Economy

2023-06-20 13:22:45

As Russia’s ruinous attacks on Ukraine mount, Britain’s government is proposing legislation that would enable it to divert frozen Russian assets to the rebuilding of Ukraine and keep sanctions in place until Moscow pays compensation to its war-torn neighbor.

The British announcement is in line with a decision last month at the annual Group of 7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, to freeze the estimated $300 billion worth of Russian assets held by banks and financial institutions in those countries — including Britain — “until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine.”

The issue of seized assets is highly contentious. While governments have the power to freeze assets, the European Central Bank has privately warned Brussels that confiscating Russian funds or giving the earned interest on those accounts to Ukraine might undermine confidence in the euro and shake financial stability, according to a report in The Financial Times. Investors might be reluctant to use euros as a reserve currency if they fear their funds might be grabbed.

Ukraine’s reconstruction costs are estimated to top $411 billion, according to the most recent numbers from the World Bank, the European Commission and the United Nations. The ravaged landscape of the eastern city of Bakhmut, which President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine laid out at the G7 meeting, is just one sign of the damage. “You have to understand that there is nothing,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters. “They’ve destroyed everything. There are no buildings.”

The bank’s estimate was calculated before the vast devastation unleashed by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine this month.

Calls to seize Russian assets and use them for Ukraine’s reconstruction have increased as the war has stretched well into its second year. Last week, the United States Senate introduced a bipartisan bill to confiscate Russian assets and use them for Ukraine’s reconstruction. And the issue is also expected to come up at a Ukraine Recovery Conference being held in London on Wednesday and Thursday.

Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine early last year, Britain has frozen roughly $23 billion in assets and imposed sanctions on 1,550 individuals. The government’s latest proposal will require people under sanctions to disclose their holdings in Britain.

“Through our new measures today, we’re strengthening the U.K.’s sanctions approach,” James Cleverly, Britain’s foreign secretary, said in a statement on Monday accompanying the announcement, “affirming that the U.K. is prepared to use sanctions to ensure Russia pays to repair the country it has so recklessly attacked.”

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#U.K #Moves #Frozen #Russian #Assets #Ukraine #Rebuild

2023-06-20 08:33:41

And Belgium would like to join them. The Scaf might be the successor, for us, of the F35 aircraft.
Friday the government asked to be an observer of the SCAF program, a kind of preliminary status, to discuss with the 3 large countries before possibly integrating the program in its own right.

But, because there is a but… not everyone wants Belgium. Dassault in particular, the French company that is at the helm of the project. Its boss Eric Trappier has still not digested that Belgium chooses the F35 (American) as a fighter plane instead of its Rafale.
The Belgian Minister of Defense will have to convince. In the end, it is the German, Spanish and French governments that decide.
Ludivine Dedonder will therefore meet them at Le Bourget. AND the sooner Belgium manages to integrate the development program, the more there should be economic benefits for the Belgian industry, while the F35 was bought “turnkey” in the United States, with little involvement and contracts for companies with us.

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#Scaf #Belgian #menu #Paris #Air #Show

2023-06-20 11:10:11

Dacia’s marketing is relentless, the Spring is the cheapest electric city car on the market. In the catalogue, it is initially displayed at €20,800 but drops to €15,800 once the CO2 bonus of €5,000 has been deducted. It’s unbeatable, but you can imagine that at this price there can be no miracle, the medal on the other hand.

Not so much on the side of the autonomy, which is amply sufficient for urban use, but rather on the side of the services. Our various tests indeed remind us that the Chinese origins (Renault City K-ZE) of the little Romanian move it away from European standards. And if a second generation of Spring is indeed planned for 2024, nothing says that the progress will be obvious. So wouldn’t there be another solution for Dacia?

An easy-to-transform Zoé?

Would a Dacia Zoé Stepway be born inexpensively?© Didier RIC

Within the Renault group, the future of electric city cars will be ensured by the R5 and 4L doublet, once morest a background of retro design. This means that the valiant Zoé, who paved the way in 2012, will bow out. It is to her that Dacia might precisely think to make a good Spring in Europe. From an aesthetic point of view, there wouldn’t be a lot of work needed to give the Zoé a third life following the 2017 restyling. A “makeover” that we have just imagined for you. It would be enough to change the muzzle, shock absorbers a little longer in order to raise the ground clearance, adorn its body with a backpacker’s fittings and repaint the rims like the mirror shells in black in order to integrate this “Zoé Stepway” in the Dacia range.

On the technical side, the Zoé remains perfectly up to date, despite the absurd ratings from EuroNCAP during its last visit. Road holding, braking, comfort, lighting, finish, habitability, everything is much better on board the Zoé despite its age. Including the autonomy, which is however logical given a battery with a capacity almost twice that of the Spring.

The price would soar

However, this recycling would not be so simple. Because to be profitable, the Zoé is now sold for €35,100 before the CO2 bonus of €5,000. Admitting that Dacia uses a less expensive battery – the accumulator of an electric car accounts for 40% of the final price -, even if it means degrading the autonomy a little, it is almost impossible to close the €15,000 gap with the current Spring. Because electronic control instruments as well as digital displays must also be part of it. You will have understood that it is not by removing the electric window lifters and affixing gray plastic shields that it will be possible to make substantial savings.

The future Volkswagen ID.1 (illustration) has already been announced at €20,000.© Didier Ric/L’Automobile Magazine

Therefore, for the Romanian cost breaker, the shift to electric may well change the situation, we will have to solve a new economic equation. A new challenge! On his side, the Volkswagen Group is already talking regarding a future trendy city car, it should be the ID.1, sold around €20,000 while the R5 should start a little above this symbolic bar. Breaking the price of electrified cars, this is perhaps the toughest mission for Dacia in the years to come.

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#Dacia #recovered #Renault #Zoé