European Union

Cox: Europe really needs to get its shot together

1 Apr 2021

From Rome to Paris and beyond governments are imposing further travel and other restrictions, many for reasons that look more petty, political and punitive than sanitary. That’s energy better spent on the best way to exit the health and economic crisis: vaccinating people.

Europe’s greenwash-slayer becomes Trojan Horse

30 Mar 2021

The EU has proposed classifying natural gas as sustainable. Its taxonomy, which differentiates green assets from the rest, is likely to be watered down further. Such an imperfect guide risks leading investors astray and delaying progress towards decarbonising the economy.

Carbon markets have a Goldilocks problem

24 Mar 2021

Europe’s lowball carbon prices used to be a joke. Since the EU acted to clear a permit glut, they’ve spiked above 40 euros a tonne to a level just right to drive CO2 cuts. The challenge is to stop a political backlash if financial interlopers ramp prices too far, too quickly.

Guest view: The EU is tarnishing its green jewel

23 Mar 2021

The European Union’s Taxonomy is supposed to mean stakeholders can differentiate between sustainable investments and carbon-heavy ones. A new plan to treat gas as green is a huge mistake, argues Sandrine Dixson-Declève. It turns a potential global template into a paper tiger.

Europe’s UK vaccine threat has risky logic

23 Mar 2021

Brussels may block shipments of Covid-19 jabs to Britain amid a spat with AstraZeneca. Its ultimate threat would be to limit supplies of other remedies too, such as Pfizer’s. Even if the worst outcome is avoided, the result will be less efficient supply chains and costlier drugs.

Capital Calls: Elon Musk, AstraZeneca

15 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The electric-vehicle maker’s jocular new title of “Technoking of Tesla” tests the theory that deeds matter more than words; fears over the drugmaker’s vaccine risk further delaying the re-opening of Europe’s economy.

Capital Calls: T-Mobile US, Ulta Beauty

12 Mar 2021

Concise views on global finance in the Covid-19 era: The U.S. telecom is benefiting from its merger with SoftBank’s Sprint; the U.S. cosmetics retailer revealed a tidy succession plan, but its business still faces lingering pandemic side-effects.

Lagarde’s yen for consensus will be stress-tested

11 Mar 2021

The ECB will step up the pace of bond-buying to combat a rise in yields. Moving sooner wouldn’t have allowed President Christine Lagarde to get the governing council’s green light. Fast-moving markets may require speedier reactions than her instinct for forging unity permits.

EU chip factory fantasy puts cart before horse

26 Feb 2021

Commissioner Thierry Breton wants an advanced semiconductor plant to cut reliance on Asia. The problem is that Europe’s chip designers and carmakers are ill-equipped to use such a cutting-edge site. Getting them on side, and investing more in research, is the place to start.

Insurers’ Brexit pleading deserves short shrift

24 Feb 2021

Domestic firms want the government to ease capital requirements following the UK’s departure from the EU. It’s true dividend restrictions mean they may already have ample capital. But amid a slump that’s not enough to make already confusing solvency metrics even more so.

Trading exodus is skirmish in City’s EU perma-war

11 Feb 2021

Some dealing in shares and derivatives shifted out of London in January after European regulators declined to recognise their UK counterparts. The tussle is a taster for bigger fights over clearing and fund management. Britain has many advantages, but few good ways to fight back.

Bubbly stocks risk painful vaccine puncture

29 Jan 2021

Drugmakers Pfizer and AstraZeneca are cutting deliveries of Covid-19 inoculations, the latest in a string of delays. Slower-than-expected rollouts and virus mutations may prolong lockdowns, hurting growth. Investors eyeing a rapid bounce-back this year could be disappointed.

EU strikes oafish first blow in new vaccine fight

26 Jan 2021

Brussels attacked drugmaker AstraZeneca for low deliveries of Covid-19 jabs and will impose checks on exports from the bloc. The move masks flaws in Europe’s inoculation rollout, and may do little to speed it up. It could trigger a new battle for access to coronavirus treatments.

Forces lowering euro zone inflation aren’t all bad

7 Jan 2021

Euro zone consumer prices fell 0.3% in December from a year ago. Several factors, especially a weak economy, are to blame. Still, a long-term trend that also chips away at inflation is cheaper tech. That’s not something even ECB chief Christine Lagarde would want to see reversed.

Corona Capital: U.S. college football

6 Jan 2021

Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: U.S. college football programs are in a talent arms race for coaches, a bit like companies' quest for top-ranked CEOs, despite the pandemic's impact on revenue.

Brexit throws down electric gauntlet to UK cars

4 Jan 2021

Britain’s motor industry has escaped European Union tariffs that would have hobbled half its output. But to meet export rules on low-carbon vehicles by 2024, Prime Minister Boris Johnson needs to ramp up battery output. Convincing groups like Nissan and BMW to stay will be tough.

Christmas Eve Brexit deal is second-worst outcome

24 Dec 2020

The UK’s last-gasp agreement with the European Union avoids painful tariffs and a dangerous rupture in relations. Yet trade flows remain hostage to diverging standards. While the costs of exiting the single market will now become clear, the benefits of independence remain vague.

EU’s Google-Fitbit approval sets risky precedent

17 Dec 2020

Antitrust tsar Margrethe Vestager approved the $2.1 bln deal with conditions. The buyer’s pledges, like giving rival fitness trackers equal access to the Android operating system, are great in theory but hard to monitor. Vestager may only spot the loopholes once the harm is done.

ECB fiat anoints unlikely bank dividend heroes

16 Dec 2020

The regulator capped payouts as a proportion of earnings and assets. Well-capitalised lenders with richer valuations, like Nordea and KBC, now offer tiny yields compared with minnows like Liberbank. The risk is that a slow recovery causes restrictions to last beyond September.

Europe wields foam hammer at big U.S. tech groups

15 Dec 2020

Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager proposed new rules governing the behaviour of Amazon.com, Facebook and others. The potential fines are large, but that is a flimsy deterrent. Recommendations on sharing data with rivals are a neat idea but look narrow in scope.