(EU) Monday Morning Papers Summary
LA REPUBBLICA
-Bucha's horror raises the level of European sanctions on Russia. The images have raised the EU’s disdain and could prompt, for the first time, a discussion about terminating natural gas imports from Russia altogether. The fifth package of sanctions is "on the way", announced the President of the European Council Charles Michel. The discussion was already underway and a round of consultations, including on the dispatch of other weapons and aid, will resume today. The EU is considering enforcing more restrictions on Russian banks, a ban on the entry of Russian ships in western ports and a ban of the supply of materials and technological equipment. But Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht from Berlin says it's time to start talking seriously about energy sanctions, including a stop to methane. The Italian government is more prudent, but if the EU examines the stop to supplies, assures Minister Luigi Di Maio, "it will not turn the other way".
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG
-How did Turkey become a leading manufacturer of modern weapons technology? Out of necessity. President Erdogan proclaimed a "digital mobilization phase" - the Turkish armaments industry is already in the thick of it. In fact, Turkey, although an emerging country according to the classic definition, has an advanced digital technology and software sector, even if it invests only half the EU average in research and development with 1% of economic output. Nevertheless; the state-sponsored electric car Togg will be a rolling computer, the delivery service Getir, which is also active in Germany, would be inconceivable without smart algorithms, shopping platforms such as Hepsiburada and Tendyrol are valued billions of dollars and the state-owned Türk Telekom is launching a 5G system with Chinese help.
-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, won yet another election: it was a victory so huge that you could even “see it from the moon and certainly from Brussels”. The Hungarian Prime Minister immediately used the clear electoral success he achieved on Sunday with his national-conservative party Fidesz to declare ‘war’ on the European institutions, against which he is very fond of campaigning. Fidesz, along with its close-knit Christian Democratic coalition partner KDNP, received more than 53% of the vote. Orbán could once again command a two-thirds majority in parliament thanks to the electoral law, which strongly promotes a majority.
HANDELSBLATT
-Europe must prepare for difficult economic times. The former head of the Bundesbank and outgoing president of the major Swiss bank UBS is concerned about the rapidly rising inflation: "What worries me the most economically at the moment is the very high inflation rate." In the USA, inflation could soon reach double-digit values. He still expects eight percent for the euro zone. In view of such inflation rates, he sees omissions on the part of the central banks: "It is incomprehensible that the European Central Bank, unlike the US Federal Reserve, is taking so much time with the monetary policy change," says Weber. "In my view, a more rapid tightening of monetary policy would be desirable."
-The war in the Ukraine ensures that the western states are pushing ahead with the transition of the energy supply to renewable energies. For private and professional investors, the focus is on an innovative investment concept, which investors can adopt to take advantage from the energy transition and other infrastructure projects: the European Long Term Investment Fund (ELTIF).
IL SOLE 24 ORE
-Saudi Arabia has opened to the possibility of allowing China to pay for oil in Yuan. Beijing and Moscow, even before the invasion of Ukraine, agree to honor the gas that will arrive from a new pipeline in euros. The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, also goes to China and India to agree on the means of payment (and currencies) for trade. This is just one of the pieces of the much larger geopolitical battle that the world is witnessing now.
-After 18 months of continuous price increases, the next electricity and gas bills will show a 10.2% cut for electricity and a 10% drop for gas. The decreases were announced by the Energy, Networks and the Environment Authority (ARERA), which indicated the new values ??in the latest quarterly update. "In an objectively extraordinary situation, with an ongoing conflict and unprecedented volatility on the energy markets – said ARERA president Stefano Besseghini – and….the Authority has decided to adopt extraordinary measures to support consumers".
-Germany cannot do without Russian gas, which is worth 55% of the country's gas needs, which drives the economy, supports employment, and feeds the giants of the manufacturing industry and families. This dependence will gradually be reduced until it is zeroed but will last, according to the latest predictions of the Minister of Economy Robert Habeck, at least until the end of 2023, indeed not, until the middle of 2024.
LES ECHOS
-Used-car sellers in France saw a spike in requests for alternatives to gasoline and diesel in March. In new construction, the number of 100% electric cars has almost doubled in one year, and Dacia is benefiting from the enthusiasm for LPG. 100% electric, hybrid, LPG or even super ethanol: in recent months, the increase in prices at the pump has prompted motorists to look more and more to engines that can reduce their fuel budget. The burst of inflation that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine has precipitated this runaway situation.
-Talks between Russia and Ukraine resume on Monday as both sides reported progress in talks over the weekend. As Ukrainians claim to have uncovered new evidence of war crimes, Moscow has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will resume talks, today, to try to find an agreement to end the conflict. On Saturday the Ukrainian side affirmed that Moscow had orally accepted all its positions “except with regard to the question of Crimea”. For its part, the Russians confirmed that Kiev has adopted a "more realistic" position to accept a neutral status for the country.
ABC
It took only three days after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine for the latter’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to make the following international appeal: "All those who want to join the defense of security in Europe and the world can come and be side by side with the Ukrainians against the invaders of the 21st century.” The Ukrainian Foreign Minister announced a few days ago that more than 20,000 fighters from 52 different nationalities had enrolled in what Zelensky called the International Legion for Territorial Defense of Ukraine. But according to several sources consulted by this newspaper, these figures must be taken with a grain of salt. “They are part of the propaganda inherent in any war.”