Jan Strupczewski

European Union leaders will clash on Thursday over the size of bloc's next long-term budget, its sources of revenue and spending priorities, with no immediate deal in sight as net contributors and ​net beneficiaries pull in opposite directions.

Germany will nominate a ‌candidate to fill a vacancy on the European Central Bank's executive board, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said on Friday, a move seen as a clear sign Berlin will not contest ECB President Christine Lagarde's seat when it ​becomes vacant next year.

Euro zone finance ministers on Thursday started a process to ​replace European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel, ‌who will leave the ECB on January 3 to take up a post at the International Monetary Fund.

Euro zone finance ministers and ​the European Central Bank told France on Thursday to pass a 2027 budget to calm bond markets, as French borrowing costs ‌hover at 25-year highs.

European Union governments spent €17.9 billion ‌this year to cushion the effects of more expensive oil and gas on households and firms, the European Commission said in a note, urging countries to target needs better.

Greece has proposed that European Union states should create a European Spectrum Union which could use some of the funds raised by future ​national sales of 6G mobile spectrum for technology investment, easing pressure on ‌the bloc's budget.

Artificial intelligence could lift European productivity by about 1% over five years, but risks widening inequality, straining power networks and increasing dependence on foreign technology unless governments deepen economic integration, an International ​Monetary Fund paper said.

European banks need greater scale and deeper capital markets if they are to compete with US rivals, senior European officials said on Friday, as the European Union looks to strengthen its position in an increasingly competitive global ​economy.

European Union finance ministers will discuss on Friday whether to impose an EU-wide windfall tax on energy companies benefiting from a surge in oil and gas prices following the ​closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with further talks expected in October.

The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden ​called on Thursday for the European Union to reopen discussion next week on using Russia's frozen ‌assets for Ukraine as Moscow shows no signs of wanting to end its war there.