EUROPEAN HEADLINES
FT Europe – Brussels rule change shifts refugee burden to the north. Win for Italy and frontier countries. UK faces prospect of taking more.
WSJE – Rising debt poses threat. China, other emerging nations grapple with slowing down and ballooning payments.
INYT – Grand plan put at risk as industry sags across China. Slowdown complicates long-term economic shift to service and technology.
BBC Europe – Swedish activist Peter Dahlin ‘confesses’ on China TV. A detained Swedish rights activist has appeared on Chinese state television apparently confessing to breaking the law through his group’s activities. Peter Dahlin has been held since early January amid a crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists. State media said his organisation had received foreign funding to “instigate confrontations” and gather information to produce “distorted” reports.
FRANCE
Le Monde – Life expectancy dropped in 2015. Life expectancy of both men and women dropped for the first time since 1969, says the Insee.
Les Echos – Growth: what the IMF fears for 2016. The IMF cuts global growth forecast for 2016 and 2017. Emerging countries appear to be more vulnerable.
GERMANY
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) – New turmoil in the federal government and the CDU/CSU parties. Dobrindt criticises Merkel’s refugee policy. Seehofer: We want a solution.
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) – A troubled CSU awaits Merkel. “We will not shut up:” Horst Seehofer intensifies criticism of the refugee policy as the CSU greets the Chancellor in Wildbad Kreuth. Seehofer faints during his speech.
ITALY
La Repubblica – EPP: “Renzi is putting the EU at risk,” banks under pressure. The dispute between Renzi and the European Commission isn’t over. It is now the turn of Manfred Weber, from the European’s People’s Party, to accuse Renzi of “putting Europe’s international credibility at risk.”
Il Sole 24 Ore – Deteriorating credits coverage: Italy higher than the European average. The Italian banks’ coverage ratio (46%) is higher than the one of other European banks (44.8%).
POLAND
Gazeta Wyborcza – EU does not trust Szydło. Prime Minister Szydło attempted to charm MEPs with her calm voice and readiness for a dialogue. Nevertheless, she did not withdraw from PiS’ position by an inch. “Constitutional Court in Poland is doing well”, PM Szydło asserted in Strasbourg.
SPAIN
El País – Podemos and the PSOE overcome obstacles and reach a deal. The agreement overcomes differences to form groups in the Parliament.
Expansión – Vinci, with Abengoa in sight. Europe’s biggest building company wants to acquire the “crown jewel” of the Spanish group.
UK
The Times – Apartheid on streets of Britain. A secret apartheid policy brands hundreds of asylum seekers in England’s poorest town by housing them in properties with red front doors, it can be revealed.
The Guardian – Thousands of GPs “plan to quit.” The NHS has the most stressed GPs by western standards, new research by the world’s most influential health think-tank reveals.
©europeanunion2016
