Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on Monday called for a common European Union approach to support competitiveness and protect strategic production, in response to the massive subsidies in the United States' Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Reuters reported. The EU fears that the $430 billion IRA scheme, with its generous tax breaks for domestic production of energy sector components, may lure away EU businesses and disadvantage European companies, from car manufacturers to makers of green technology.

French prosecutors said on Monday they have put a Ukrainian woman linked to the governor of Lebanon's central bank under formal investigation as part of a cross-border probe into alleged fraud to the detriment of the Lebanese state, Reuters reported. Anna Kosakova, with whom central bank governor Riad Salameh has a daughter, according to a birth certificate seen by Reuters, is suspected of aggravated money laundering, a spokesperson at the Paris office of the National Financial Prosecutors said.

Cineworld Group Plc said it intends to emerge from bankruptcy intact after senior lenders were said to be considering a sale process for its east European operations, Bloomberg News reported. The London-based company filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas in September to cut a near $9 billion pile of debt and leases. “Cineworld remains committed to working with its key stakeholders to develop a Chapter 11 reorganization plan that seeks to maximize value for the benefit of moviegoers and all other stakeholders,” a spokesperson said on Sunday.

Euro zone retail sales were slightly weaker than expected in October, data showed on Monday, dipping more than forecast in a sign of weakening consumer demand that could herald the onset of the expected technical recession, Reuters reported. The European Union's statistics office said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro fell 1.8% month-on-month for a 2.7% year-on-year decline. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a fall of 1.7% on the month and 2.6% on the year.

U.K. finance chiefs finally know what’s coming: Higher taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Faced with a weaker currency, rising financing costs and surging inflation, finance executives’ already fraught budget planning was upended earlier this fall after the country’s government announced sharp, debt-funded tax cuts, only to withdraw them after the pound tumbled to a 37-year low and financial markets gyrated. Now, under a new prime minister, the government is pledging fiscal austerity, accompanied by an increase in the corporate tax rate to 25%.

European banks are snapping up large pieces of their own collateralized loan obligations, keeping the market for CLOs afloat in the absence of the US and Japanese banks that traditionally make up the bulk of the buyer base, Bloomberg News reported. French bank Societe Generale SA arranged its first CLOs since the Global Financial Crisis in November, and then following an example by Deutsche Bank AG earlier in the year, it also played a key role in getting the deals out the door by purchasing a chunk of the AAA -- or safest -- bonds.

Next Plc has bought UK retailer Joules Group Plc out of insolvency for £34 million ($41.5 million), winning a bidding war against rival store owners, Bloomberg News reported. The clothing and housewares retailer has teamed up with Joules founder Tom Joule to snap up the chain, which fell into administration on Nov. 16. The maker of colorful coats and Wellington boots had failed to secure bridge financing or raise equity, after warning that it would struggle to repay a £5 million loan due at the end of November.

Rangers FC could still be sued for £9.5million by the administrators of the Elite Sports Group despite the sports goods distributor going insolvent, the Scottish Daily Express reported. The Ibrox club is facing a civil court action over claims Rangers breached a contract related to the provision of kits for the Glasgow team. Elite is the exclusive brand partner to Danish sportswear firm Hummel and it instructed lawyers to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. Elite won a bid to force Rangers to disclose sales data to them last month.

Italy is set to toughen regulation of digital assets and expand taxation on crypto trading from 2023, following similar moves by countries such as Portugal, Bloomberg News reported. A provision in the country’s proposed 2023 budget plans to extend a 26% levy on capital gains to digital assets for profits larger than 2,000 euros ($2,062.3). Digital coins and tokens so far have been treated as foreign currency by Italy’s tax authorities, which implied a lower taxation.

The surge in private equity activity in Europe in recent years has loaded hundreds of companies up with debt, eroded their credit ratings, and left many of them vulnerable to bankruptcy as an economic recession approaches, Bloomberg News reported. There were 762 private equity buyouts last year in Western Europe for a total of $336 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, the highest since 2007.