Published on
08/07/2026 – 10:58 GMT+2

The Spanish government has proposed a new EU common borrowing mechanism worth up to €850 billion per year, according to a document seen by Euronews.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

The pitch will be presented on Thursday in Brussels by Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo during a meeting of euro-area finance ministers.

Spain argues that liquidity is central to creating a common safe asset that would serve as a benchmark for European firms, reducing their financing costs. That in turn would have positive implications for the European Union’s competitive goals, such as more integrated capital markets and strengthening the role of the euro as an international currency.

The document also argues that there is a need to reduce fragmentation of debt issuance. Assuming the EU issued debt at German-level borrowing costs, Spain claims, a more centralised issuance mechanism could generate savings of around €5 billion a year, rising beyond €25 billion once issuance reaches €5 trillion.

Opposition to EU common borrowing is well-established in Brussels. Countries led by Germany and the Netherlands are staunchly against any taking on any form of further joint debt. On the other hand, countries such as France and Greece have publicly endorsed new common borrowing.

To chart a path forward, Spain is proposing the creation of a European Sovereign Facility. Participation would be voluntary; the European Commission centralising part of the member states’ funding programs, but participating countries would need to comply with EU fiscal rules.

Annual issuance would reach €850 billion if all 27 member states and the European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility take part, allowing the EU to reach a stock of €5 trillion within five years.

If not all EU countries are willing to participate, Spain envisages creating a “coalition of the willing” as an initial stage.

“For the initiative to be meaningful, however, at least the five largest euro area issuers would need to participate, as they alone would enable an annual issuance volume of approximately €540–550 billion,” the document reads.

The guarantees for this mechanism would be twofold: the loan to the participating member states and the EU budget.

The bloc’s 27 members are currently discussing the 2028-2034 long-term budget, set to be agreed by the end of 2026, with intense debate over how the budget will be financed.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press honored Breanna Stewart before the New York Liberty’s game Tuesday night for being one of the greatest women’s college basketball players during the Top 25 poll era.

The AP celebrated the 50th anniversary of the women’s basketball poll last season. As part of it, a 13-member panel voted for the greatest college players of the past five decades. Stewart and Cheryl Miller were selected as the top players over the past 50 years.

The UConn great won four straight national championships and was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four each time. She was presented with her trophy at center court by AP Global Sports Editor Josh Hoffner a few minutes before tipoff of the Liberty’s game against the Dallas Wings.

Miller accepted her trophy at the Final Four in Phoenix last April at the “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience,” which was held at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Stewart couldn’t make that ceremony.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Cuba’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an “act of war” by restricting fuel shipments to the island Tuesday, prompting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz to deliver a forceful response blaming Cuba’s communist government for years of blackouts, repression and economic collapse.

The confrontation unfolded at the U.N. General Assembly one day after Cuba’s national electrical grid collapsed, leaving nearly 10 million people without power. It was the third nationwide grid failure this year and the eighth since October 2025, Reuters reported.

Cuban officials had restored electricity to parts of central Cuba and roughly one-third of Havana by Tuesday morning, although large areas remained offline or faced unstable service, according to Reuters.

CUBA PLUNGES INTO THIRD MAJOR BLACKOUT THIS YEAR AS POWER CRISIS WORSENS

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez told delegates that the Trump administration was carrying out a “multidimensional, non-conventional war” against Cuba that had grown “more cruel and ruthless in the last seven months.”

Rodríguez described U.S. efforts to restrict fuel deliveries as the imposition of “an energy collapse, equivalent to a naval blockade, which is an act of war,” according to a UNTV transcript.

Waltz rejected the claim that the United States had established a naval blockade around Cuba.

“There is no ring of Navy warships, U.S. Navy warships sitting around this island blocking trade or humanitarian aid going into Cuba,” Waltz said. “It’s fake. It’s false. It’s a lie. Period.”

Waltz argued that the real embargo was the one Cuba’s government imposed on its own citizens.

HAVANA REGIME IN SUSPENSE AFTER CASTRO INDICTMENT WITH TRUMP PRESSURE ON, SAYS CUBAN-BORN GOP REP.

“There’s a lot of talk today of an embargo. And indeed there is one,” he said. “It’s the embargo the Cuban regime mercilessly imposes on its own people decade after decade after decade.”

He called on Havana to “change your ways” and “turn the lights back on for your people,” while accusing Cuba’s leaders of ensuring that government compounds and propaganda operations had power even as families worried about spoiled food, hospitals losing electricity and phones running out of charge.

Waltz noted that Tuesday’s meeting came days before the fifth anniversary of the July 11, 2021, demonstrations, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets amid shortages of food, medicine and electricity and demanded greater freedom.

As Waltz spoke, a member of the Cuban delegation pounded on the table, prompting the ambassador to respond.

“This is not Havana. This is the United States of America. This is the United Nations,” Waltz said. “And we will speak, we will be heard, and we will not be silenced like your own people. So, pound away.”

Waltz displayed photographs and read the names of several jailed Cuban artists, musicians and activists, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Duannis Dabel León Taboada.

MILLIONS LOSE POWER ACROSS CUBA AS TRUMP SANCTIONS CONTINUE TO FUEL ONGOING ENERGY CRISIS

“They’re not armed. They’re not violent,” Waltz said. “They carry flowers, and write poems and write music. And for that, the regime beats them, detains them and tries to break them.”

Waltz also said GAESA, Cuba’s military-run conglomerate, controls approximately half of the country’s economy and holds $18 billion in assets.

Reuters has reported that estimates of GAESA’s economic reach range from approximately 40% to 70%, while Cuban officials dispute the U.S. government’s $18 billion figure.

Waltz said that despite Cuba’s blockade claims, humanitarian assistance had recently arrived from countries including China, Russia, Mexico, Canada and Spain, as well as from the European Union and the United Nations.

He also said the United States had provided more than $100 million in aid this year and approximately $500 million annually in commodities.

“The answer is simple: because blaming the United States is the only economic plan Havana has left,” Waltz said of Cuba’s decision to bring the issue before the General Assembly.

CUBA SAYS CIA CHIEF RATCLIFFE MET WITH OFFICIALS IN HAVANA AMID US TENSIONS

Before the wider debate, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos objected to reopening the agenda item and called for a vote on whether the proceedings should go forward.

Bartos said the three-hour meeting would cost approximately $84,000, money he argued could instead provide food, emergency medical supplies and solar lanterns to Cuban families.

“Right now, Cuba is in darkness — again,” Bartos said. “I urge the Cuban regime: turn the lights back on for your people.”

Members of the Cuban delegation also interrupted Bartos several times by pounding on the table. Bartos at one point paused and responded, “Keep banging away. It’s very effective,” before continuing his remarks.

Bartos accused Havana of seeking “another propaganda clip” rather than solutions and pointed to what he said were more than 800 political prisoners held by the government.

Independent organizations have produced varying estimates. Human Rights Watch said in April that more than 700 people remained imprisoned for political reasons, while Prisoners Defenders reported more than 1,200 political prisoners in Cuba in the spring of 2026. Cuba denies holding anyone for political reasons.

“That is the real Cuban embargo,” Bartos said. “It is the embargo the regime imposes on its own people: on speech, on faith, on enterprise, on dissent, on political rights and hope — and now, quite literally, on light.”

Rodríguez accused the U.S. delegation of offering “worn-out lies” and attempting to prevent the General Assembly from debating the effects of American policy.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Cuba’s electricity crisis has been driven by severe fuel shortages and an aging, poorly maintained power system that has struggled to meet demand. The Cuban government primarily blames U.S. restrictions, while Washington attributes the island’s broader economic crisis to communist economic policies, corruption and repression.

Reuters contributed to this report.