EU: Hungary The Sole Holdout On Ukraine Support At EUCO
As was largely expected, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán proved the sole holdout when it came to the EU's joint conclusions on supporting Ukraine at the 6 March special European Council summit. While the EU was able to unanimously back a set of conclusions supporting a major increase in defence spending across the Union, Orbán refused to give his approval to sections regarding increased military support and security guarantees for Ukraine. Instead, the remaining 26 member states backed this section as an 'extract'.
- In terms of the short-term impact for Ukraine, the lack of a commitment to an immediate and sizeable aid package will come as a major concern given the pause in US military and financial aid and intelligence cooperation. European Council President António Costa appeared to show little concern that Hungary would block the rollover of sanctions on Russia, saying Budapest had backed all 16 packages so far.
- With regards the longer-term objective of raising EU defence spending as part of the Commission's 'ReArm Europe' plan, while member state leaders offered their support, the details and eventual execution of the EUR800B project remain vague and in extremely early stages at present. As The Guardian reports "Member states would still have to agree to the €150bn loans scheme, while it is unclear if governments would make full use of the €650bn financial leeway the commission suggests."
Want to read more?
Find more articles and bullets on these widgets:
Historical bullets
GILT AUCTION RESULTS: 1.50% Jul-53 Green Gilt
| 1.50% Jul-53 Green Gilt | Previous | |
| Amount | GBP2.00bln | GBP2.25bln |
| Avg yield | 4.976% | 4.831% |
| Bid-to-cover | 3.20x | 3.15x |
| Tail | 0.3bp | 0.5bp |
| Avg price | 47.369 | 48.532 |
| Low price | 47.342 | 48.483 |
| Pre-auction mid | 47.332 | 48.450 |
| Previous date | 31-Oct-24 |
MNI: EUROZONE DEC PPI +0.4% M/M, +0% Y/Y
- MNI: EUROZONE DEC PPI +0.4% M/M, +0% Y/Y
EUROZONE DATA: PPI Y/Y Slightly Higher Than Expected As Energy Base Effects Fade
Eurozone PPI in December was stable at 0.0% Y/Y, making it marginally above expectations (-0.1% consensus, -1.2% prior). This is the first non-deflationary print since April 2023 driven by energy base effects working their way out of the Y/Y figure. Note that excluding energy the PPI index has remained unchanged since September 2024, whereas including energy it has been increasing.
- Three of the five sub-components saw Y/Y pickups, and the remaining two remained stable.
- Energy producer prices fell at a softer pace of 1.7% Y/Y (vs -5.1% in Nov and -11.2% in Oct).
- Intermediate goods rose a marginal 0.1% Y/Y (vs a decline of 0.3% in Nov).
- Capital goods and non-durable consumer goods sustained their November pace of increase of 1.4% Y/Y and 2.0% Y/Y.
- On a sequential basis, PPI was touch softer than expected at 0.4% M/M (vs 0.5% consensus, 1.7% revised prior from 1.6%).
