“European Commission receives email threats…”

A terrorist attack in Brussels is “unlikely”, according to the Belgian Federal Police, after the European Commission received two threatening emails.

Brussels terror threat ‘unlikely’ after European Commission receives alarming emails 

A terrorist attack in Brussels is “unlikely”, according to the Belgian Federal Police, after the European Commission received two threatening emails, warning of an “explosion” on the city’s metro.

When approached by Euronews on Wednesday, both the Federal Police and Federal Prosecutor’s Office said that the “threat was taken seriously”, but that “nothing was found” during a sweep of the Brussels underground line.

This came after the US embassy in Belgium released a security alert warning of a “threat of a possible metro attack to be conducted today”. They urged people to “use caution when travelling in and around Brussels and avoid crowds.”

According to local media reports, the Commission was contacted on two separate occasions, once on February 16 and a second time on March 3, after which it alerted the authorities late on Tuesday. Both emails were written in Russian.

Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports that the warning from the sender said: “In light of the EU’s continued aggressive policies I hereby warn you of major terrorist attacks on EU territory.”

A statement seen by Euronews from the European Parliament to its MEPs said that it was “monitoring the situation closely” alongside the national authorities.

The federal police say that while the risk of an attack is low, they are remaining vigilant. An investigation is now ongoing to find the person responsible.

Brussels to delay fines for excessive deficit until 2024, giving countries more time to adapt 

With the European economy still figuring out how to grow amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, a fragile energy market and stubbornly high inflation, the European Commission has decided to delay sanctions on member states with excessive deficit levels until at least spring 2024.

Under current rules, all EU countries are bound to keep their public deficit below 3% and their debt-to-GDP ratio below 60%, thresholds that many currently exceed by a significant margin after years of pumping money to cushion the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the war and the energy crisis.

The enforcement of these fiscal rules was suspended at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and remains switched off to this day, which means the European Commission has not slapped any government with penalties.

Once the new framework is put in place, the Commission will be able to launch again the so-called excessive deficit procedures (EDP) in the spring of 2024.

EU strikes deal to curb energy use by 2030

The European Union struck a deal on Friday to cut final energy consumption across the bloc by 11.7% by 2030, a goal lawmakers said would help fight climate change and curb Europe’s use of Russian fossil fuels.

The deal was agreed after all-night talks between negotiators from EU countries and the European Parliament.

Hitting the targets will require countries to renovate millions of draughty buildings to waste less energy. Constructing and using buildings produces a third of EU greenhouse gas emissions, and with most European buildings heated by fossil fuels, the goal is crucial to the EU’s efforts to combat climate change.

“This will mean real change for the benefit of the climate and disadvantage of Putin,” said Niels Fuglsang, Parliament’s lead negotiator.

Negotiators agreed that energy consumed by end-users in the bloc such as households and factories in 2030 should be 11.7% lower than expected use by that date.

The EU had initially proposed in 2021 that the target be a 9% saving, but hiked that to 13% last May in a bid to quit Russian fuels faster after Russia, previously Europe’s top gas supplier, invaded Ukraine.

The 11.7% goal was a compromise between the EU Parliament, which had wanted a far higher goal of 14%, and some EU countries who wanted to stick to the original 9% aim.

The target will be legally binding. Countries will set their own non-binding national goals – but if they do not add up to the 11.7% goal, the European Commission will correct them.

From 2024 to 2030, countries will have to save an average of 1.49% of final energy consumption per year.

Countries will have to speed up their renovations of public buildings, renovating at least 3% of the total floor area of publicly-owned buildings each year.

The deal will now go to the European Parliament and EU countries for a final vote – which is usually a formality that approves the law with no changes.

French Senate backs controversial plans to raise the retirement age to 64

France’s Senate voted Thursday to raise the retirement age by two years to 64, as the government moves to overhaul the country’s pensions system in the face of strong opposition from labour unions and nationwide strikes. 

The conservative-dominated legislative body voted in favour of a decisive article to increase the retirement age by 201 votes to 115.  The Senate majority is rushing to meet a deadline of midnight Sunday to finalise the legislation.

Labour unions have vowed to pile pressure on the government by staging protests and strikes. On Wednesday, fuel deliveries, nuclear plants, trains and flights were disrupted for a second day following mass rallies.

French President Macron has put the change at the centre of his political agenda. His government argues that raising the retirement age and stiffening requirements for a full pension is essential to keeping the system from sinking into deficit.

France’s European neighbours have already increased the retirement age to 65 or above.

Fed still up in the air on whether to accelerate rate hikes, Powell says

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday reaffirmed his message of higher and potentially faster interest rate hikes, but emphasized that debate was still underway with a decision hinging on data to be issued before the U.S. central bank’s policy meeting in two weeks.

“If – and I stress that no decision has been made on this – but if the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” Powell told the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee in testimony that added a cautionary clause to the otherwise identical message he delivered to a Senate committee on Tuesday.

“We have not made any decision,” Powell said, but will be looking closely at upcoming jobs data on Friday and inflation data next week in deciding whether rate hikes need to shift back into a higher gear.

As happened in the session on Tuesday, lawmakers pressed Powell about the impact Fed policy was having on the economy and whether officials were risking recession in the drive to temper price increases.

Powell acknowledged once again that the Fed was wrong in initially thinking inflation was only the result of “transitory” factors that would ease on their own, and said he was surprised as well in how the labor market has behaved through the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

There have been “a bunch of firsts,” Powell said. “If we ever get this pitch again, we’ll know how to swing at it.”

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