Joe Biden mobilizes Europe – Handelsblatt Morning Briefing

Germany’s refusal to stop the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream arouses suspicion in Great Britain. The London Times writes that Foreign Minister Liz Truss fears an agreement between Russia and Ukraine along the lines of the Minsk agreement brokered by Germany and France.

Truss publicly warned that Putin was only using peace talks as a “cover” to commit more “disgusting atrocities.” Any negotiations with Russia “must be conducted from a position of maximum strength,” the Times quoted a government source as saying.

London is apparently bothered by the serial phone calls from French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Putin. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for his part, calls Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky almost every day – who no longer trusts the Franco-German duo.

There is something to be learned from Shakespeare in this case: “It is not enough to speak. You also have to speak properly.”

The worst thing about the high fuel costs for politicians is the impression that could arise – that they are doing too little in the attack on the car, the great freedom swing of the Germans.

And so a commission of the traffic light coalition has negotiated a “package of measures to deal with the high energy costs” in the fight against bad “Bild” headlines, which is available to ARD. Clear result: The three governing parties are not yet clear what they want.

• the FDP wants to expand domestic German natural gas production, introduce a one-time discount on vehicle tax and does not give up the tank discount, although a spontaneous association of economically educated people has pointed out to the liberals that this would give preference to those who load up in the SUV communities.
• the greens want to ban the installation of new gas heaters from 2023. They continue to demand the energy money, whereby the Ministry of Finance is to develop a payment method via the tax ID by October.
• the SPD again proposes a “one-off energy price lump sum” for employees, payable to all taxable households. More money should flow per child and with low income, whereby the help would only benefit with the tax return in 2023. A mobility allowance is also under discussion. And the flat-rate heating fee for housing benefit recipients should be paid out permanently.

So much for the synopsis of the party suggestion system. Tonight, the coalition leaders want to have agreed on final measures – and thus on an end to the intensive phase of group dynamics with gorilla marketing that we were recently able to observe.

The second day of proceedings against Germany’s tennis oldie Boris Becker, who had to file for bankruptcy five years ago and disclose his assets, took place in London. Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said he embezzled millions of dollars in bankruptcy proceedings and used his business account “as an extension of his personal account like a piggy bank.”

In this way, personal expenses were hidden. Specifically, for the year 2017, she named: £7,600 for school fees, £976 in the luxury department store Harrods and over £1,000 in a supermarket.

Ex-wife Barbara received €23,000, ex-wife Lilly €100,000 and a friend £225,000. After all, Becker, the most famous Leimener of all time, is said to have transferred 300,000 euros to himself and also embezzled properties. It has to be proven whether Becker intentionally moved the money with these transactions “for the purpose of embezzlement”.

The later the evening, the sadder the mood. Well behind the research institutes, the chief economists of the big banks deliver their annual forecast – and expect growth of 2.2 percent.

That’s about half as much as previously thought. They increase the inflation forecast to an impressive 5.9 percent. Both together result in a phenomenon that economists hate like the CFO hates the profit warning: stagflation.

The banking economists are expecting a contraction in economic output in three quarters and inflation of 2.4 percent by 2023. The Putin shock acts as a mood killer for every stock market party.

And then there’s Marina Abramović, 75, a Serbian performance artist residing in the US, who runs charity auctions to raise money for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

To this end, her current exhibition in New York will be expanded by two performances. On the online platform Artsy, Abramović is auctioning three times until March 25 the option to sit silently across from her – just as more than 1,500 visitors did in 2010 with her famous work “The Artist Is Present” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York to have.

The proceeds of the auction will go to the aid organization Direct Relief. Marina Abramović once gave special advice on motivation: “The more you think about death and mortality, the more you enjoy life. Because then you don’t waste time, you focus.”

I wish you a happy day.

It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs