UK Prime Minister Theresa May had called Thursday’s snap elections to strengthen her hand in Brussels, but the loss of her Conservative majority has plunged the Brexit process into disarray just over a week before talks are scheduled to begin.
The Tories won fewer than 320 seats, short of the 326 needed for a majority in Britain’s 650-member House of Commons. Labour, the main opposition party, gained more than 30 seats to top 260.
Billionaire tycoon George Soros has warned the EU it is facing an ‘existential crisis’ and that Brexit talks could last five years. If, during the divorce negotiations, the EU manages to successfully reform itself and attract wider support from its citizens, the U.K. will want to keep its European membership, Soros told an audience in Brussels.
"The divorce will be a long process taking as long as five years. Five years are a very long time in politics, especially in revolutionary times like the present," Soros noted.
Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday downgraded China’s credit rating to A1 from Aa3, changing its outlook to stable from negative, citing expectations that China’s financial strength will erode somewhat over the coming years. It was Moody’s first downgrade for the country since 1989, according to Reuters.
Greece’s parliament has approved a new package of austerity measures needed to release the next instalment of its multi-billion-dollar bailout, as angry demonstrators protested outside parliament against the new round of austerity.
The measures, which entail $5.4bn in cuts to be implemented in 2019 and 2020, were backed late on Thursday by all 153 members of parliament in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ ruling coalition after a fiery debate.
The legislation was backed by all 153 deputies in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ left-led coalition. All 128 opposition lawmakers present in the 300-member parliament stood against the measures in a vote just before midnight.
Latest reports on the Canadian economy showed strong job creation and lingering housing market overheating. These were early signs for a rate hike. In your opinion, should we expect the BoC to raise interest rates? Why?
No, I do expect the BoC to raise rates anytime soon, as there still are some downside risks that the Bank of Canada wants to make sure do not materialise, especially in the US trade policy. Another issue is that inflation is still below the Central Bank’s target. There is still time for the excess capacity to be reduced before a rate hike becomes appropriate.
The US and China have reached a 10-point trade deal that opens the Chinese market to US credit rating agencies and credit card companies. Under the deal, China will also lift its ban on US beef imports; in return, Chinese cooked chicken will be allowed into the US market and Chinese banks can enter the US market. And there were numerous other parts of the preliminary agreement. This included language that appears to pave the way for U.S. firms to export liquid natural gas to China, the expediting of Chinese safety reviews for U.S. biotechnology applications, and cooperation between Chinese and U.S. regulators over financial transactions.The deals are the first tangible results of trade talks that began in April after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Florida.
Switzerland will limit Bulgarian and Romanian citizens’ access to the Swiss labour market for the next 12 months, the government said on Wednesday, as it seeks to slow increased migration from those two countries since last year, Reuters reported.
The number of five-year "B" residence permits for people coming from the two countries will be fixed at 996: the decision would be due to the threshold of workers from those countries taking largely seasonal jobs had been exceeded between June 2016 and May 2017.
The French presidential election has delivered a clear win to Emmanuel Macron. With an estimated 65.8% of the votes going to Macron, compared to 34.2% to Marine Le Pen, he is France’s new president. At the same time the election brought the highest rate of protest votes since 1969. 26% of voters abstained and 9% handed in a blank form.
Switzerland’s press and politicians largely consider the election of new French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday as good news.
Doris Leuthard, Switzerland’s president, said: “On behalf of the Swiss government I congratulate Mr Macron on his election as president of the French Republic. Switzerland and France are linked by a common language and shared values of liberty and democracy. Based on this I am convinced that we will continue our good neighbourly relationship and that our two countries will pursue and deepen our stable and positive cooperation.”
