G7 high-level conference – Paris, 16 July 2019 - Bretton Woods: 75 years later – Thinking about the next 75 Welcome address by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure to welcome you to this G7 high-level conference dedicated to the next 75 years of the Bretton Woods system… which is a sign of confidence. 75 years ago, John M. Keynes for Britain, Harry Dexter White for the US, Pierre Mendès-France...

With 383 votes in favour, the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen President of the next European Commission in a secret ballot on 16 July. She is set to take office on 1 November 2019 for a five-year term. There were 733 votes cast, one of which was not valid. 383 members voted in favour, 327 against, and 22 abstained. Parliament currently comprises 747 MEPs as per the official notifications received by member state authorities, so the threshold needed to...

Euro area The first estimate for euro area (EA19) exports of goods to the rest of the world in May 2019 was €203.4 billion, an increase of 7.1% compared with May 2018 (€189.9 bn). Imports from the rest of the world stood at €180.3 bn, a rise of 4.2% compared with May 2018 (€173.0 bn). As a result, the euro area recorded a €23.0 bn surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in May 2019, compared...

Italian S&D member David Sassoli was elected as European Parliament president on 3 July following two rounds of voting. Sassoli, 63, received 345 votes out of 667 votes cast in the second ballot. He is a former TV journalist and has been an MEP since 2009. In his statement before the start of the election procedure, Sassolis spoke of Parliament's responsability towards all the new voters that took part in the last European elections in May: “They have given us a...

As the new European Parliament meets for the first time 2 July, MEPs have formed seven political groups. Read on to find out more. Ever since the results of the European elections have been in, newly-elected MEPs have been organising themselves into political groups, which bring together representatives from different EU countries based on their political affinities. According to Parliament rules, a political group must be composed of at least 25 MEPs from at least one-quarter of member states (at the moment...

The European Council elected today Charles Michel as President of the European Council. The President of the European Council is elected for the period from 1 December 2019 until 31 May 2022. The mandate of two and a half years of the President of the European Council is renewable once. The European Council also welcomed the decision of the Heads of State or Government of the Member States whose currency is the euro to appoint Charles Michel as President of the Euro Summit,...