TheChek News Flow

-Mario Draghi has done it. The current prime minister of Italy has sent a ‘strong signal’ that he will resign shortly in order to formalize his candidature to serve as President of the Italian Republic. His resignation is a necessary step, given the constitutional rules, which do not allow a sitting minister to be eligible for the highest office of the land. In Italy, the office of Presidency does not have executive power. But it plays an important role as arbiter of the Constitution.

-At the end of yesterday's trading, Bolloré stock gained 11.54%, while the holding Compagnie de l'Odet gained 17.21%. The day was also positive for Vivendi (of which Bollore 'controls which rose by 4.49%. All this is due to a EUR5.7B offer that the Bolloré group received on Monday from the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), a company based in Geneva and controlled by the Aponte family, one of the world's big names in the container and leisure shipping sector (boasting a fleet of 560 ships and 70,000 employees).

-Does Bitcoin bring more freedom and opportunities - or more injustice and new feudal times? A conversation with financial expert Jon Danielsson about false hopes, cynical bets and mistakes in the financial system.

-The German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, led by Robert Habeck (Greens), wants to massively accelerate the expansion of wind turbines and, if necessary, overcome resistance from individual federal states with legal regulations. “We already understand our role as a federal government in such a way that we solve such questions together. But if we don't come to an amicable agreement, we have to look at the possibilities offered by the Federal Building Act, for example,” announced Oliver Krischer (Greens), Parliamentary State Secretary in the ministry, speaking to Die Welt.

-The first doses of Novavax, the "traditional" protein-based vaccine, should arrive in Italy as early as January and will be reserved for those who have not yet been vaccinated. Having received a pass from the EMA, the European Medicines Agency, Aifa , the Italian Medicines Agency, it has been authorized it as a vaccine for the administration of first jabs and therefore not for boosters. It will be the fifth authorized vaccine against Covid An indication that at this point reserves the use of this new antidote against Covid for those who decide to immunize themselves among the 6 million Italians who have so far decided not to get vaccinated.

-The world's largest fast food company, McDonald's, is suffering from a shortage of potato chips in Japan due to the global supply chain crisis due to the Covid pandemic and soaring raw material costs. The company said it is experiencing delays in shipments of the potatoes used to make its famous 'French Fries'. As a result, it has decided to reduce portions from Christmas Eve until December 30th.

-Hitherto considered low, the risk of transmitting Covid-19 in an airplane could increase with the Omicron variant said the International Air Transport Association. IATA has called for vigilance in the face of this highly transmissible strain.

-The European Commission has presented a draft directive to fight against these fictitious companies which aim to facilitate tax evasion for many. The shortfall is estimated at 60 billion euros in tax revenue each year. These empty shells make it possible to direct the financial flows of a business or a high net worth individual towards jurisdictions which provide for zero or very low taxation or which make it possible to easily circumvent taxes. Clearly, a shell company is just a letterbox through which the profits transit to tax havens.

-Never before have investors put so much money into German start-ups as in 2021. By September it was around 12.4 billion euros - more than twice as much as in the previous record year 2019. And yet the renowned start-up investor Klaus warns Hommels: "We are facing a billion-dollar gap."

-Bundesbank Vice-President Claudia Buch calls on German banks to be more vigilant for crises. “At the moment we are seeing increasing vulnerabilities and a declining risk awareness in the financial system - the focus everywhere is on the search for returns. That worries me," warns Buch in an interview with Handelsblatt.

-The International Monetary Fund is not confident that the pension reforms brought forth by Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, will have the beneficial effects on the future sustainability of the public pension system that he proclaims. On the contrary, the IMF predicts that the government reform will add 3.5 points of GDP of spending to the system by 2050 and will encourage doubts about its financial stability unless the Government acts sooner rather than later to introduce new measures to restore balance.