Aurelia Butler

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The rise of euro-sceptic nationalist parties in the European election is likely to complicate Ursula von der Leyen’s bid to get a second term as president of the powerful European Commission, though she remains the front-runner for the job.To secure another five years as boss of the EU’s executive arm, von der Leyen needs a “qualified majority” of the 27 European Union leaders and also a majority in the 720-seat European Parliament.In 2019 she barely scraped through that vote with just nine votes more than needed, despite her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) being the biggest grouping in the legislature. She also had the backing of the second biggest, the Socialists, and the liberals, the third biggest.The EPP remains the biggest group in parliament and first projections of seats showed that if the centre-left, liberals and Greens all vote for her, she would have more than the required majority of 361 votes.But nationalist and euro-sceptic political groups as well as the far-right German AfD would jointly gain 22 deputies to a total of 149. Their gains could be much bigger, depending on how many of the 102 now non-affiliated members decide to formally join one of the euro-sceptic parliamentary groups.This would leave much less room for manoeuvre for von der Leyen, especially that it is not clear how many deputies from her potential coalition might not vote for her even if their party leaders give their support. In 2019, some 100 MEPs from the EPP, centre-left and liberals’ coalition did not vote for von der Leyen but she got the votes she needed from right-wing Polish deputies. These are unlikely to support her now especially since she helped push through the EU’s Green Deal and was tough on rule-of-law issues.To assure support in parliament, von der Leyen has been signalling readiness to cooperate on important issues with the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR) which groups euro-sceptic parties like Brothers of Italy, Spain’s Vox and Poland’s Law and Justice.Diplomats say this could shift EU policymaking more to the right at the proposal stage, since the draft legislation is prepared by the Commission.But flirting with the ECR puts von der Leyen at risk of losing her usual allies because the Socialists, liberals and Greens have all said they would not support her if she cooperates with the right.EU LEADERS Things may be a bit easier with European leaders, who have to nominate her for the job before parliament votes. Though only 13 of the 27 leaders belong to the EPP, they will take into consideration the fact it remains the biggest group.Von der Leyen is also seen by most as having done a good job over the last five years, especially with delivering vaccines for the EU early in the pandemic and with uniting the EU in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The qualified majority she needs means 15 of the 27 EU leaders, from countries that together represent 65% of the EU’s population, must back her nomination. The 13 EPP-ruled countries, among which Poland is the biggest, together represent only 26% of the EU’s citizens.In practice, this means von der Leyen also needs the vote of the liberal French President Emmanuel Macron as well as the Socialist German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, though not necessarily the nationalist Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni.But French support is not guaranteed. Macron has been touting former Italian Prime Minister and ECB head Mario Draghi as a person who should “play a role” in the several top EU jobs that have to be decided this year.EU diplomats point out Draghi is not linked to any party and therefore lacks a broader political base. Each of the EU’s big political families – the EPP, the Socialists, Liberals, Greens, the Left, the right-wing ECR and far-right ID, all have their candidates for the top European Commission job. Adding to the complexity, the top Commission job will be part of a package of senior EU posts decided this year, with political groups trading their support not only for policy promises but also key positions for their representatives. More

The institute highlights several computing innovations that could redefine our daily lives and work, including high-performance, spatial, edge, neuromorphic, and quantum computing.Traditional processing units are now unable to meet the demands for faster and stronger computing power due to the exponential growth in data. The number of connected devices is expected to skyrocket, leading to more frequent interactions with these devices.Moreover, the rise in AI training and inference costs necessitates the development of more advanced computing solutions.The convergence of AI and quantum technologies is expected to catalyze transformative changes in various sectors, including life sciences, chemicals, materials, finance, and logistics.The combination of quantum computers and 6G mobile networks is anticipated to be a game-changer in every industry, making it possible to process and use a larger portion of global data, which could potentially double global GDP.In the healthcare sector, the rapid increase in medical knowledge and genomic data necessitates the use of quantum computers for efficient big data processing.In the realm of science, quantum computing can advance complex calculations used in space, physics, and nuclear simulations. Cloud platforms, which could be the platform for data generation, sharing, and storage, could also significantly benefit from the commercialization of quantum computers. More

This article is an onsite version of our The Week Ahead newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Sunday. Explore all of our newsletters hereHello and welcome to the working week.After the voting, the process of digesting the election results for the European parliament and individual member states begins. How will they change the EU? Why not join FT journalists and experts on Wednesday for a subscriber-exclusive webinar to discuss this. Register by clicking here and put your questions to our panel now.Sticking with Europe, Italy will this week host the annual G7 Summit in the luxury resort of Borgo Egnazia just south of Bari in the southern peninsula region of Apulia, looking out on to the Adriatic. The event, which runs from Thursday to Saturday, will bring together world leaders, most of whom met last week at the D-Day commemorations in northern France. Expect further talk about support for Ukraine as it seeks to repel the Russian invasion.In the US, Hunter Biden’s trial on criminal gun charges is likely to wrap up this week. My colleague Joshua Chaffin’s reports from Delaware provide the background you need. For good or ill this trial has become inextricably linked to the conviction of former president Donald Trump, and threatens to distract from President Joe Biden’s attempts to invigorate his re-election campaign as painful and ugly family episodes are re-aired. The UK election approaches the halfway stage (here is your what to watch guide), with the brief distraction next weekend of the Trooping of the Colour to celebrate King Charles’s official birthday (as opposed to his actual one; don’t ask) preceded by the King’s Birthday Honours list. Will it be as controversial as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s candidates for gongs?It’s another week for significant interest rate decisions. This time, for the US Federal Reserve (expected to keep rates on hold at a 23-year high range of 5.25 to 5.5 per cent) and the Bank of Japan (also likely to stick, in its case at 0 to 0.1 per cent).There are a number of set-piece corporate announcements from the tech world: in Silicon Valley, the Apple fans will be out in Cupertino for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. In the UK, attention will focus on the London market arrival of Cambridge-created cult gadget start-up Raspberry Pi, providing some relief for the beleaguered stock exchange — though it’s hardly the £1tn “British Microsoft”.Tesla holds its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, with a noteworthy schedule including a vote on Elon Musk’s disputed $56bn pay package, plans to reincorporate in Texas from Delaware and the election of directors, including Musk’s brother Kimbal. Proxy firms ISS and Glass Lewis have already voted against Musk’s remuneration.One more thing . . . Do you like football? Let me reassure you that this is a safe space for those of us not naturally drawn to the beautiful game — you know, those of us always picked last when deciding teams. However, there will be no avoiding the fact that this Friday is kick-off for the 2024 Euro tournament in Germany. If you’re in Berlin this week, this new exhibition could be a draw.What are your priorities for the next seven days? What would you like to read more about from this newsletter? Email me at [email protected] or, if you are reading this from your inbox, click reply.Key economic and company reportsHere is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.MondayApple begins its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at its headquarters in Cupertino, with an opening keynote address by CEO Tim Cook Japan: revised Q1 GDP figuresTuesdayRaspberry Pi, the low-cost, high performing computer creator, is expected to announce the final pricing of its initial public offering on the London market Shares are expected to begin trading on Friday.Opec June oil market reportUK: June labour market figuresResults: FirstGroup FY, GameStop Q1, Oracle Q4, Oxford Instruments FYWednesdayAEI June oil market reportGermany: May consumer price index (CPI) and harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) inflation rate dataUK: April GDP estimateUS: Federal Open Market Committee decision on interest rates. Also, May CPI inflation rate and real earnings dataResults: Broadcom Q2, RWS Holdings HYThursdayTesla annual shareholder meetingEU: April industrial production figuresUK: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors residential market surveyUS: May producer price index (PPI) inflation rate dataResults: Adobe Q2, Crest Nicholson HY, Fuller, Smith & Turner FY, Virgin Money UK HYFridaySuperdry shareholders vote on proposed capital and restructuring measuresEU: Q1 labour market figuresJapan: interest rate announcementResults: Tesco Q1 trading statementWorld eventsFinally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week. MondayTuesdayThe Women in Business Summit, the FT’s flagship event on gender equality and inclusive leadership, gathering more than 200 senior executives to explore policies, strategies and initiatives to close the gender gap. Click here to registerGermany: Ukraine Recovery Conference, part of a series aimed at mobilising international and private sector support for the economic and social stabilisation of the country following the 2022 Russian invasion, begins in Berlin.Iran: nominees due to be announced for the Iranian presidential election on June 28. The election is being held following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last monthWednesdayRussia: Russia Day, marking the day in 1990 when the First Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation adopted the Declaration on Russia’s National Sovereignty. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to speak and hand out state awards in the Kremlin’s St George HallThursday250th day of Hamas-Israel conflictItaly: G7 Summit, hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and attended by leaders of the other G7 member nations, plus the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, begins in Apulia, south-west ItalyUS: 2024 US Open Championship golf tournament begins in Pinehurst, North CarolinaFridayGermany: Euro 2024 football tournament kicks off in Munich with a game between the host nation and Scotland.UK: King’s Birthday Honours List announced, ahead of the Trooping of the Colour ceremony tomorrow, marking the monarch’s official birthday.SaturdayHong Kong: 2024 International Dragon Boat Race contest begins on the Victoria Harbour, running until tomorrowItaly: G7 Summit concludesSwitzerland: Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held at the Bürgenstock Resort above Lake Lucerne. About 80 countries are expected to participateSundayFather’s day, celebrated internationallyUK: 200th anniversary of London vicar Arthur Broome meeting a group including MPs Richard Martin and William Wilberforce in a London coffee house to found what is now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to AnimalsUS: 77th Tony Awards for the American theatre industry held in New York. Click here to read the list of nomineesRecommended newsletters for youOne Must-Read — The one piece of journalism you should read today. Sign up hereUS Election countdown — Money and politics in the race for the White House. Sign up here More

PARIS (Reuters) -The departure of Chanel’s top designer early Thursday sent ripples across the $1.62 trillion luxury goods industry at a time when all the major global players are at a crossroads.The playbook at the world’s top fashion labels like privately owned Chanel and LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton and Dior has been to heavily market new styles from their high-profile designers while significantly boosting retail prices. Major luxury companies have hiked product prices by 33% on average since 2019. That accounted for half of the industry’s organic sales growth in the past two years, RBC estimates show.As the cost of living soars around the world, shoppers have become pickier, challenging the companies’ core strategies.Chanel, the second largest luxury label after Louis Vuitton, reported 16% sales growth last year to nearly $20 billion, double the revenue a decade earlier. Price hikes accounted for more than half of the increase.Chanel designer Virginie Viard, who had worked alongside Karl Lagerfeld and succeeded him after his death in 2019, made her mark at Chanel with breezy, Eighties-flavored renditions of the label’s famous tweed ensembles. The news on Thursday of Viard’s departure kicked off speculation about who will replace her.Like many other luxury companies, Chanel has raised prices considerably since the pandemic, with the classic flap bag costing more than double at over 10,000 euros ($10,800).Earlier this month, Chanel warned it was entering a more challenging environment, and has had to increasingly defend its lofty prices.”I think the whole industry pushed prices too far,” HSBC analyst Erwan Rambourg said.”Even die-hard Chanel fans criticize the brand’s multi-year spike in bag prices,” added Monika Arora, founder of fashion website PurseBop.com.Investors in Chanel’s publicly traded rivals are also wondering whether the sector’s steep price hikes signal a lack of fresh ideas.”Investors worry that the price increases may have priced out or alienated consumers and that brands will have limited growth levers in the short term,” said Carole Madjo, head of European luxury goods research at Barclays.Luxury executives have only recently begun to acknowledge that the downturn has significantly narrowed the number of shoppers who can afford pricey belts, bags, shoes, wallets and designer clothing.LVMH Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said in April the “aspirational customer” without vast fortunes “has to adjust to that new normal; it’s not going to take 5 minutes.””When you have price increases, well, there should be a reason behind it,” LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault told analysts in January. “The product must justify this.”Further price hikes could be hard to justify.In a rare move, Chanel rival Saint Laurent, a Kering-owned label, lowered prices of the Loulou small bag and Classic Cassandre chain wallet, Barclays analysts said, noting that previous price hikes might have been too aggressive.Competitor Gucci, also Kering-owned, is increasing the number of super-pricey products in its collections. Yet it also hopes to appeal to less affluent, aspirational shoppers with utilitarian products such as $200 ankle socks with neat stripes. Larger brands must cater to younger, more aspirational shoppers as well as the resilient ultra-wealthy ones, Rambourg said. “When you sell more than 10 billion euros ($10.80 billion) of products a year, it’s not an either/or.”($1 = 0.9259 euros) More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. officials expect the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies to send a tough new warning next week to smaller Chinese banks to stop assisting Russia in evading Western sanctions, according to two people familiar with the matter.Leaders gathering at the June 13-15 summit in Italy hosted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are expected to focus heavily during their private meetings on the threat posed by burgeoning Chinese-Russian trade to the fight in Ukraine, and what to do about it.Those conversations are likely to result in public statements on the issue involving Chinese banks, according to a U.S. official involved in planning the event and another person briefed on the issue. The United States and its G7 partners – Britain, Canada France, Germany, Italy and Japan – are not expected to take any immediate punitive action against any banks during the summit, such as restricting their access to the SWIFT messaging system or cutting off access to the dollar. Their focus is said to be on smaller institutions, not the largest Chinese banks, one of the people said.Negotiations were still ongoing about the exact format and content of the warning, according to the people, who declined to be named discussing ongoing diplomatic engagements. The plans to address the topic at the G7 were not previously reported.The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Treasury Department had no immediate comment, but Treasury officials have repeatedly warned financial institutions in Europe and China and elsewhere that they face sanctions for helping Russia skirt Western sanctions.Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for international economics, told the Center for a New American Security this week that he expected G7 leaders to target China’s support for a Russian economy now reoriented around the war.”Our concern is that China is increasingly the factory of the Russian war machine. You can call it the arsenal of autocracy when you consider Russia’s military ambitions threaten obviously the existence of Ukraine, but increasingly European security, NATO and transatlantic security,” he said.Singh and other top Biden administration officials say Washington and its partners are prepared to use sanctions and tighter export controls to reduce Russia’s ability to circumvent Western sanctions, including with secondary sanctions that could be used against banks and other financial institutions.Washington is poised to announce significant new sanctions next week on financial and nonfinancial targets, a source familiar with the plans said.This year’s G7 summit is also expected to focus on leveraging profits generated by Russian assets frozen in the West for Ukraine’s benefit. RUSSIA BUSINESS MOVES TO CHINA’S SMALL BANKS  Washington has so far been reluctant to implement sanctions on major Chinese banks – long deemed by analysts a “nuclear” option – because of the huge ripple effects it could inflict on the global economy and U.S.-China relations.Concern over the possibility of sanctions has already caused China’s big banks to throttle payments for cross-border transactions involving Russians, or pull back from any involvement altogether, Reuters has reported.That has pushed Chinese companies to small banks on the border and stoked the use of underground financing channels or banned cryptocurrency. Western officials are concerned that some Chinese financial institutions are still facilitating trade in goods with dual civilian and military applications. Beijing has accused Washington of making baseless claims about what it says are normal trade exchanges with Moscow.The Biden administration this year began probing which sanctions tools might be available to it to thwart Chinese banks, a U.S. official previously told Reuters, but had no imminent plans to take such steps. In December, President Joe Biden signed an executive order threatening sanctions on financial institutions that help Moscow skirt Western sanctions.The U.S. has sanctioned smaller Chinese banks in the past, such as the Bank of Kunlun, over various issues, including working with Iranian institutions. China and Russia have fostered more trade in yuan instead of the dollar in the wake of the Ukraine war, potentially shielding their economies from possible U.S. sanctions. More

Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow $75 per monthComplete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More

Standard DigitalWeekend Print + Standard Digitalwasnow $85 per monthBilled Quarterly at $199. Complete digital access plus the FT newspaper delivered Monday-Saturday.What’s included Global news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts10 monthly gift articles to shareGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit appFirstFT: the day’s biggest stories20+ curated newslettersFollow topics & set alerts with myFTFT Videos & Podcasts20 monthly gift articles to shareLex: FT’s flagship investment column15+ Premium newsletters by leading expertsFT Digital Edition: our digitised print editionEverything in PrintWeekday Print EditionFT WeekendFT Digital EditionGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresExclusive FT analysisPlusEverything in Premium DigitalEverything in Standard DigitalGlobal news & analysisExpert opinionSpecial featuresFirstFT newsletterVideos & PodcastsFT App on Android & iOSFT Edit app10 gift articles per monthExclusive FT analysisPremium newslettersFT Digital Edition10 additional gift articles per monthMake and share highlightsFT WorkspaceMarkets data widgetSubscription ManagerWorkflow integrationsOccasional readers go freeVolume discountFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Standard DigitalFT Weekend Print deliveryPlusEverything in Premium Digital More