June 11, 2020 | The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has renewed its decision to temporarily require the holders of net short positions in shares traded on a European Union (EU) regulated market to notify the relevant national competent authority (NCA) if the position exceeds 0.1% of the issued share capital. ESMA considers that its renewed measure will maintain the ability of NCAs to deal with any threats to market integrity, orderly functioning of markets and financial...

June 11, 2020 | Today, the European Commission published “The EU Blue Economy Report 2020”, providing an overview of the performance of the EU economic sectors related to oceans and the coastal environment. With a turnover of €750 billion in 2018, the EU blue economy is in good health. There were also 5 million people working in the blue economy sector in 2018, representing a significant increase of 11.6% compared to the year before. Although sectors such as coastal and...

June 11, 2020 | Today the Commission recommends to Schengen Member States and Schengen Associated States to lift internal border controls by 15 June 2020 and to prolong the temporary restriction on non-essential travel into the EU until 30 June 2020; and sets out an approach to progressively lifting the restriction afterwards. Given that the health situation in certain third countries remains critical, the Commission does not propose a general lifting of the travel restriction at this stage. The restriction should be lifted...

The Council adopted conclusions today on shaping Europe’s digital future, addressing a wide range of issues related to the implementation of the EU digital strategy. The areas covered by the conclusions range from connectivity, digital value chains and eHealth to the data economy, artificial intelligence and digital platforms. The text also highlights the impact of the digital transformation on fighting the pandemic, and its critical role in the post-COVID-19 recovery.  "The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences on our lives and economies...

June 10, 2020 | The OECD Economic Outlook is the OECD's twice-yearly analysis of the major economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, prices, fiscal and current account balances. Coverage is provided for all OECD member countries as well as for selected non-member countries. This issue includes a general assessment of the macroeconomic situation, a series of notes on the macroeconomic and structural policy issues related to the COVID-19...

June 08, 2020 | The Federal Reserve Board on Monday expanded its Main Street Lending Program to allow more small and medium-sized businesses to be able to receive support. The Board lowered the minimum loan amount, raised the maximum loan limit, adjusted the principal repayment schedule to begin after two years, and extended the term to five years, providing borrowers with greater flexibility in repaying the loans. The Board expects the Main Street program to be open for lender registration...

June 09, 2020 | • Euro remains unchallenged as second most used currency globally after the US dollar • Role of euro stable as global reserve currency • International role declined after the global financial crisis, now bottomed out • Euro used as main currency of denomination globally for green bond issuance The euro’s international role remained overall stable in 2019. This was one of the principal findings in the latest annual report on The international role of the euro, published today by the European...