Crypto News: Brussels Edition: EU, US Seek Common China Stance

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

The EU and the US will seek to align their approaches toward coercive economic practices by countries such as China when they meet today in Lulea, Sweden, for a joint trade and technology meeting. While the US has pushed for a more confrontational approach, several EU member states succeeded in watering down early versions of the final statement, and some mentions of China were ultimately removed. The European Commission has instead advocated for agenda items such as developing common standards for testing clean tech.

—Jorge Valero and Katharina Rosskopf

ESG Scrutiny | Companies providing environmental, social and governance ratings will soon have to explain their methodologies and secure regulatory approval to continue using them, under a draft European Commission proposal we've seen. The plan aims to make the booming ESG market more transparent.

Criticizing Warsaw | The US and the EU condemned a new law that will allow Poland's ruling party to investigate opposition leader Donald Tusk. Voicing US concerns, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that a special Polish parliamentary panel probing Russia's meddling in the country "could be used to block the candidacy of opposition politicians without due process."

Forget Euro 7 | France's finance minister joined automakers in calling on the EU to walk back anti-pollution regulation known as Euro 7, which will go into effect in 2025. "Perhaps we would do better to forget this Euro 7 standard, which will cost our car manufacturers useless money," Bruno Le Maire said yesterday in northern France. Read what else he said.

Polish Rates | The Polish central bank needs greater certainty that inflation will slow rapidly before it will begin cutting interest rates, policymaker Iwona Duda told us ahead of the release of new economic figures. According to forward-rate agreements, traders are pricing in 45 basis points in rate cuts over the next six months.

Positive Outlook | The ECB's unprecedented series of interest rates hikes isn't derailing economic growth in the euro zone, according to Mario Centeno. "Given the situation, the numbers are good. I don't see overshooting," the Governing Council member said yesterday.

Moldova Ambitions | Molodovan President Maia Sandu is confident that economic reforms and anti-corruption measures will enable the former Soviet Republic to join the EU by 2030. The president told us in an interview that she aims to achieve this goal in spite of Russian efforts to foment instability in her country.

Money Flowing | Ukraine has reached a preliminary deal with the IMF over a fresh round of aid, paving the way for the country to receive around $900 million in June. In exchange, Kyiv committed to a slate of reforms such as improving the country's tax collection and shielding the central bank's independence.

Balkan Violence | The EU has condemned the escalation of violence between Kosovo's Serbian and Albanian communities in the northern part of the country. "We cannot afford another conflict," Foreign Affairs Head Josep Borrell said in Brussels, asking the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to return to the negotiating table.

Treading Carefully | Rishi Sunak won't push Joe Biden for a free trade agreement when he visits Washington, D.C., next week, according to a UK government spokesman. Instead, the UK will focus on "targeted measures" and agreements with individual states. Biden has made clear that a trade deal with the UK is not among his administration's priorities.

Governor Wanted | Who wants to be the Governor of the Bank of Italy? Giorgia Meloni has five months left to appoint a successor to current chief Ignazio Visco. Possible candidates include ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta and Societe Generale Chairman Lorenzo Bini Smaghi.

Russian oil flows to international markets are edging lower, but still show no substantive signs of the output cuts that the Kremlin insists the country is making. Moscow has cited the diversion of crude previously sent to Germany and Poland via the Druzhba pipeline as a reason for robust shipments — but that switch happened in January and February, before a reduction in output came into effect. Deliveries of Russian crude through the Druzhba pipeline, now limited to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have been stable at about 240,000 barrels a day.

All times CET

11 a.m. European Parliament press conference on breaches of the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and frozen EU funds
3 p.m. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili addresses the European Parliament
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Foreign Affairs Head Josep Borrell in Chisinau for the Launch of the European Union Partnership Mission in Moldova
EU-US Trade and Technology Council meeting in Sweden
NATO foreign ministers meet in Oslo

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