EUROPEAN HEADLINES
FT Europe – Negative rates stir mutiny with bank threat to put cash in vaults.Commerzbank weighs storage for deposits. Japanese group threatens to quit debt cut.
FT Europe – Draghi steps up calls for Eurozone reform to save region from ‘ageing crisis’. ECB president warns of cost in delaying measures to boost productivity.
WSJE – Signs of bigger German terror cell emerge. A man who was detained in France and exposed an Islamic State terror cell in Germany told authorities that the cell contained many more people than the three arrested last week, according to officials familiar with his testimony.
INYT – A French Minister, Who Inspires Applause and Anger, Considers a Bigger Stage. Emmanuel Macron, the 38-year-old economy minister, whiz-kid technocrat and ex-Rothschild & Co. banker, has crystallised the hopes, fears, and rage in the labor turmoil now unsettling France. Bolstered by his polls, he has started his own political movement, En Marche!, in what many here consider a campaign in all but name to explore whether to challenge President François Hollande as the Socialist candidate for president next year.
BBC Europe – Suspect extradited for people smuggling ‘is wrong man’. Friends of a man extradited to Italy on Tuesday on people smuggling charges say police have the wrong man. Prosecutors believe Mered Medhanie, known as The General, is at the heart of the operation to smuggle migrants from Africa to Europe.
FRANCE
Le Monde – After the deadly shootings in Tel Aviv, Israel suspend the entry permits of 83,000 Palestinians. “All permits issued for Ramadan, especially permits for family visits (for the Palestinians) from Judea and Samaria are frozen. (…) 83,000 permits are frozen, “said COGAT, the body that coordinates Israeli activities in the Palestinian Territories.
Les Echos – Socialist party attack the right and the left over El Khomri law (Labour reform). At a meeting held Wednesday in Paris, the four speakers – Valls, Le Foll, El Khomri and Cambadélis – wanted to re-engage their party before consideration of the text in the Senate and its return to the National Assembly in July.
GERMANY
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung – Lammert is sharply critical of Erdogan. Bundestag President Lammert has denied the allegations of the Turkish President Erdogan to Turkish-born member of the Bundestag over the debate surrounding the ‘genocide’ of Armenians.
Süddeutsche Zeitung – Bundestag President Lambert heavily criticises Erdogan. Lambert repudiates Erdogan’s criticism of Bundestag members.
ITALY
La Repubblica – Grillo insults Orfini: “Inconsistent, you’re being ridiculous.” The answer: “You make me sick”. The Five star movement leader on his blog attacks the President Democratic Party accusing him of being inconsistent. The reply: “You do it just for the money”.
Il Sole 24 Ore –€86.7 bn of Italian corporate bonds eligible for purchases by the ECB. The new Corporate Sector Purchase Program (CSPP) announced by Mario Draghi (pictured) in March got an official start yesterday. A small group of 26 Italian companies have bonds that could be purchased.
POLAND
Gazeta Wyborcza – Fuels on the grey market. State Treasury loses billions of Polish Zlotys on fuels on the grey market. The losses encompass the unpaid VAT, excise duty and contributions to road and railroad investments.
SPAIN
El Pais – European Court annuls law that favours Canon Spain. The ruling rejects payments from the State Budget compensation to authors for private copying of their works.
UK
The Times – Brexit boost as business billionaire votes to leave. One of Britain’s leading businessmen has told his 6,000 employees in the UK that there is “very little to fear” from leaving the European Union and he is confident that the country can “stand on its own two feet”.
The Guardian – Prominent Tory MP switches to ‘Remain’ camp. Just over four months after announcing that her clear preference was for the UK’s withdrawal from the union, the MP said on Wednesday night that she no longer felt comfortable being part of the Vote Leave campaign and said its claim that a Brexit would unlock up to £350m a week for the NHS “simply isn’t true”.
