Crypto News: Brussels Edition: Costa’s plan

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

As fresh EU leadership took the reins yesterday, European Council President Antonio Costa and the bloc's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, together with new Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos started their mandate by visiting Kyiv. Ukraine is Costa's first worry, he told us. He will also have to steer discussions for the long-term budget that will define the bloc's ambitions. His plan is to reach a consensus on the big issues, including defense and competitiveness, before the money talks start in the second half of 2025. Although the EU faces a challenging landscape, squeezed by the US and China and its economy ailing, Costa remains upbeat: "Five years ago everybody was entrenched in their own positions, now people are open minded."

— Jorge Valero

Standing Firm | The French government won't accept "ultimatums" from Marine Le Pen in budget negotiations, Finance Minister Antoine Armand told us. The far-right leader, showing her unprecedented clout in French politics, gave her strongest indication yet that she's prepared to topple the government as soon as this week.

Tavares Out | In another sign of the turmoil engulfing Europe's auto industry, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares is stepping down after disagreeing with the board over how to reverse dwindling profit. The company formed from the merger of Fiat and Peugeot will be run by a committee chaired by Chairman John Elkann until a successor to Tavares is found next year.

Status Quo | Ireland looks set for a return of the coalition government led by Prime Minister Simon Harris's Fine Gael party and Fianna Fail, as voters bucked a recent international trend of ousting incumbent parties. Both have ruled out working with Sinn Fein, which won 19% of first-preference votes.

Romania Vote | Romania's ruling Social Democrats were on course to win a parliamentary election, with exit polls showing the party ahead of a nationalist group that had threatened to deliver a blow to the Black Sea nation's political establishment.

Costly Absences | Ageing workforces, more awareness of stress and mental health and repercussions from the Covid pandemic are increasing sick days across Europe. And the economic costs along with it. Germany is losing about €200 billion a year from sick days, said the government, while French authorities warned of increased costs that are straining the budget.

Conflicting Goals | While EU recovery funds channeled into Italy's olive millers is a boon for some territories, it also shows the limits of the impact. Some believe the country should better target the spending for improving the country's long-term output.

Georgia Protests | The EU condemned Georgian riot police's repression and use of tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who came out for demonstrations over the weekend. The unrest came after the government announcement that it will delay talks on EU membership until 2028.

Hungary Warning | Moody's Ratings lowered the outlook of Hungary's debt to negative from stable as the country risks losing EU grants and cheap loans if the government is "not able or willing to meet" the bloc's conditions.

In spite of the uncertainty, we've mapped out a plausible scenario for Trump's tariff plan for you. Our base case: three waves of tariff hikes, with levies on China ultimately tripling by the end of 2026 and a smaller hike on the rest of the world. The combined impact would be a tripling of average US tariffs to almost 8% by the end of 2026. Such moves would lead to US imports and exports of goods dropping from 21% of the global total today to 18%, including a plunge in US-China trade.

European Council President Costa meets with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola
First working day of the new College of Commissioners
Commissioner Dubravka Suica meets Greek Foreign Minister Georgios Gerapetritis
EU social ministers meet in Brussels