and no one knows what to do about it. This is one Italian engineer’s Kafkaesque journey exposing the bureaucracy, self-interest and political paralysis that’s left one of Europe’s largest countries facing killer bridges.

Shrinking Europe | Across Europe, the sea is encroaching on nearly a fifth of the coastline, the EU estimates, eating away landfills, stripping sand from beaches and bringing ecological, economic and human pain. And accelerating climate change will only increase those losses.

Day Two | Amazon will continue fighting its 250 million-euro ($280 million) EU tax bill in a second day of hearings at the bloc's top court — after calling the decision ‘patently wrong’. The order for Amazon to pay back taxes came amid a string of EU decisions, including a record 13 billion-euro order for Ireland to claw back taxes from Apple.

In Case You Missed It

German Spending | Amid a growing leadership vacuum in the twilight of Angela Merkel’s political career, the German governing coalition is deeply divided over whether to dip into the country’s considerable savings and just how to spend them. Merkel’s own party is putting the brakes on calls for a sweeping stimulus package to help offset the economic fallout from the spread of the coronavirus.

Gender Pay Gap | The EU plans to expose how much less some companies are paying women under draft rules to be unveiled later this year, the bloc’s equality chief said. The information could help women to negotiate higher wages, researchers say, something that has already been seen in countries like Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Finland, which already gather data on gender pay differences.

Lagarde’s Exception | Ahead of the International Women’s Day on Sunday, there’s one sector of the economy where there are simply too many males: only 14 central banks are female-led across the globe, representing less than a third of the global economy. 

Brexit Talks | EU Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned of serious divergences with the U.K after the two sides ended their first week of negotiations over their future relationship, rebuffing a request from the British government to wrap up an early deal on access to the single market for London’s banks. There’s one EU official who’s upbeat though.

Chart of the Day

Italy’s decision to close all schools until March 15 threatens a childcare crisis for some of the parents of the 3.3 million pre-school and primary-school pupils stuck at home during the day. Yet, with fewer than 40% of working-age women participating in the labor market — the lowest level of any EU country — the problem of who can mind the kids won’t be quite as acute as it would be otherwise.

Today’s Agenda

All times CET.

• 10 a.m. Extraordinary meeting of EU health ministers to discuss viral outbreak
• 11 a.m. EU Council President Charles Michel meets Michel Barnier, EU chief negotiator for future U.K. relations
• European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan speaks in Dublin
• EU foreign ministers meet in Croatia
• Environment ministers of the Netherlands, France, and Denmark launch the European Plastics Pact. The pact brings together governments, companies and NGOs in a series of voluntary commitments to further reduce the use of plastics, and increase the recycling of plastic products
• EU Court hearing on Amazon’s 250 million-euro EU tax bill continues 

--With assistance from Zoe Schneeweiss.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net, Chad Thomas

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