Blog post by EU High Representative Josep Borrell | 26 August - Foreign policy never stops. But the summer of 2020 has been exceptionally busy, with a seemingly never-ending series of crises: in Lebanon, Belarus, Mali and the Eastern Mediterranean. At the informal Gymnich meeting in Berlin (27-28 August) we must forge a common way forward. It is both urgent and feasible to strengthen Europe’s international clout. "In the EU, what matters is not how a discussion begins, with 27 different...

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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The federal bank regulatory agencies today finalized three rules, which are either identical or substantially similar to interim final rules currently in effect that were issued earlier this year. They include: A final rule that temporarily modifies the community bank leverage ratio, as required by the CARES Act; A final rule that makes more gradual, as intended, the automatic restrictions on distributions if...

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The Federal Reserve on Thursday, August 13 highlighted the research and experimentation undertaken to enhance its understanding of the opportunities and risks associated with central bank digital currencies. The initiatives complement a broad set of payments-related innovation projects currently underway within the Federal Reserve System. "Given the dollar's important role, it is essential that the Federal Reserve remain on the frontier of research and policy development regarding central bank digital currencies," said Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard. "Like other...

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The European Commission has adopted today a package of proposals that aims to increase trade between the European Union and neighbouring countries in the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) region, thereby contributing to the economic recovery following the coronavirus outbreak. Today's proposals will modernise the EU's preferential trade agreements with 20 PEM trading partners by making the relevant ‘rules of origin' in those agreements more flexible and business-friendly. These proposals amend the EU's bilateral agreements with the following countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland,...

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