World
President Michel looks to capital markets to solve economic woes
A summit next week could look at alternatives to bank finance in a bid to boost Europe’s fortunes – but previous attempts haven’t met with much success.
A summit of EU leaders meeting next week will likely agree “ambitious” measures to boost non-bank financing, its President Charles Michel has told reporters.
Europe is looking to improve its fortunes as it faces up to war, costly climate change policies and economic competition – and hopes integrating its capital markets could help.
“There is in my opinion a way, based on common sense, to mobilise a lot of money to fuel the European economy,” European Council President Michel told Euronews as part of a group interview. “This is by making possible and easier for companies to mobilise many of the Europeans’ €9 trillion of savings.”
EU leaders will be searching for ways to pay for the soaring costs of defence after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, of adapting to a zero-carbon world, and of responding to trade-distorting measures such as the United States’ Inflation Reduction Act.
Funding options such as eurobonds or expanding the capital of the European Investment Bank will prove politically tricky, Michel acknowledges; frugal governments generally worry joint sovereign debt could encourage profligacy among the less disciplined.
Michel may see regulatory measures to integrate national stock markets and harmonise insolvency law as politically more straightforward – but that project, known as a capital markets union, has problems of its own.
European policymakers have long bemoaned how dependent domestic their companies are on bank financing, while US counterparts enjoy alternatives such as stock issuance.
In a speech last November, European Central Bank chief Chrisine Lagarde called for a “Kantian shift” in thinking, pointing out that, compared to the US, EU bond markets are three times smaller, and venture capital just one fifth of the size.
That means that EU companies often have to flee the bloc to places like Silicon Valley to find the funding they need to grow.
Yet national ministers have previously gutted plans to create a euro-supervisor on the lines of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and harmonising tax rules or property law is complex and controversial.
Even more modest plans to offer EU-wide pensions or smooth over stock-market listing rules haven’t met with huge success either, though national leaders pushed for more integration as long ago as 2014.
“I regret it wasn’t possible to make significant progress in this field earlier,” Michel said. “I’m confident that now it can be different … the draft we have on the table for next week is rather ambitious.”
Trump congratulates Colombia presidential candidate
Trump congratulated Abelardo De La Espriella, known by many as ‘El Tigre,’ following an initial ballot count. While not officially called, the narrow lead signals a potential rightward shift for Colombia. (Reuters.)
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Progressive candidate Iván Cepeda on Wednesday conceded Colombia’s presidential election to conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The concession came days after Cepeda initially refused to acknowledge defeat following preliminary results that showed de la Espriella as the apparent winner.
“At this stage of the vote count, I have decided to accept the result emerging from that process, which indicates that Abelardo de la Espriella is the new President of the Republic,” Cepeda said in an address to the nation.
“I do so as an act of democratic responsibility.”
TRUMP SAYS COLOMBIA’S ‘EL TIGRE’ WILL BE A ‘GREAT PRESIDENT’ AS SOCIALIST OPPONENT LAUNCHES LEGAL CHALLENGE
Ivan Cepeda speaks during a campaign rally in Cali, Colombia, on June 6, 2026. (AFP via Getty Images)
De la Espriella, a businessman and lawyer who had never previously run for office, known to his supporters as “El Tigre,” defeated Senate member Iván Cepeda by one percentage point in a remarkably close election, according to officials.
“The vote count shows an extraordinarily narrow margin between the two options vying for the trust of the Colombian people,” he said. “Less than 1% of the vote separates the candidacies that participated in this contest.”
Despite his concession, Cepeda made serious allegations that de la Espriella’s victory was influenced by “foreign interference” by the United States and the use of artificial intelligence to manipulate voters.
“During this process, we denounced the open and improper foreign interference in Colombia’s internal affairs—particularly the interventions by the United States government, and specifically the interventions by President Donald Trump in support of Abelardo de la Espriella’s candidacy,” he said.
He further accused the opposing campaign of widespread vote-buying and unethical tactics that he said undermined the legitimacy of the election results.
ANTI-CARTEL HARDLINER CHANNELS TRUMP IN BID TO END COLOMBIA’S LEFTIST ERA IN PIVOTAL ELECTION
Abelardo de la Espriella delivers a speech to supporters during a campaign rally in Palmira, near Cali, Colombia on May 14, 2026. (Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP via Getty Images)
President-elect de la Espriella will begin his four-year term in August.
“Starting August 7, we will work with determination to consolidate a common agenda that strengthens the security, freedom, and prosperity of our nations,” de la Espriella in a post on X.
The result will effectively end outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s leftist influence on the state and the policies Cepeda had pledged to continue if he won the election.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, left, and President Donald Trump are shown in separate photographs. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images; Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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A core pillar of Petro’s signature agenda was his “total peace” strategy, aimed at opening negotiations with remaining guerrilla forces, drug cartels, and armed paramilitary groups in an effort to end Colombia’s decades long internal conflict.
In contrast, de la Espriella has pledged a more hardline approach, including a militarized crackdown on criminal organizations, proposals to build mega-prisons, expand fossil fuel fracking, and revive the controversial practice of aerial glyphosate spraying to eradicate coca crops.
The president-elect, who holds dual Colombian and U.S. citizenship, has also said he plans to add Colombia to the Trump-dubbed “Shield of the Americas,” a proposed coalition aimed at coordinating efforts against criminal groups in Latin America.
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Ten years after the UK voted to exit the European Union, the debate over Brexit’s legacy is far from over. MEPs Barry Andrews (Renew Europe) and Sander Smit (European Conservatives & Reformists) go head-to-head on whether Brexit has strengthened or weakened Europe—and whether Britain could or should one day return to the bloc.
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For Irish MEP Barry Andrews, the answer is clear. He argues that leaving the EU was a mistake and a “total disaster” for the UK, pointing to years of political instability and economic challenges since the referendum. He also contends that Brexit has ultimately strengthened support for the European project, stating that “there is nobody looking to leave the European Union anymore.”
Dutch MEP Sander Smit takes a different view, saying the EU still misses “the UK’s crucial voice for fiscal and financial discipline” and warning against a more centralised Europe. “Our future lies in a stronger partnership,” he says. “Let the UK and EU countries move beyond the past and work together as natural, sovereign allies.”
The Ring is hosted by Méabh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.
You can contact us at: thering@euronews.com
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