The euro zone economy has reached a turning point and the recent rise in borrowing costs reflects improved fundamentals, European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel told Reuters, playing down concerns that rising yields risk choking off growth. Facing a persistent uptick in borrowing costs, the ECB must decide on the future pace of its emergency bond buys at a June 10 meeting and a growing chorus of policymakers is calling for a steady flow of stimulus, fearing that the recovery might otherwise falter.
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Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
Taylor Wimpey Plc is covering repair costs for a defective London housing block that are in addition to provisions it’s made for potentially unsafe legacy developments in the wake of the U.K. cladding scandal, Bloomberg News reported. The housebuilder is addressing fire-safety issues and other problems following persistent complaints that the development has been faulty since it was built.
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The European Union will apply lessons from the Wirecard scandal by proposing stricter rules next year for company financial reporting and auditors, its financial services chief said, Reuters reported. The payments company collapsed in 2020 in Germany's biggest post-war fraud scandal after auditor EY could not confirm the existence of 1.9 billion euros ($2.32 billion) in cash balances. "Wirecard is a wake-up call. Wirecard told and sold a great story that wasn't true," Mairead McGuinness said in a speech to the European Policy Centre on Thursday.
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The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the market-rattling meltdown of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management in March, a debacle that left big banks in Europe, Asia and the U.S. nursing more than $10 billion in losses, Bloomberg News reported. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan sent requests for information to at least some of the banks that dealt with the firm. It’s unclear what potential violations or entities authorities are examining.
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European Union nations sketched out plans Thursday for new sanctions against Belarus, targeting economic sectors close to its authoritarian leader, as they sought to strike back at him for the diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist, Reuters reported. Meeting in Lisbon, EU foreign ministers vowed to continue ramping up pressure on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — whose disdain for democratic norms and human rights has made his country a pariah in the West.
Norwegian Air emerged from six months of bankruptcy protection on Wednesday with a smaller fleet and its debt almost wiped out but also facing stronger competition and lingering uncertainty wrought by the pandemic, Reuters reported. The airline said on Friday that it had raised 6 billion Norwegian crowns ($721 million) in fresh capital, as planned, more than enough to meet the minimum requirement set by bankruptcy courts in Dublin and Oslo.
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Sweden’s banks are gearing up for a fresh fight with their government to try to block a proposal that singles out the financial industry for an extra tax, Bloomberg News reported. The Social Democrat-Green coalition government has long made clear it intends to impose a levy on banks, which it argues represent a bigger risk to economic stability than most other industries.
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The Irish Pensions Authority has confirmed that it is investigating potential “pension scheme trustee issues” in relation to the collapse of Hanover-based German Property Group (GPG), which resulted in 1,800 Irish investors losing as much as €107 million, the Irish Times reported. GPG, formerly known as Dolphin Trust, collapsed last year after taking €1.5 billion from investors in the Republic, the UK, Asia and elsewhere since it was set up by businessman Charles Smethurst in 2008.
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Germany’s economy contracted more than expected in the first quarter amid coronavirus lockdown measures, according to statistics released Tuesday, but a leading indicator showed that businesses’ optimism is rising as the pace of vaccinations increases, the Associated Press reported. The Federal Statistical Office said that the first quarter gross domestic product in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, dropped by 1.8% over the fourth quarter of 2020, according to figures adjusted for price, seasonal and calendar factors. The office’s preliminary estimate had been a drop of 1.7%.
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Germany's two biggest listed landlords Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen have agreed to join forces in an 18 billion euro ($22 billion) deal they hope will defuse tensions over soaring rents ahead of general elections in September, Reuters reported. The country's biggest merger this year will create a European real estate giant with 550,000 apartments. It comes as Deutsche Wohnen has become the focus of popular anger in Berlin over tenant rights and affordable housing.