Crypto News: Brussels Edition: Flood peak

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

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will travel to the partly inundated western Polish city of Wroclaw today to meet regional authorities grappling with some of the worst flooding in a quarter century. The leaders of Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — whose countries only weeks ago were sweltering in the summer heat, which helped feed the current weather pattern — will discuss the response to torrential rain from Storm Boris. More than 20 people have died. While some cities like Budapest are still bracing for water levels to peak, areas farther north are starting clean-up efforts and tallying the ever-mounting annual costs of such disasters. Portugal and Greece are meanwhile fighting wildfires. "We have a Europe that is simultaneously flooding and burning," said the EU's crisis commissioner, Janez Lenarcic. "This tragedy is not an anomaly. It's fast become a norm for our shared future."

— Andrea Palasciano

Trade Deal | The EU is considering working toward a trade deal with the United Arab Emirates as the bloc seeks to cooperate more with the Gulf states on issues including energy and security. The commission considers bilateral deals with individual countries in the area more feasible after efforts to clinch a broader accord with the Gulf Cooperation Council stalled.

Pager Trail | Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co., whose brand appears on pagers that exploded in Lebanon, said a company based in Hungary called BAC Consulting is responsible for manufacturing the models used in the attacks, adding to the mystery around a strike that is escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Rethinking | The International Monetary Fund postponed its first consultations with Russia since the start of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine after several EU states slammed the decision as misguided.

Airspace Trouble | Defense ministers from from nine eastern European nations urged NATO to prepare a "collective answer" to mounting cases of airspace violations by Russia among nations bordering Ukraine. Latvia, Romania and Poland recently reported incidents involving Russian drones crashing or entering their airspace during the attacks against Ukraine.

AI Demands | Meta, Spotify and other big tech companies have signed an open letter calling on the EU to bring consistency to how it applies data protection rules to AI. The letter says national data watchdogs have taken different stances on how European citizens' information can be used to train cutting-edge AI models, stymieing innovation in the EU. The proposed solution? A "modern interpretation" of data protection laws.

Dark LNG | Russia has assembled a complex network stretching from Dubai to China to create a shadow fleet of gas carriers to ferry the fuel from its $21 billion Arctic LNG 2 facility, a prestige project for Vladimir Putin despite sanctions.

Budget Warning | French Prime Minister Michel Barnier issued a warning over the country's public finances as disagreements between rival parties on tax and spending further complicate his task of forming a government. "The country's budgetary situation is very serious," he said after struggling to put together a new administration for two weeks.

Asylum Spat | The EU will deduct €200 million from its next payments to Hungary after the country failed to pay a fine imposed for its asylum policies before the deadline. Hungary has threatened to retaliate by sending migrants who show up at its borders to Brussels by bus.

Chablis Premium | Descendants of the Rothschild banking dynasty paid almost €89 million for vineyards they acquired from the billionaire Pinault family in the Chablis wine-producing region of France, highlighting the premium that France's top-rated wine estates can still attract despite competition from abroad and consumption slumps on some markets like Bordeaux.

The ECB has made good progress in bringing inflation down, but needs patience to fully reach the 2% target, Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said. "We must now show staying power," the Bundesbank president said. He said the future path for interest rates is open, but that borrowing costs "will certainly not go down as quickly and sharply as they went up."

All times CET

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen hosts a working lunch with the leaders of the six Western Balkan partners
11 a.m. Von Der Leyen gives a press conference with the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol
4 p.m. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a farewell speech
5 p.m. Von der Leyen travels to Wroclaw to meet the leaders of Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

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