Pierre Briancon
Reuters Top News
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Pierre:
There’s hope beyond moaning for European telcos
The gap between the oft-hyped up promises of universal connectivity and the struggles of telecommunication companies to finance the networks that will make them a reality has been a fixture of the Mobile World Congress. The annual Barcelona tech fest this week was in line with tradition, but a different mood music could also be heard beyond the bleatings of European telco executives. The good… → Read More
IMF’s outlook on Russia is too rosy to be true
The International Monetary Fund delivered some uplifting economic news to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president should now make the case to his own government, which doesn’t share the IMF’s optimism. The international body recently estimated that Russia will avoid a recession in 2023 and expand by 0.3% after shrinking by 2.2% in 2022. That amounts to a quasi-stagnation, but still looks too… → Read More
Rejigged Renault-Nissan alliance looks headless
Renault and Nissan have helped their 24-year alliance move forward after four years of stalemate. The deal marks the end of the French group’s domination of its Japanese partner, and addresses festering governance issues. But without a clear leader, decision-making may become fuzzier. → Read More
EU’s frozen Russian assets plan is best put on ice
Making Russia pay for Ukraine sounds like a no-brainer moral imperative. The European Commission has launched a plan to try using billions of dollars and euros of frozen Russian assets to help finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. It is a wrong-headed approach on legal, financial, and political grounds. → Read More
Economic chaos will break Orbán’s strongman spirit
Caught between a severe economic crisis, a restive population and his country’s need for foreign capital, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will spend 2023 trying to make friends with the European Union partners he scorned for years. → Read More
Bond-buying scars will open European can of worms
The euro zone will soon have to pay for a decade of European Central Bank largesse. Rising interest rates are turning the ECB’s portfolio of bonds acquired since 2014 into a money-losing machine. The question of how those losses are shared could become a major source of tension between member states. → Read More
Fiscal “black hole” obsession adds to UK problems
The UK economy may suffer from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s determination to regain the credibility with financial markets squandered by his predecessor Liz Truss. His government is preparing to fill what media reports now describe as a “black hole” in the country’s public finances, by raising around 50 billion pounds within five years. Saving the equivalent of more than 2% of UK GDP is a big… → Read More
Europe’s diverging prices complicate ECB’s task
The euro zone monetary policy debate may soon become more tense. The region’s inflation rate, at 10.7% in October, masks wide disparities among member states. Prices are increasing at an annual pace of 7% in France, 12% in Germany and 22% in Estonia. The European Central Bank’s policy of higher rates risks being too aggressive for some countries, but too timid for others. → Read More
Massive fiscal U-turn leaves UK in political funk
In his fourth day on the job, Britain’s new finance minister has passed his first test. Jeremy Hunt seems to have convinced investors that he is the needed to reverse the United Kingdom out of the financial turmoil triggered by his predecessor and Prime Minister Liz Truss. But short-term financial calm may come at the expense of future political trouble. → Read More
Tax U-turn leaves UK’s Truss with credibility gap
The UK government has “listened” to financial markets. Prime Minister Liz Truss on Monday scrapped the most controversial proposal of her so-called growth plan: the abolishment of the 45% tax rate on higher incomes. But it will take more than a partial U-turn to regain the trust of global investors. → Read More
Europe can shrug off Putin’s Chinese gas Plan B
Selling more gas to China is one of Vladimir Putin’s oldest pet projects. And it would be a sensible thing to do for Russia, in order to diversify its export markets. Unfortunately for the Russian president, the idea has become both more urgent and less feasible after the war he launched on Ukraine. → Read More
Gorbachev’s bold political plan had economic flaw
It is safe to assume that Mikhail Gorbachev didn’t die in the Russia he wanted to build. The former - and last - Soviet leader, who passed away in Moscow aged 91, had other plans for a bigger country, the USSR. He gave his countrymen political freedoms, and hoped that it would be enough to transform the communist behemoth into a prosperous, democratic economy. How naive he was. → Read More
Private jet crackdown is idea that could fly
Tax the flying rich: French Transport Minister Clément Beaune is weighing up an idea that would help reduce carbon emissions while sending a message that all members of society must share in the sacrifices caused by the energy crisis. He wants to restrict the use of private jets. → Read More
Paris and Berlin’s windfall tax timidity is futile
The French and German governments have chosen an odd way to stray from the European pack. As other major economies slap a windfall tax on power groups and other companies coining it from food and energy inflation, the euro zone’s two largest powers remain noticeable refuseniks. But they may not benefit as much as they hope from the refurbishing of their crisis-era business-friendly credentials. → Read More
ECB plays with fire while unspooling its hose
The European Central Bank has simultaneously darkened the euro zone’s economic prospects and created a tool that may help it deal with the consequences. President Christine Lagarde on Thursday announced a surprise 0.5% interest rate hike while unveiling a new instrument to defend a country facing a speculative attack. The effects of the first decision are clear; the consequences of the second… → Read More
ECB risks forgetting 1990s currency crisis lessons
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will soon unveil a new “anti-fragmentation” tool to control euro zone government bond yields. In doing so, she must address two key questions: how the ECB will determine that a country’s borrowing costs have reached a level unjustified by its economic situation, and what the central bank will do about it. If Lagarde has time to review the… → Read More
Breakingviews: Euro weakness forces itself on ECB’s agenda
The euro falling below parity with the dollar, as seems increasingly likely, would mark a symbolic threshold for watchers of the single currency’s history. It hasn’t been that low since 2002. For European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde however, the weak currency is both an implicit criticism of the central bank’s monetary policy, and a further thorn in its side. → Read More
G7’s Russia cap could send oil prices up, not down
What’s not to like in the idea of setting a price cap on Russian oil exports? It limits the revenue Moscow has been amassing since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, cuts the European Union’s energy bill and helps control inflation, while avoiding a major disturbance of the global oil market. The G7 has launched a study of the concept. Considering the risks of a boomerang effect on prices, it… → Read More
Breakingviews: Germany’s gas action plan pulls its punches
Germany is facing a sudden acceleration of its gas crisis. A 60% drop in Russian supplies since early June threatens to plunge Europe’s biggest economy into severe economic shock. But Berlin’s confusing response to Moscow’s latest move, its hesitations on energy policy, and its attempts to delay the impact of higher energy prices on the economy risk making matters worse. → Read More
ECB’s crisis weapon pledge is vague and late
The European Central Bank has seen the light. The ECB is acknowledging at last that it must address ever higher borrowing costs for some euro zone economies. Its governing council says it will “accelerate” the design of a new monetary policy tool to tackle soaring yields of weaker states. The pledge comes late, and the intention remains vague. It’s an invitation to investors to test the central… → Read More