Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he hopes the UK will one day seek a closer relationship with the European Union, although rejoining the bloc as a full member remains “a remote prospect.”
(Bloomberg) — Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he hopes the UK will one day seek a closer relationship with the European Union, although rejoining the bloc as a full member remains “a remote prospect.”
“Brexit will never just be done and will require constant negotiations, constant alterations to the relationship,” Varadkar said Thursday at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Europe event near Dublin.
“It’s not impossible in my view that a future British government — maybe not the next one, maybe not the one after that — will seek a closer relationship with the European Union again,” he added. “It might involve a revision of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to have a closer relationship and that’s something the door will always be open to.”
The Gateway series brings together leaders from the private and public sectors to discuss the economy’s most pressing problems. This week’s event is focusing on the theme of “Reglobalization” — exploring the forces transforming trade and industry, from banking to aviation and energy to semiconductors.
Today’s highlights include conversations with BlackRock Inc. Vice Chairman Philipp Hildebrand and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic. We also have interviews with Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Amos Hochstein, the US Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security.
Key Developments
- Silicon Valley’s Top EU Data Enforcer Rejects Snipes Over Speed
- Eurogroup’s Donohoe Confident on Reaching Deal on Fiscal Rules
- ECB Set to Keep Hiking If Projections Hold, Spain’s De Cos Says
- Citi and APCO See Worst Brexit Impacts on UK as Yet to Come
- Ryanair CEO Sees Ukraine Aviation Opportunity Once War Ends
(All times CET)
Tech Watchdog Rejects Snipes Over Speed (12:30 p.m.)
Big Tech’s top privacy watchdog in the EU took aim at critics who blame her office for taking far too long to issue rulings against Silicon Valley firms.
“Some of the people that comment on speed, understand very little about the process of conducting an investigation, the complexity of finding the facts, the implementation of fair procedures in the process,” Helen Dixon, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, said during a panel.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which took effect in 2018, empowers EU data regulators to levy penalties of as much as 4% of a company’s annual revenue for the most serious violations. Tensions built up quickly, as the Irish watchdog was transformed overnight into the leading EU supervisor for global tech companies with a base in the nation, such as Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.
Europe, US Must Unite in Clean Tech Race (12 p.m.)
The race between Europe and the US to expand clean-technology industries should align in order to stand a chance against China, according to Ann Mettler, vice president at Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy.
“The fact is, both Europe and the US are behind China in some of these areas, so it makes a lot of strategic sense for us to come together and to really accelerate,” Mettler said on a panel. “Europe and the United States should be talking about sort of a trans-Atlantic clean marketplace where we would really look to align at an early stage in the development of some of these technologies.”
The US Inflation Reduction Act is set to unleash hundreds of billions of dollars of investment for technologies including renewable power, EVs and green hydrogen. Its passage last year spurred European leaders to counter the American subsidies with their own plans.
Putin Prepared for the Long Haul’ (11:40 a.m.)
Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared for the long haul in Ukraine and is counting on the alliance of western nations that opposes him breaking apart once the cost of supporting the government in Kyiv becomes too great, according to Kim Darroch, a former UK National Security Adviser and ambassador to the US.
“Don’t let’s think that Putin wouldn’t be prepared to do this for years and take whatever casualties — because the Russians are taking much, much higher casualties than the Ukrainians — are necessary to win,” Darroch said during a panel discussion.
NATO Expansion ‘Major Blow’ for Putin (11:30 a.m.)
Finland and Sweden’s applications to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization represent a major blow to Putin, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, a former president of Croatia, said on the same panel.
“Finland and Sweden joining NATO was a big blow to Putin,” Kitarovic said. “He wanted less NATO, not more NATO at his border.”
Ireland Not Planning Swift ChatGPT Data Action (10:30 a.m.)
Dixon said that her agency is not planning any “swift move” to prohibit the processing of data by AI chatbot ChatGPT but cautioned that there is a need to look at the “range of issues and harms” arising from the use of such technologies.
“EU policymakers recognize that we need to call out some of the higher-risk use purposes” of AI “and implement very specific rules in those areas,” Dixon said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio.
European Accord on TikTok Data Use Elusive (10 a.m.)
Dixon also said that her agency has been unable to reach an agreement with its German and Italian counterparts on a draft decision it set out late last year about TikTok Inc.’s processing of children’s personal data. The draft was written in the wake of a probe into the company’s use of such data, and recommended that “a preliminary range of fines” be imposed.
“We’ve come to a point of certainty that we cannot reach agreement,” Dixon said. The case will now be transferred to the General Data Protection Regulation’s dispute resolution mechanism and a conclusion is expected in “a short number of months,” Dixon added.
The Irish watchdog is the leading EU supervisor for global tech companies with a base in the nation, such as Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.
Atlantic Bridge Upbeat on Longer-Term Outlook (8:30 a.m.)
Elaine Coughlan, a managing partner at Atlantic Bridge Capital, said she’s “very positive” about the investment outlook despite the dent to confidence both from “difficult” equity markets and the collapse of US lender Silicon Valley Bank.
“If you look at the fundamental technology sectors, the foundational technologies — quantum, semiconductors, cybersecurity — those areas have actually performed very well and there’s still a lot of investor demand,” Coughlan told Bloomberg Radio.
“In the longer term I would be very positive because of the involvement of new entrants into the market, which across Europe is government,” she added.
Eurogroup President Says China Engagement Key (4/19)
Relations with China will continue to be an important feature of how the global economy develops in spite of pressure from the US to decouple from Beijing, according to Paschal Donohoe, president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers from the single currency bloc.
“Engagement with China continues to be essential,” Donohoe said in an interview Wednesday. “There may be a different emphasis in tone but the fact that the engagement is happening is the key thing.”
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–With assistance from Stephen Carroll, Jasmina Kuzmanovic, Stephanie Bodoni, William Mathis and Peter O’Dwyer.
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