France set to block EU-Mercosur deal

Good morning from Paris,

Despite Brazil’s alleged progress in talks with EU partners and estimates that the EU-Mercosur deal will be concluded before the end of the year, Euractiv has learnt that France continues to oppose it, at least in its current form.

Previously, media reports suggested that the agreement could be concluded by the G20 summit in Brazil on 18 November.

Some 11 EU countries – including Germany and Spain –asked the Commission to speed things up, but France’s new Prime Minister Michel Barnier and President Emmanuel Macron “are in favour of finding a blocking minority to prevent the treaty from being signed”, liberal MoDem MP Pascal Lecamp (Renew), who questioned Barnier directly, told Euractiv.

Hugo Struna and Paul Messad analysed what a blocking minority would mean and France’s leverage considering the internal political crisis.

Read the full story.

Europe should stop being “naive” and step up efforts to support its faltering industrial base to compete with China and the United States, the newly elected chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee told Euractiv’s Thomas Moller-Nielsen in an interview.

Meanwhile, ECB chief Christine Lagarde described Mario Draghi’s recent report—which focuses on the EU's competitiveness amid rising US and China pressure—as “formidable” but insisted that it’s up to the EU Commission and governments to act, not monetary policymakers.

On the health front, a new survey suggested that one in three Europeans could not afford medical care due to poverty.

Last but not least, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the door open for Ukraine using Western missiles into Russian territory, with Moscow replying that such a move would drag the West into war.

BERLIN

Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU-EPP) floated the idea of turning back refugees at the border whose first EU country of entry was not Germany for a three-month trial period – an idea that may sound familiar to the governing parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government. Read more.

Wagenknecht party and Fico’s Smer tease alliance, but ‘too soon’ for new EP group. Germany’s Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer have confirmed a new attempt to strengthen ‘left-conservative’ ties in the European Parliament, but said a new group is still some way off. Read more.

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PARIS

France’s Bruno Le Maire leaves government to enter academia. French Economic and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced on Thursday that he would not stay in post after the new government is announced next week, taking on a professorship in economic policy and geopolitics at the University of Lausanne. Read more.

ROME

Opposition to Rafaele Fitto’s bid to become vice-president of the executive in the next European Commission appears to be softening, with the socialist S&D group in the European Parliament, who had previously joined the Greens and Liberals in opposing the move, no longer speaking of ‘red lines’. Read more.

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MADRID

Sánchez pledges support to Venezuelan opposition leader amid diplomatic row. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday pledged his full support to Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who has been in exile in Spain since Sunday, as he tries to find a way out of the South American country’s political crisis. Read more.

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NICOSIA

Turkey condemns Cyprus-US defence co-operation roadmap. Turkey said it condemned this week’s signing of a roadmap to boost two-way defence co-operation between the United States and the Republic of Cyprus. Read more.

LONDON

EU-UK energy relations: Deeper cooperation possible, depending on the politics. As the new government in London aims to improve relations with Brussels, energy offers clear grounds for closer EU-UK cooperation, according to expert Joël Reland from the think tank ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, who spoke to Euractiv in an interview. Read more.

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DUBLIN

Irish data protection watchdog probes Google’s processing of personal data for AI training.The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) launched a cross-border inquiry into Google’s handling of EU citizen’s data for its AI model PaLM2, questioning the tech giant’s compliance with privacy laws, the watchdog announced in a press release on Thursday. Read more.

PRAGUE

Czech intelligence warns. China poses a fundamental threat to Euro-Atlantic civilisation and is using various channels, including LinkedIn, to establish contacts and gain influence and know-how, the Czech Security Information Service (BIS) has warned. Read more.

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BUDAPEST

EU court says Hungary broke competition rules by fixing food prices. The European Union’s top court ruled on Thursday that a Hungarian decree setting regulated prices for basic foodstuffs undermines fair competition, in a dispute first brought before a national court by international retailer SPAR. Read more.

SOFIA

President Rumen Radev on Thursday insisted on the establishment of a direct flight between Sofia and Beijing and the opening of a Chinese bank branch to boost business ties between the two countries. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania to seek EU compensation for East-West energy price gap. Romania will ask the Council for compensation for the much higher energy prices in its region compared to Western Europe, Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said on Thursday, confirming his Greek counterpart’s words that his country had joined forces with Greece and Bulgaria. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Martina Monti, Alice Taylor]