UK to focus on vaccinating adults before offering surplus shots, minister says March 30, 2021 Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng has said this morning the UK will focus on vaccinating its adult population before offering surplus doses to neighbouring countries. More than 30m people have been given at least one shot of the vaccine so far in the UK’s largest inoculation programme to date. The UK has aimed to offer all [...]
Germany to double net borrowing for 2021 after suspending budget rule November 27, 2020 Germany will double its initially planned borrowing for 2021 to help finance businesses hit hard by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers said Friday morning. The parliamentary budget committee has agreed to a debt of €180bn (£160bn), almost twice the originally planned €96bn (£85bn). This is the second largest amount of net borrowing [...]
German consumer confidence slumps amid second wave of coronavirus November 26, 2020 German consumer confidence halved in November, as the economy felt the weight of a second nationwide lockdown. Chancellor Angela Merkel last night announced that “lockdown-lite” measures will extend until 20 December, after the country yesterday recorded its highest daily death rate, which rose by 410 in 24 hours. GfK, Germany’s largest market research institute, found [...]
Germany to enter four-week lockdown from November October 28, 2020 Germany will enter a four-week lockdown from 2 November, Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed today. Pubs, bars and restaurants across the country will shut for one month, while all inter-household mixing will be banned. Gyms, cinemas and theatres will also shutter for four weeks, as Merkel scrambles to contain a second wave sweeping across the nation. [...]
Brexit: Macron and Merkel clash over hopes for UK trade deal October 15, 2020 Hopes for a trade deal with the EU remained ambiguous at today’s EU summit, with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel disagreeing over whether the UK will secure a deal before the Brexit deadline. Macron told a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels today: “I hope to finalise a Brexit deal in [...]
The brain-dead era of Angela Merkel is limping to a finish December 9, 2019 The always interesting French President Emmanuel Macron got it precisely wrong in November when he airily derided Nato — the most successful alliance in the history of the world — as experiencing “brain death”. Brazening it out, Macron doubled down, defending his remark at the Nato summit of last week. As I never tire of [...]
Boris Johnson’s deal is on a knife edge as Angela Merkel calls on EU to support Brexit delay October 18, 2019 Angela Merkel is said to have told other EU leaders a Brexit extension would be inevitable should MPs reject Boris Johnson’s withdrawal deal. The German Chancellor told fellow European leaders they could not pretend there would be no extension if the UK requested one, according to reports. Read more: PM Johnson scrambles to save Brexit [...]
Germany unveils new measures to tackle climate change September 21, 2019 Germany has unveiled a number of new measures to fight climate change following a 15-hour negotiation on Friday. It comes ahead of the UN’s climate summit in New York next week and was completed while thousands of people took to the streets around the globe to protest climate change. Among the new measures is an [...]
German finance ministry warns no-deal Brexit a ‘high probability’ August 17, 2019 The German government believes there is a “high probability” that a no-deal Brexit will occur on 31 October. An assessment made by the finance ministry came to the conclusion it is “inconceivable” that Prime Minister Boris Johnson softens his stance on the Irish backstop. Read more: Corbyn fails to drum up support for plan to [...]
EU leaders meet to mull over potential candidates for top jobs May 28, 2019 EU leaders are meeting in Brussels today to mull potential candidates for the organisation's top jobs, including the head of the commission, currently held by Jean-Claude Junker. The EU heads meet a day after results came in for the EU parliamentary elections, in which centrist mainstream parties lost ground to smaller parties including nationalists, liberals and greens. [...]