The Club of Six is attempting to break the deadlock in the European Union’s capital markets

The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain will meet in Berlin on 28 May to unveil political compromises aimed at transforming the bloc into an integrated financial centre capable of rivalling the financial power of Wall Street in the US. According to three diplomats briefed on the discussions, the expected joint statement is set to resolve the controversial issue of a European financial markets regulator – a proposal rejected by Dublin and Luxembourg (which operate lower tax regimes, particularly for businesses) – as they refuse to cede further sovereignty to Brussels.

It is the German Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil, who is expected to unveil the announcements in the German capital. “I cannot comment on the discussions,” a spokesperson for his ministry told Politico, “the finance ministers of these countries have joined forces to accelerate progress on Europe’s competitiveness and defence capabilities.”

Without reforms, European policymakers fear the continent will fall behind the American and Chinese heavyweights, and that its most promising start-ups will seek funding abroad. For over a decade, the European Commission has been trying unsuccessfully to build a capital markets union, held back by national capitals. The project, renamed the Savings and Investment Union, now aims to harness the power of the roughly €11 trillion in savings that European households hold in their bank accounts.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has backed the idea of a two-speed Europe if the dossier does not make progress by June. Ireland and Portugal, however, are concerned that the Club of Six will impose its views on the other 21 Member States. Diplomats from the Six retort that they keep their partners regularly informed.

France and Spain, in particular, are pushing for greater transparency regarding the opaque platforms used by major investment banks such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, which process a growing share of European transactions from London without disclosing prices to the market. This rapidly expanding “dark” trading is undermining traditional European stock exchanges. Politico

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🇱🇧 Lebanon – 🇮🇱 Israel • Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 45-day extension of the ceasefire that came into effect on 17 April, following talks in Washington, despite the continuation of Israeli strikes. Yesterday, seven people were killed in the south of the country, including a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, Wael Abdel Halim, and his 17-year-old daughter on the outskirts of Baalbek. Hezbollah rejected the negotiations, which a senior official of the Shia movement described as “humiliating”. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned Hezbollah’s “irresponsible adventures”, calling for disarmament. More than 400 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the start of the truce.

🇵🇸 Palestine • The Israeli army confirmed on Saturday that it had killed Izz al-Dine al-Haddad, head of Hamas’s military wing, in a strike in Gaza. Described by Israel as one of the main architects of the 7 October offensive, he had survived six assassination attempts. His wife and daughter were also killed. Hamas described it as “an immense loss”. Yesterday, eight Palestinians were killed in further strikes in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, notably near a community kitchen close to Al-Aqsa Hospital and a bakery.

🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates • A drone triggered a fire yesterday near the Barakah nuclear power plant in the west of the country, without causing any injuries or raising radiation levels, according to the authorities. Of the three drones coming from the “western border”, two were intercepted, whilst the third struck an electricity generator. The President’s adviser, Anwar Gargash, condemned a “terrorist attack”, suggesting Iranian involvement. Since the start of the war in February, the Emirates have been targeted by more than 2,800 missiles and drones.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia • The kingdom intercepted three drones fired from Iraq into its airspace on Sunday, according to the Saudi Ministry of Defence. Riyadh reserves the right to take all necessary measures to respond to any violation of its sovereignty and security. Saudi Arabia has been a regular target of attacks attributed to Iran or pro-Iranian armed groups since the start of the war in the Middle East.

🇵🇰 Pakistan – 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia • Pakistan has deployed 8,000 troops, a squadron of JF-17 fighter jets and a Chinese HQ-9 air defence system to Saudi Arabia, as part of a mutual defence pact signed last year. The scale of the deployment was first revealed by Reuters, citing three officials and two Pakistani government sources. The Pakistani Defence Minister had suggested that this agreement placed Riyadh under Islamabad’s nuclear umbrella. The confidential text provides for up to 80,000 deployable troops.

🇮🇷 Iran • Traffic in the Strait of Hormuz rose slightly last week, with 55 commodity tankers recorded between 11 and 17 May by the firm Kpler, compared with 19 the previous week. The Revolutionary Guards have been allowing more passages since Friday. Tehran announced today the creation of a new body tasked with supervising the strait and collecting transit fees. The French aircraft carrier Charles-De-Gaulle is now pre-positioned off the Arabian Peninsula for a possible “neutral” mission to reopen the strait.

🇵🇸 Palestine • Yasser Abbas, eldest son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was elected to the Fatah Central Committee following the movement’s eighth congress, held simultaneously in Ramallah, Gaza, Cairo and Beirut. Marwan Barghouti, standing as a candidate from an Israeli prison, received the highest number of votes. Mahmoud Abbas, aged 90, was re-elected as party leader.

🇺🇦 Ukraine – 🇷🇺 Russia • Ukraine struck Russia with more than 1,300 drones over the weekend, breaching Moscow’s air defences for the first time and hitting, among other targets, a refinery, the Angstrem factory which produces microchips for precision weapons, and oil pumping stations. Four people were killed, including an Indian national, according to Russian authorities. Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as “entirely justified”, in retaliation for Russian shelling that killed 24 people in Kyiv last week. The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, “Madyar”, vowed to “fight relentlessly”. Last night, fresh Russian strikes left one person dead and more than 30 injured in Odessa, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Today, Russia and Belarus conducted joint tactical nuclear exercises, described as planned and not directed against a third party, which Kyiv denounced as the transformation of Belarus into a “nuclear launch pad” on NATO’s doorstep.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Brexit has resurfaced amid the internal crisis within the Labour Party. Wes Streeting, the former Health Minister who resigned from the government on Thursday, called on Saturday for the UK to return to the European Union, describing Brexit as a “catastrophic mistake”. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, weakened following the defeat in the 7 May local elections, is seeing the race for his succession begin. The statement is primarily aimed at embarrassing Andy Burnham, the pro-European mayor of Greater Manchester and a potential candidate. The Conservative press is crying treason, whilst Nigel Farage and his Reform UK party are renewing their attacks on pro-Europeans.

🇱🇻 Latvia • On Saturday, President Edgars Rinkevics nominated Andris Kulbergs, an opposition MP from the United List of Small Parties, to replace Prime Minister Evika Silina, who resigned on Thursday just months ahead of the October elections. “Given recent events, I believe the new Prime Minister must come from the opposition,” he said. The nomination must still be approved by Parliament. Evika Silina had dismissed her Defence Minister following several incursions by Ukrainian drones flying from Russia into Latvian airspace.

🇩🇰 Denmark – 🇺🇸 United States • Donald Trump’s envoy for Greenland, Jeff Landry, arrived in Nuuk yesterday for his first official visit, joined today by the US ambassador to Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery. The governor of Louisiana, an outspoken supporter of the annexation of the Arctic territory, is due to take part tomorrow and on Wednesday in an economic forum bringing together politicians, business leaders and investors. The French Minister for Foreign Trade, Nicolas Forissier, will also travel to Nuuk with a delegation including SAFT, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, and Eutelsat, to discuss the issue of critical metals. No official meeting between Landry and the Greenlandic authorities is scheduled.

🇳🇱 Netherlands • The cruise ship MV Hondius, the scene of a hantavirus outbreak, arrived today at the port of Rotterdam with 25 crew members and two medical staff to be disinfected. Flying the Dutch flag, the ship was carrying around 150 people from 23 countries when the outbreak was reported on 2 May by the WHO. Three passengers have died: a Dutch couple and a German woman, whose body arrived in Rotterdam to be cremated. The WHO has recorded 10 confirmed or probable cases, with an 11th suspected case in Canada. Cleaning the ship could take up to a week.

🇰🇵 North Korea • Kim Jong Un has called for the reinforcement of frontline military units in the face of South Korea, the “sworn enemy”, the official KCNA news agency reported today. The North Korean leader wants to transform the demarcation line into an “impregnable fortress” and learn lessons from the war in Ukraine, where Pyongyang has sent troops to support Moscow.

🇹🇼 Taiwan • President Lai Ching-te yesterday reaffirmed the island’s independence, reiterating that Taipei does not belong to Beijing and that only its people can decide its future. He was speaking at the 40th anniversary of the Democratic Progressive Party. In Beijing, during Donald Trump’s recent visit, China had shown unprecedented firmness on the issue. The US president told Fox News that he did not want “anyone to say: let’s become independent, because the United States supports us”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that Washington’s position remained “unchanged”.

🇷🇺 Russia – 🇨🇳 China • Vladimir Putin will visit China tomorrow and on Wednesday to meet Xi Jinping, the Kremlin announced on Saturday. The two leaders will discuss bilateral relations and major international and regional issues, according to the statement.

🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo – 🇺🇬 Uganda • The WHO yesterday triggered its second level of international alert in response to the Ebola outbreak affecting the DRC and already spreading to Uganda. According to the latest figures, 88 deaths likely linked to the virus have been recorded out of 336 suspected cases. A first case has been confirmed in Goma, a major city in the east controlled by the M23 armed group. The border between the DRC and Rwanda has been partially closed since yesterday morning. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo variant, for which there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.

🇱🇾 Libya • The Libyan National Army, led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, is conducting military exercises in the south-east of the country, described by its officials as “the most significant in Libyan history”. More than 25,000 soldiers have been mobilised, including tanks, Russian-made Pantsir air defence systems and coastguard patrol boats. The manoeuvres will culminate on 19 May in the presence of Haftar, 82, and his designated successor Saddam, alongside foreign ambassadors.

🇳🇬 Nigeria – 🇺🇸 United States • A senior Islamic State figure, Abu Bilal al-Minuki, was killed on Saturday during a joint operation by Nigerian and US forces in the Lake Chad basin, announced Donald Trump and Bola Tinubu. Placed under US sanctions in 2023, the man advised IS worldwide on media operations, economic warfare and the development of weapons and drones. This is the second US military intervention in Nigeria in five months. Donald Trump justifies his operations on the grounds of alleged persecution of Christians, a claim disputed by Abuja and the majority of experts, as the violence affects Christians and Muslims alike.

🇨🇺 Cuba – 🇺🇸 United States • Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned today that a US military intervention against the island would lead to a “bloodbath”, asserting that Cuba posed no threat. His comments come in response to an Axios article claiming that Havana is considering drone attacks against the Guantanamo base, US ships and the city of Key West in Florida. A senior US official has spoken of a “growing threat”: Cuba is said to have acquired more than 300 attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023. Donald Trump has imposed an oil embargo since January and tightened sanctions in early May.