i'm honored to represent the european union for security affairs and vice president of the european commission federica mgherini. we had a fascinating last month in davus that we are facing a particularly important time and thus very interesting to hear your comments and enter in discussion with you. i'm also very pleased to welcome embassador christian silverberg who will introduce our next guest. former u.s. embassador you should george w. bush, she brings special insight to the important dialogue. without further due, the floor is yours. >> it's a great honor to introduce federica. as fred mentioned ms. megherini is visiting and would be challenging for even for the most transparency atlanticist. but i believe that our shared interest and values will prove durable particularly if we can demonstrate to skeptical voters on both sides of the atlantic that we can concretely address challenges together. the threat of terrorism, the catastrophe in syria, the risks that iran will pursue, a patient pathway to a nuclear weapon. ms. megherini addresses in her role in the european union. fred and high

informalo last week's european council, britain is leaving the european union, but we're not leaving europe a global britain that stands tall will remain a britain that stands a good ally. we show how britain will continue to play a leading role long after we have left you -- the e.u. through the new an equal partnership we want to build with the e.u. first on migration. the discussion focused on particular in the routes from libya across the central mediterranean. we need a compounds of and coordinated approach. that is what this council agreed. this includes working hard in support of an inclusive clinical settlement to stabilize libya, which will counterterrorism and slow immigration flows. build the capacity of the libyans to return migrants to their own shores, treat them with dignity, and help them return home. libya,s looking beyond helping create more opportunities in migrants' home countries. and it means that are distinguish between economic migrants and refugees. simply returning those who have no right to remain. deterrentnding a message to those thinking about making the

president, for the european union. you can take one decision and we have president trump, we have a populus nationalist view, we have the radical islamists in the south and a bunch of people who want to destroy the european union. we can do one thing. that is unit, fight back with the european union and i hope it will not only be the better and, i support the letter of i hope all european leaders have to courage to stand up and fight back this nationalists and populist who want to destroy us. [applause] >> thank you. mr. zimmer now. >> thank you very much. i am this is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, we discuss the policies of the united states and more particularly mr. trump. thank you for having established the link to the time when mr. trump signed his decree to stop the travel of muslim citizens from the 7th of january and it wasn't a matter of chance. it was quite deliberate because of the same day he insulted -- talked about his aunts dying in the concentration cam and said he knew what it was l

written's europeans ability. -- threatens european stability. >> there's more dangerous than in the treaty of rome 60 years ago. let me focus on the threat related to the geopolitical situation in the world and around europe. let's call it assertive china, especially under sees. the aggressive policy towards the ukraine and its neighbors with terror and anarchy in the middle east and in africa. with radical islam playing a major role. in the new american administration. they'll all make our future highly unpredictable. brent: highly unpredictable. let's go to our correspondent in brussels. these are very strong words coming from mr. task. -- mr. tusk. have the worries of the u.s. as a threat echoed elsewhere? >> we can't stress enough that these remarks are really unprecedented. what is happening is nothing less than the european union calling the united states, which was a long partner and close friend and suddenly turns into a potential enemy. that is whathis letter does that donald tusk wrote. he does so by naming russia, radical islam, china, and the united states in the same sentence.

europe's last chance: why the european states, its subtitle, why the european states must form a european union. ironically, you've taken a phrase from the american constitution. yes, exactly. i think it's gonna be difficult right now to persuade europeans that they should regard as a model the federal united states of america, but that's obviously... it's about donald trump now. you're making it as trump is the same as the american institutions. what i have seen is america after the financial crisis was capable to react immediately to the financial crisis. the cleaning up of the banks, they did an investment programme, they did quantitative easing. well, if i look to europe, we are not a union, in fact. what we are is in fact a loose confederation of nationstates still based on unanimity rule, and we are always acting too little too late, for example, in the financial crisis, in migration... so this book i have to tell you is even more eurosceptic than all the eurosceptic books that have been published in the united kingdom in the last... you think the formulation of the eu simply doesn'

this is the european policy. i have a certain degree of commitment to speak to that. -- where weoncern have different policies with european way has always been the case with iran. that will continue. it's important that iranian citizens hear this from europe. >> thank you for that. , we have heard different statements and t different times from the ministration, most recently signaling the u.s. actions against russia would remain in place. on the other hand, there seems to be a desire to significantly improve the relationship with russia. to the extent you can, how did this come up in your conversations and where do you see potential commonalities and differences on the issue of russia and ukraine? weirdgherini: it's quite that's it i can just have a that -- rather than on the eutioned positions on russia, i'm being questioned about the u.s. position. >> can you please tell us what the u.s. position is? [laughter] i'm not sure it's it is ante for me -- interesting experience. it's also the first time that the ma

we have made it as a european union asa we have made it as a european union as a whole. the —— the holden schengen treaty. the freedom of movement throughout europe. —— the whole schengen treaty. 0nly europe. —— the whole schengen treaty. only if we are willing to secure oui’ treaty. only if we are willing to secure our borders. we were not able to protect our borders, the mediterranean sea. that is what the last summit was about. we had to regain control and we have regained a lot of control already, but not yet everything that needs to beat at. that is actually a debate that is to be done. i think is something like that is happening, like we have seen like that is happening, like we have seenin like that is happening, like we have seen in the past two years, with the migrants coming into europe, then it is quite normal that you have eight controversial debate in society and in the party. and i do see a controversial debate in the party if you do at the right way, and with good arguments, and that is what we did in the christian democratic party in germany

a bad deal from the europeans. but the one place he has not had a bad deal apart from today and in these reports about the treaty is russia. mystifyings relationship he has with president putin? >> i wrote a column recently where i tracked the dirty tricks i saw in an election that i covered for "newsweek" in 2012 in georgia. oddly, they were exactly the same tricks that were used by trump in winning power. in both those elections, a pro-putin, pro-kremlin, pro russian candidate won and beat the favorite candidate. and the list of things that were so similar were just uncanny. it was coming out of nowhere leading the opposition to victory with dodgy finances that did not get revealed except with some weird connections to russia. theirrst point was country first, in that case, georgia first. if you put georgia first, presumably, you are doing it to be anti-russia since russia had invaded georgia four years before the election. and yet you had a candidate who openly said, i will not criticize putin. and another on si

a bad deal from the europeans. but the one place he has not had a bad deal apart from today and in these reports about the treaty is russia. explain this mystifying relationship he has with president putin? >> i wrote a column recently , i guess a couple months back where i tracked the dirty tricks , i saw in an election that i covered for "newsweek" in 2012 in georgia. oddly, they were exactly the same tricks that were used by trump in winning power. in both those elections, a pro-putin, pro-kremlin, pro - russian candidate won and beat the favorite candidate. and the list of things that were so similar were just uncanny. it was coming out of nowhere leading the opposition to victory with dodgy finances that did not get revealed except with some weird connections to russia. the first point was their country first as it were, in that case, georgia first. if you put georgia first, presumably, you are doing it to be anti-russia since russia had invaded georgia four years before the election. and yet you had a candida

this is the european open. investors selloff european futures and seek the safety of the yen and the dollar. its get the business flash. for that, we go to sophie. bp has reported fourth-quarter earnings that mists estimates. profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes. more than doubled from a year earlier to $400 million but fell short of the 6500 -- expected by analysts. that is after higher oil prices failed to compensate for lower refining. statoil has reported a loss in the fourth quarter after deepening write-downs on u.s. shale assets. $40ust did net loss was million. that missed the forecast of a $618 million profit. statoil has slashed spending and cut costs, which has led to the deepest market downturn in a generation. kkr has agreed to combine its hedge fund unit with pacific alternative asset managing to create one of the world's largest investors in hedge funds. intoill have a 40% stake holdings, which will manage about $34 billion. the deal, expected to be completed in the second qua

the european values have to prevail. and this is what i believe will happen. >> what would you tell investors -- when do you get political security back in your country? >> well, the investors are not threatened. the economic situation is still very good. i think it will stay good. no problem for investors. this is a matter of principle for the population. >>> we are not in a situation where investors are threatened about europe currently, but we all remember when afraid of breg up of the eurozone, this scenario could be back soon. there are people betting on a breakup of the eurozone again, saying government bonds from germany are an attractive asset to have. another all-star european arriving here is jean-claude juncker, we all know him. we had to ask him what he makes of trump and this summit, what he thinks is going to get resolved today. take a listen here. >> no, i don't feel threatened, but i think there is room for explanations. sometimes you get the impression that the new administration does not know the europe

between nato and the european union. we have brought that to a new level implementing many different measures and we have signed a joint declaration usk inn president t warsaw and we are following up on implementing that. we are working closer on cyber and addressing how to build the capacity in our neighborhood and how to stabilize our neighborhood as we work together with the european union. cooperation is more important now because we live in times of turmoil and instability and we need a strong cooperation between nato and the european union and we welcome the very strong u.s. support for that approach. >> next question, ken thomas from the associated press. >> thank you, mr. vice president. i wanted to talk about the dismissal of general flynn recently. did you feel like you were misled by members of the trump administration or were you frustrated that you were left out of the loop on this situation? what assurances have you received from the president that something like this will not happen again? secretary-genera

so the european position is clear. i am confident it will continue because allin unity have that over the years that on europeans to divide themselves on this and i think this will continue to be the case, it can also have a lot for the u.s. i can say i was receiving reassuring messages but i don't know if there would be divisions in the u.s. on this. host: i'm going to ask one or two more questions and go to the audience. you have said the eu is ready for a transactional way of working the united states. guess, at the atlantic council the notion of a transactional relationship of the transatlantic partners would seem a step backwards. so, would you think this is sufficient and what do you mean when you say transactional way? guest: i have a feeling this is a moment in history where we have to -- where we're called to avoid giving it for granted, that people understand the add ed value of our friendship, which is said, i agree. i preferred to have the partnership, friendship based on this automatic with hat in the last

it is just before european elections, not a great time to have a rational debate on issues. any idea what the answer is? i hope we can get away from the conflicting, argumentative approach we have had. you don't know? i don't know. if it is rejected, there is no deal, which our british leader said she preferred to a bad deal, i properly wouldn't. if there was no deal, that means exiting, just wto rules, no clear future relationship. not good for europe either. bad for all sides. what do you think? an interesting point, perhaps the council will do what it does when the european parliament votes for a directive it doesn't want because it has been amended in such a way. it then ignores that and does it anyway. whether it has the power to reject the vote of parliament, i'm not sure. that would be nigh impossible if the european parliament took a vote against something as basic as the brexit deal. it could hardly ignore it. what would happen is what mrs may said, then we would exit on wto... crash out on wto rules. precisely why going down the article 50 route is wrong anyway. th

that will have to move on to the european continent and there will be somejob to the european continent and there will be some job losses but the bundesbank director has made it clear that london will remain the financial centre for the whole of the european union. thank you. much more on that and that interview on oui’ more on that and that interview on our website. now some other news. us billionaire warren buffett has backed american businesses to continue to create mind—boggling wealth. the investment guru, known as the sage of omaha, said stocks were virtually certain to be worth far more in the years ahead. us markets are currently trading at record highs. profits at private australian companies showed an increase of 20% in the last three months of 2016. it's a big boost for the economy and is the highestjump in operating profits for that time of year in 17 years. higher prices for raw materials meant that mining companies did well in particular. later in the week australia is due to release its latest growth figures after the suprise contraction of 0.5% in the third quarter o

both pro-european. tony: both pro-european, but they have to spell that out in much bigger terms. isknow martin schulz pro-europe, but he has not actually spelled it out for germany, what it means, nor has macron. he has to unveil his program and say what europe means to an electorate that is basically , just like it was in britain. they think that brussels is an elite that is controlling their frex, and the appeal of a is of france leaving the eu there. it's not a ghost phenomenon. it is present. people feel that. to negotiatewants europe on a different contract and ask the people of europe in different countries to take their opinion and then renegotiate europe and to give it a new direction. that is what he said, at least in some of the meetings i attended, and that is also the principle he is applying for his own program. he is sending out all his little helpers to go to the different houses, to the people, asking them what they want, where their necessities are, why they feel excluded, and from there, he writes hisis program. they are going to be very curious what is the prog

this is the european way. we work together with the countries experience crisis and their neighbors. a travel ban can maybe, maybe, give a temporary illusion of addressing the issue, but it can only create more frustration and anger. we need cooperation. not closure. we need to engage. we need to build come ground, not a ban. the iu will partner and strong point of reference for all countries in the region, regardless of the religion of those regions. they can count on it us. always those in world that believe in international cooperation, human rights and rule of law. also why the european union is the biggs donor in the -- biggest donor of the world to syrian people. with more than 9 billion euros invested since the start of the tighting in syria and the european union and the u.s. have worked closely together, including the u.n. submit on refugees in new york because a global issue requires a global work. both commitments were made to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants and count hate spee

into european credit? if you are a u.s. investor, how are you seeing this fit together? guest: for u.s. investors, they tend to look at the absolute yield and they look at germany and they say that is low yield compared to two treasuries so why should i bother to do that. i do think on a hedge raises it is becoming more interesting. you take out the currency risk. some investors are starting to look at longer data bonds in europe. we have a slow growth economy and relatively low inflation and a -- and an accommodative central-bank where as in the u.s. we are heading the other way. matt: are there any benefits from trumps policies for european exporters. the wolfgang schauble conversation as side, do we european economies get new buyers here? guest: with the trump policies with how theys work out, it is difficult to say. we have to focus on europe and see how donald trump impacts that. guy: thank you for spending so much time with us. up next, we will talk about the metals market. this is bloomberg. ♪ guy

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that vote is coming up european union. that vote is coming up in the next few minutes and coming up here on bbc news as well. is hello and welcome to 100 days, i'm katty kay in washington. christian fraser's in london where parliament is about to vote to start britain's departure from the eu. the bill is just 133 words long, katty, but of huge importance. it will formally hand power to the prime minister to begin the brexit process. we're watching the uk parliament. anjust in all an just in all the vote. —— for the vote. we're expecting three votes shortly. we'll explain why they‘ re so important. when it comes to brexit the uk has a big supporter in donald trump. but not all the politicians are content to roll out the red carpet. just what more does the president, trump, have to do before the prime minister will listen. he can lead a protest. i'm leading a country.

is the european council president. i imagine they will talk about security, but also take one or two questions on jean-claude juncker, with the news from la republica, may be news on russia. what we don't know is whether mike pence will be briefed on greece. i imagine yes. there you see the gentleman leaving. we will get back to that joint statement from donald tusk and mike pence. charles, you were saying about the deregulation. do you believe there is a chance that if donald trump deregulate too much that he's sowing the seeds of the next financial crisis? charles: i think that risk is minimal. i think it is a risk that will be donated by some in congress. i think it is important that we have a healthy debate on this. dodd-frank is deeply embedded in legislation, in many regulations, and it is not going to be a matter of just throwing it out the window. i think there will be a selective amendment to dodd-frank and i think there should be. but i don't think it will so the seeds of the next crisis. i think if it is don

she is a member of the european parliament. she is accused of hiring a parliamentary assistant with european funds. she allegedly hired an assistant who actually was not working for the european parliament but working for the national here in france. the european parliament is asking her to reimburse the 300,000 euros that they gave her to hire her assistant and she says she is not going to do it because she is being persecuted. genie: this assistance in question has been questioned by the european anti-fraud office. >> they got their hands on the billing, sof that according to her contract, she has to live and work in brussels but investigators found that she had no apartment lease to her name. she had a very interesting response. she said she was essentially living with friends, that they were putting her up and she was sleeping on a pullout bed. she was also asked why she rarely showed up on parliamentary law -- parliamentary logs. she apparently hadn't come that much. she had an interesting response. she said she carpooled

the problem of the european union. the problem of the european union. the problem of the future of the european union i5 of the future of the european union is not so much linked to brexit negotiations, the problem of the future of the european union is linked to the courage and willingness of the european leaders for the moment to go forward, like i described in the book, with the unity and integration of the european union, a defence community and economic governance for the 5ingle and economic governance for the single currency, and extort border and coastguard so the future of the european union in depends on that. not so much on brexit. you've been writing books about the need for a federal europe for a long time. europa united states of europe in 2006. as prime minister. you wrote another book in 2009 called how europe can save the world emerging from cri5i5. you have written the5e book5, from cri5i5. you have written the5e books, which now looked like mu5eum pieces, the world has moved on, europe has moved on. it's no more about union and federat

of the european union. so i think we are very much alone. i think that we are for the moment in an existential moment for the european union, and i hope, my response to this is that only european unity can be the answer. i am mindful you havejust written this book... that is my book about it. europe's last chance: why the european states... its subtitle, why the european states must form a more perfect union. ironically, you've taken a phrase from the american constitution. yes, exactly. i think it's gonna be difficult right now to persuade europeans that they should regard as a model the federal united states of america, but that's obviously... you wrote this before donald trump arrived in the white house. it's not about trump. that's about donald trump now. you're making it trump is the same as the american institutions. what i'm seeing is america, for example, after the financial crisis was capable to react immediately to that financial crisis. they did a cleaning up of their banks, they detailed an inve

theus it is important european-russian relationship. i am a european country. as the u.s. president is always telling us, u.s. first, i have to build on the european position. anna: how confident are you that you will be able to boost production by about 10% by early 2019? crick me if i'm wrong but i think that is your target. wrong thatme if i am i think that is your target. have restarted our production in libya. and in curtis dam. we are well on track to come up with two new projects in 2018, especially in the north sea. that is an upside potential. libya is not back fully on production capacity. to 350,000 a day. is yourw resilient business now to a lower oil price? >> we are planning for $55 a barrel and we have to wait and see how opec compliance is doing to end up during 2017. on the mid-to long-term, we are planning $70 or $75 a barrel. the times are over when we will see a three digit number. that is conservative planning. in the long-term, we will see such an oil price. anna: you have been cutting upstream expenses to make your business more resilient in this low

last summer to work very seriously on strengthening the european defense, within the european union, and to me it was very strange because i spent months from july to october, november even, reassuring washington and the other side of brussels, which means nato hawks, this was not to undermine nato and not in competition with nato and now to strengthen nato, and now i'm explaining it's good, nato and this is the european way. when i put this in the transactional box because you know that's -- article 5 was invoked only once and that was after 9/11 and europeans have carried the burden for our common commitments to security in the world. through nato, but also through other means. the european union is a security provider and also a hard power, even if this is not perceived to much here. we have 16 military missions in the world. ... >> >> the political challenges and then the elections this year with germany and so on. from that standpoint how serious do you think the stanches are and more importantly, what could be the contribution be? >> click at worst and best case scenario. >> i

this is something the european order of peace rex. that is must be why we are so strict in enforcing that. it is no longer the tenants that bind us. -- tenets that bind us. with our world order upset, it is most important to strengthen the flank. we are doing this from the bottom. the united states is and poland is. we did invoke article five where we are ensuring each other of a standby agreement in the case of conflict. we are in a major mission in and this basically started after 9/11. germany is continuing to work together with nato here. with 20 other nations in the north of afghanistan. i had the opportunity to talk to the afghan president. a political solution also is absolutely necessary in order to ensure a peaceful future for afghanistan. when we speak of nato these days, we also always talk about the financial contribution each and everybody puts on the table. germany and all other member states of nato committed itself to reach the 2% goal. just ask the defense minister has already insured you, we will do everything we can

president, for the european union. you can take one decision and we have president trump, we have a populus nationalist view, we have the radical islamists in the south and a bunch of people who want to destroy the european union. we can do one thing. that is unit, fight back with the european union and i hope it will not only be the better and, i support the letter of i hope all european leaders have to courage to stand up and fight back this nationalists and populist who want to destroy us. [applause] >> thank you. mr. zimmer now. >> thank you very much. i am this is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, we discuss the policies of the united states and more particularly mr. trump. thank you for having established the link to the time when mr. trump signed his decree to stop the travel of muslim citizens from the 7th of january and it wasn't a matter of chance. it was quite deliberate because of the same day he talked about his aunts dying in the concentration cam and said he knew what it was like when peo

future and european values. sorry. [laughter] >> we are backing you. >> when you talk war, you get more sensationalism on the panel. >> yes. this destabilization is a disaster. we received information that russian backed militants 20 minutes ago hit a building. -- lots ofivilians civilians. 20 minutes ago. what are they looking for on ukrainian soil? why do they open artillery fire against my civilians? what do they want to deliver? you would be shocked. the reason is only one. they want to have a ukraine in the russian empire. we will never ever accept that. do you know why? because we believe not only in the european union, but also european unity and solidarity. confident that european voters -- it made european voters much more responsible in their choice. electionafraid of any in the european union. to you know why? because i believe in the european union. that is the case. >> i want to make a brief comment. >> one more thing. holofernes -- 31st of december, was on the front line of troops with my marines.

the growing conflict that exist between the european parliament and many of the european nation state governments, there are lots of problems to overcome. i will tell you why i do not think it will break up. i don‘t think it will break up because it has been the most single ambition of the members of the european union for the last 50 years to reach a position where there was unity in europe. and if you look historically at why that happens, you understand the depth of how people feel about it. at the end of the second world war, all of europe was bankrupt. they looked around the world and they saw the power of the united states and they foresaw the wisest among them, the growing power of asia and in particular, china, and they realise that unless they united, they would become political pygmies ina united, they would become political pygmies in a world of giants. and that was the impetus behind the original seeds of what we now call the european union. successive generations have grown up with that on the continent, it is deeply imbued in their instincts in the continent in a way i

i met with the representatives of the european union. and this morning, a very constructive and productive conversation with president tusk and it is an honor to be here. this afternoon, i will meet with president yunker of the european commission and before taking meetings at nato and returning to washington, d.c. tusk saidas president i was pleased to address the security council in munich to theess the security -- strategic alliance of the united states -- that we entered. the president did ask me to come here to brussels and to the home of the european union, and deliver an additional message. and so today it is my privilege on behalf of president trump to express the strong commitment of to united states to continue cooperate and partner with the european union. whatever our differences, our two continents share the same heritage, the same values and the same purpose. to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. and to those objectives we will remain committed. and this has been the european union

security, the linchpin of european prosperity, the linchpin of the european community. the european project is as much an american project as a european project and the united states is walking away from that. and the europeans are say, well, not only, what about us, but are you actually, actively opposing what we're trying to do? so it is a tough time. and "america first" seems to remind people that maybe we're going back to an american foreign policy with regard to europe, with regard to the rest of the world in which the centrality of alliances, particularly of the transatlantic alliance is less than it has ever been in the post-war history. ms. mitchell: rich armitage, do you want to comment on that? mr. armitage: no, i think that "america first" is understood differently in different parts of the world. in europe, just as ivo said here, i don't think most of our public has thought beyond "america first" must mean putting america's interests first. that's not quite what the meaning is, i don't think. you know, we've always been, in my view, americans have always bee

with the european union. i wanted to make that very clear. we understand the relationship between our economies, we understand the deep heritage of member states and the european union with people in the united states of america. and looking for ways that we could reassure this weekend leaders of the european union of our commitment to ongoing cooperation and maintaining that partnership in the years ahead. >> the focus of the alliance is how can we make sure we succeed on delivering about what they mean about fairer sharing. i will not speculate so much or else, what will happen if we don't succeed. we heard a firm and clear mess ak from the united states. we have heard it from the president, from the vice president and secretary mattis so i think that just underlines the importance of making sure that we move and proceed with defense spending. we have started, 3.8% real increase in 2016 is a significant step but is only one step in the right direction. we need much more. we need both to spend more but we al

there isa to leave the european union. there is a bit ofa to leave the european union. there is a bit of a gap because next week is a bit of a gap because next week is half term if you lie for mps here. after that, it will go to the house of lords whether it will go through a similar process of scrutiny, where lords and peers will have a chance to put down amendments if they choose to get into the details of the bill. the fact that theresa may seems to have got this through the house of commons unamended, many people think that the house of lords will then not have the license to make changes and fiddle around with the bill. that means it will have got through parliament unscathed. we know that theresa may wants to trickle trigger article 50 before the end of march. if things continue as they look like they are going to do tonight, she will be able to do that within her timetable. we are looking at the chamber, filling up again. this rather archaic system, maybe you could talk us through that, where mps file into different lobbies, it is different to other parliaments a

versus european inflation swaps. one of the things that is very important is the world is completely interconnected, so there is a huge amount of influence on what is happening in the u.s., in terms of the fiscal policy, and the second point is the positioning from investors in terms of what they own today, the one of the key themes that is very clear is the great rotation out of fixed income into equities, and that is something that is pretty much on the forefront of asset allocation and investor positioning and therefore investor pricing going forward. guy: let us think about how this all goes forward in investment portfolios. that is how you think about what is going on here. what is the bigger picture in terms of my investment? in terms of valuations? u.s. equity markets, european equity markets, where is the biggest spread differential you are seeing right now? kokou: today, the u.s. is making new highs, and one of the interesting -- from a valuation standpoint -- places to look at is european equities, and also

a bad deal from the europeans. but the one place he doesn't seem to have had a bad deal, apart from today in these reportings of what he might have said about the start treaty is russia. what is it, explain this this mystifying relationship he has with president putin. >> i wrote a colume recently, a guess a couple of months ago where i tracked the dirty tricks that i saw in an election that i covered for news week in 2012, which was in tiblisi george ga. and oddly, eerily, they were exactly the same tricks that were used by trump in also winning power. and in both those elections, a proputin, procreme lynn, prorussian candidate won. and beat the favorite candidate. and the list of things that was so similar were just uncanny it was an oligarch coming out of nowhere. leading the opposition to victory with dodgy finances that didn't get revealed except some weird connections to russia. their first plank was, you know, their country first, as it were. in that case georgia first. well, if you put georgia first in that

like eastern european. like those from north africa where there's no individual reason. >> even if she loses pow her i would love for them to all stay here. they would fwre back or at least my country would be helped. but is it political think possible for her that she would stay in power? the chance is enormous for her. >> i think that's the question also of accompaniment by civil society and by the media. i think that for example too much courage has been given immediate, it's -- too much coverage has been given, when you have a nonstration of 0 people for germany, off big thing in the newspapers, i think that's not necessary. i think what has been neglected since 2015 are these -- all these initiatives which are still working with refugees and for refugees. i think we get an image of a society which is not -- not corresponding to the rest. >> but does it translate into votes? are we going to face the same situation we have in the u.s. right now? >> no, what i wanted to say, you create somehow reality. if

not the same for european stocks. that rsi is below 70, so perhaps, this rally still has further to go. it does not look like we are moving at on the gilt yield, or perhaps we are down two basis points, 1.13%, finally moving. anna. you read opening moves off of friday's market. let us have a quick look at some of the movers in today's session. by .1%.down rbs outpacing those losses, 1.8% lower. pulling back, 1.3% as i speak. iag, up by from 2.6%. pearson out with numbers. that stock is up by 1.9%. basf down by 1.7%. we will speak to them later on. the royal bank of scotland has a plan to cut costs by 2 billion pounds as it posted its ninth straight annual loss. .ere is richard partington also with us, patrick armstrong, at a company. when will rbs report a profit again? comments on the interview manus cranny gave earlier on. that by 2018, rbs should return to statutory profit, something they have not been able to do since the crisis . they have posted about 50 billion pounds in cumulative losses since that time, so th

remains the best friend of the european union? markus: absolutely, there is some kind of dichotomy in u.s. policy, currently. the overarching concern in europe is that the u.s. administration aims at replacing a multilateral approach to the european union or towards nato by some kind of special relationships, not only to london but two other selected countries in europe. therefore i think the overarching goal of angela merkel is to keep the europeans together as much as possible. brent: what about nato? did you get the sense that the vice president sees it moving forward as an anti-islamist force? markus: not really. i think it has been on the agenda to a certain degree. but there hasn't been so much progress so far. they could -- the key question is the 2% debate about additional defense spending. we have to admit that the trump administration has accomplished something. the debate isn't over about unfair burden sharing among the united states and european allies and the europeans did not take any concrete measures in the last de

a lot of europeans, european government, main european governments look at the trump white house and think this is a rogue president. they are dealing with something completely that they had never predicted and that they don't quite know how to address. >> gideon rose, when you look at it, it's fair to point out he has reversed himself on lots of these issues. he has now continued obama foreign policy in many of these areas and trump cleanup is pretty impressive by which i mean that secretary of state, secretary of defense, now national security advisor, isn't it worth giving him credit for the fact that many the administrations have shaky starts and the foreign policy team is a serious one. >> i think tom's frame work is good and i agree with what you just said. if you drill down a little bit into that trump cleanup, what it is adult professionals everywhere else in washington and the administration versus the white house. several of those trump administrations that tom was talking about are centered in the white house. what you have is professionals everywhere else. mattis at defen

european shares hit a 14 month high earlier on wednesday before settling just above the flatline. unilever spiked nearly 6% just days after it refused a takeover bid from kraft heinz. economic growth was revised up slightly for the last order. a mixed picture on wall street, the federal reserve is in focus on wednesday, saying it expects to raise interest rates fairly soon and must now try to decide if that will be at the march meeting or sometime later in the year. meeting or sometime later in the year. the austrian government has introduced new hiring rules to give preference to people who are already living in the country. a payroll tax companies will begin to -- tax cut will be given to companies doing this. it's a first in the eu , austria wants to give priority to local workers by offering tax cuts to businesses. nonwage labor costs would be have for three years to encourage hiring unemployed people or employees currently in training for a new job. if the hiring happens elsewhere in europe, the incentive will not apply. the government says it doesn't reach the eu principle o

am vonnie new york, i quinn, this is the european close on labor market. china's foreign currency reserves edge just below $3 trillion last month, falling to the lowest since the early parts yuan cap'ser the steepest decline in two decades. 4374 on the bloomberg. joining us is the chief asia economic correspondents for bloomberg, usually based in hong kong, visiting us in new york this week. it looked like a lot of a difference in the chart, these reserves dropping but $3 trillion in reserves is a lot of money, does it matter that it is below? >> significant but below the psychological three mark, demonstrating china is burning reserves at a rapid clip and they are willing to spend their reserves to defend the currency. administration has said china was in fighting the current -- the fighting -- deflating currency. l close is a concern. -- capital outflows is a concern. vonnie: there has to be some kind of intervention, we got more tightening on friday as the markets opened for the new year. >> the first day after the new year, they times in the liquidity