German car maker BMW reports sharp drop in profits for second year in a row
German car maker BMW has posted disappointing results for 2024 on weakening sales in China and at home.
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Economy
Latest reporting and analysis on economy.
Arrested captain of ship in North Sea crash with US tanker a Russian, owner confirms
The captain of the Solong cargo ship who was arrested after a collision with a US-flagged oil tanker off the coast of England is a Russian national, the ship's…
EU defence proposal is just a debt-union, not a serious course correction
It is not entirely without irony that the “The Most Successful Peace Project in the History of Mankind” is currently planning the continent’s most ambitious…
Party’s over? Trump threatens to slap 200% tax on European wines and champagne
In response to the European Union's counter tariffs against those imposed by US President Donald Trump, Washington has threatened new taxes on European alcohol.
‘EU building too many data centres on vastly overestimated AI economy,’ says report
European Union countries have been building too many data centres because the scale of the artificial intelligence (AI) economy has been vastly inflated, according…
Rheinmetall mulls converting German VW facility into military vehicle production site
German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall has announced plans to convert a Volkswagen car factory in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony) into a production facility for armoured…
MEP says EU must be pragmatic while China has edge over EU billions
György Hölvényi, MEP for Hungary and member of the Patriots for Europe Group, standing rapporteur for education in the Committee on Development, reports exclusively…
EU spirits sector rattled by tariff war with US
SpiritsEUROPE, the representative body for the European spirits' industry, has said it was "extremely concerned" by retaliatory tariffs against the US.
Neutral Austria to buy €4 billion worth of long-range missiles, says defence minister
Austria will spend €4 billion on the acquisition of long-range air defence missiles, Klaudia Tanner, the country’s defence minister, has announced.
Game over for European ‘green’ darling Northvolt
Swedish electric battery battery maker Northvolt has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden after it was unable to find money to pay its taxes.
EU to impose counter tariffs on €26 billion of US goods
The European Union will impose counter-tariffs on €26 billion worth of US goods from next month, the European Commission said on March 12, ramping up…
ECB’s Rehn calls for joint European investment in air defence, drones
Europe must adopt common policies such as joint procurement of air defence equipment and drones to support Ukraine and strengthen its own defence despite large public…
Volkswagen profits tumble 30 per cent
Volkswagen's net profit plummeted by more than 30 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Another hyped ‘green’ sustainable energy company files for restructuring
Danish electrolyser manufacturer Green Hydrogen Systems has announced a plan to file a petition for court restructuring because it could not secure sufficient funding…
New doubts over digital-euro plan after ECB outage
European lawmakers have voiced fresh doubt about the European Central Bank’s digital-euro project after an outage in the ECB’s existing payment system caused…
Huge fire off English coast after oil tanker and cargo ship collide
An oil tanker and a cargo ship collided off the northeastern coast of England on Monday, March 10, causing a huge fire, with authorities mounting…
Germany’s Greens may refuse to back Merz in threat to massive debt plans
Germany's Greens may refuse to back plans by likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz for a massive increase in state borrowing with a party source, on March 10, warning…
Italian whippet proves top dog at UK’s Crufts
A whippet from Venice in Italy has been named best in show at the 2025 Crufts international dog show in the UK.
Corruption in Pakistan: A risk for South Asia’s stability and a threat for Europe
As Pakistan backs away from its anti-corruption transparency pledge, the consequences could ripple beyond its $7 billion IMF loan programme, threatening regional…
‘Boycott USA’ : Consumer revolt spreads across Europe
French and Danish consumers have been turning their backs on US products, launching a growing boycott movement in protest against Washington's foreign and economic…
‘Increased defence spending couldn’t come at worse time,’ says ING think-tank
ING Economics, the think-tank of international lender ING Bank, has warned that the planned €800 billion spending spree on defence announced by the European Commission…
Belgian defence minister eyes Brussels-based Audi factory as military production site
Belgium’s recently closed Audi Brussels factory could soon be transformed into a military defence production site, the country's Minister of Defence Theo Francken…
Passenger misery ahead: Almost all German airports to be hit by strikes
Almost all of Germany's airports will be hit by a 24-hour strike after trade union Verdi called for employees in the public sector and ground handling to walk…
Nuclear energy ‘could slash electricity bills by 40 per cent’, says Italian energy minister
Italian environment and energy minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin has claimed nuclear energy could lead to a big reduction in electricity bills for Italians: up to…
German post to cut 8,000 jobs as part of cost-saving strategy
DHL unveiled plans on March 6 to cut about 8,000 jobs in Germany this year as part of a strategy to save more than €1 billion by 2027, after the logistics group…
EU rearmament plan is just ‘announcement politics’
Former president of the European Council, Charles Michel, has derided European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's Rearm Europe plan, saying it was "insufficient"…
German nuclear group wants power plants back online by 2030
The German Nuclear Energy Association (KernD) has urged likely chancellor-to-be and leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz to get to work…
Likely German coalition government agrees almost €1tn debt-fuelled spending spree
Parties negotiating the formation of a new German government have agreed to authorise €500 billion in new debt for infrastructure projects.
German National Bank proposes letting go of strict fiscal policy
Germany's Bundesbank proposed a reform of the country's debt brake, allowing Berlin to borrow an additional €220 billion by 2030, a break from its traditional…
EC’s Omnibus package ‘risks undoing sustainable finance ambitions’, warns think-thank
Bruegel, a leading European think-tank, has warned that the European Commission’s first 'Omnibus package' could jeopardise the European Union’s sustainable finance…