let's go to strasburg for a conversation on the european commission, joining maria tadeo. margrethe vestager. maria: we are joined by commissioner -- the commissioner. the presidentfrom that europe needs to be more -- assertive in technology. what does that mean? >> promote what we have going for ourselves, because you find a lot of impressive tech. you find engineers and an impressive start up environment. the willingness to balance all of that to the downside. we hear from u.s. companies that you are so focused on taxation because there has not been real innovation in europe. is that fair? ms. vestager: that is not fair. many businesses who pay their taxes in europe, every company should contribute where they do excellent business. the bottom line in europe, there is very good business. maria: is that something you think after 2020, there is no international agreement, for the e.u. to go it alone? ms. vestager: of course it would. we are strong believers in a global agreement and i am proud to see the progress by the oecd. that solution cannot be met, when you look at the

now we want to go to madrid and maria tadeo. i did not think they could get more confusing and spain, but i think they managed it in the elections. maria: it did and the situation is very messy. election,there was an supposed to be the election that would end the deadlock. if you look at the results, it looks difficult going forward for the spanish prime minister, the socialist pedro sanchez who won the election but lost seats. it is unclear what kind of government he will be able to form, if ever. if he turns to the left, he is running short of vote. if he tries to form a grand coalition with his rivals, that looks very unlikely. unclear where he goes from here. not a good night. what we are seeing is more fragmentation in the spanish parliament, more nationalists entering the spanish congress and a nation that is very tired and frustrated by the political class. david: frustration. is that what translated into the rise of the right? i understand the right of center party gained while the socialist party lost. maria: they did.

maria tadeo joins us from madrid. most seats, but how is he form a government? his country is in a huge mess. the socialist party won the election, and remember they wanted the election to increase a former stable government and the reality is they lost seats. the acting prime minister is the biggest loser in this vote. it is unclear how he forms a government. if he turns the left he is running short of boats, and if he tries to run for a grand coalition with his traditional rivals, that looks unlikely. the reality is when asked what are you planning -- we have asked a number of officials what you are planning on doing, and they simply do not have a number . a lot of political fragmentation in the parliament. national forces entering the spanish congress and a country that feels tired and frustrated by the ongoing election cycle. vonnie: what is the polling data saying? shows the polling data there is more fragmentation. it also shows it was a bad night for the acting prime minister. it also devastated the liberals, who lost more than 40 seats. thatyou have a new

nejra: maria tadeo is in brussels.one's attention this week about how likely is it that we see meaningful progress on banking union? >> good morning. it has made a lab headlines. cholz is saying we do not want to be seen as a country that always says no and a country that stops further integration. that is something european officials tell you is really good news. deeper integration is it really good news for the european union and europe. this is already running into a number of obstacles. the germans are still insisting that there should be more action taken to reduce risk. they believe the connection between the sovereigns and banks is still an issue. they believe a sovereign debt should not be seen as a risk-free asset. for the italians, that is a nonstarter. it is a major redline for them. the timing of this is also strange. we understand that this is a planned foot forward by olaf scholz. it is unclear how much support angela merkel is willing to throw to this. nejra: germany was also in focus after the european

maria tadeo spoke to her earlier today and joins us now.to she have to say i guess is the straightforward question? >> she had a bigger majority than she expected. she didn't run in the european election. our whole purchase was delayed for so long but the european -- in terms of priorities it's clear one has to do with climate action. the european union to be climate neutral by 2050 and cut down emissions by a lot. she's given herself a very tight deadline. the question is who is going to pay for this. the other question has to do with digital tax. there has to agree be an agreement on how to tax agile companies by the end of 2020. there's no agreement that they will go alone and implement their own tax. romaine: a lot of talk with nato and how strong the alliance remains. >> that's another big question when you talk about the language we've seen come out. this point looked brain-dead. angela merkel said that was too drastic. vonda lyon does play -- voluntary lay in -- bonder der leyen -- the european union has a different role. of course w

joining us from strasburg is bloomberg's maria tadeo. butn are in the fore, really it is climate. maria: that's right. leyen commission replacing jean-claude juncker. she has made climate her number one priority. she says she wants to make the european union carbon neutral by 2050. that is cutting down majorly carbon emissions. . this is her number one focus, and you can see why. this is something that has really resonated across europe. thers here are very into idea of being much more environmentally cautious. this also says the european union needs to be more assertive on the global stage, and there's also the idea of brexit. this is still very much looming on the new commission because they will have to negotiate that trade deal with the u.k. if it manages to leave the european union in january 2020. david: thank you so much. that we go to london, where the pound fell for a second day as traders digest recent polls which show the u.k. election race is narrowing. joining us from london is annmarie hordern. the pound is now up slightly against the dollar, apparently on further pol

maria tadeo talked to her in france, where she was asked how europe's revelatory posture on -- regulatory posture on technology is different than the u.s. and china. maria first and foremost, to : promote what we have going for ourselves already because in the business-to-business environment you find a lot of impressive tech. you find engineers and research and an impressive start up environment and the willingness to balance all the possibilities. >> you are talking about innovation, but we do here many times from u.s. companies the reason you're focused on taxation is because we have not seen real invasion europe. -- innovation in europe. do you agree and is that fair? >> that is not fair, not just some of them but every company should contribute where they do excellent business. that is the bottom line in europe. you do very good business here. >> is that something where you think if by the end of 2020 there's no international agreement on digital taxation that it would be fair for the eu -- e.u. to go it alone? >> yes of course it would paired we are strong believers in a -- yes, of

maria tadeo -- fiscal stimulus. maria tadeo joins us. what can we expect from her speech? maria: good morning. there is a lot of hype built into this a speech from christine lagarde today but we are being cautious that perhaps exciting.y not be too she may not say a lot. investors do not actually know christine lagarde as head of the european central bank, they don't know where she is standing in terms of the rate debate. they don't know where she wants to take policy from here and this is somebody who does not come from the central banking world. we are being told that perhaps one of her priorities is not so much the policy, but to build consensus around the governing council. we know that there was a lot of pushback to the measures announced by mario draghi. the one thing she wants to do is to actually build teamwork to try to heal divisions within the governing council. that may be the focus today, not so much on the monetary policy front. nejra: thank you so much for joining us. maria tadeo in frankfurt. wouter sturkenboom from northern trust asset management is still

maria tadeo with the latest on that political stalemate.utes away from the start of equity trading in europe, let's look at stocks that could be on the move. european luxury stocks may be affected following the violence in hong kong. more live pictures of the activities on the streets. what is different this time? a lot of the protest activity and disruption had been limited to weekends previously. today that is not the case. ♪ >> we are the community bank and we are committed to hong kong. we have done a lot to try and help the community in the meantime. we cannot control the political situation. that is beyond us. anna: that was the hsbc coo speaking to bloomberg. live pictures once again for you of hong kong. protest activity continuing after the weekend into the workday, which is pretty unusual. you have seen one protester shot. we see reports continuing to come in this morning of a protester who was apparently set on fire. anan set on fire during argument with a group of people. we wait for more details on that. certainly things taking

we are joined by maria tadeo. t we policyd, monetary similar to what we heard from mario draghi with an extra emphasis on pushing governments to spend more. maria: that is exactly right. inre was a lot of hype built and the reality is investors do not know christine lagarde is the head of the european central bank, do not know where she stands on the ranks -- rates. she did say she wants to move forward with a strategic review to policy. members of the governing council wanted that and felt because mario draghi was so dovish, she does not have to be. she did sound very similar to draghi on some aspects. she said we need to get going on the fiscal spending and monetary policy cannot be the only game in town. complete key elements of the european union, the single market and the banking union. there is a proposal the germans have going forward but it is not flying with the italians, so it is unclear whether we get that as soon as they would want that. francine: i am glad you brought up -- lisa: i am glad you brought

bloombergs maria tadeo caught up with the incoming eu president ursula vander line in strasberg.rtunity. >> it is a must for all of us because we know climate changes existential. ,here is a huge opportunity because at the moment we are the european front runner fighting climate change and new technologies and financing, we have 40% of all the payments and renewable energies worldwide. if we do well, it is not only good for the planet, it is not only good for the people, it will also be good for the european economy because we will be the executor of knowledge and technologies and the front runner. maria: if you look at the friction we have seen between germany and france over nato. do you see a bigger role for the eu within nato or do you believe it is time to consider a bigger european army? >> nato will always be collective defense. article five without any question. nato is the strongest military alliance in the world. the european union has a different role. we have many european member states that are also members in the nato alliance. , i see fields where we do not need na

was ursula von der leyen speaking to maria tadeo.ll hear more from our exclusive interview with howard lee, coming up next. this is bloomberg. ♪ the deputyod fud -- says to president trump's signing of the hong kong bill into law is unwarranted. confidence ining the cities banking industry in an exclusive interview with yvonne. is not the bill necessary, but when it comes to the market impact, the financial impact so far, he is saying markets are taking this in stride. the bankers and investors he talks to are saying there are still a lot of questions as to how the u.s. will implement all of this and enforce this law. basically, the u.s. has access or needs to assess hong kong's autonomy to china in order to justify that. he is saying the muted reaction is a bit encouraging, but he is going to also be watching the future developments as well. notf course, this is welcome news. as you can see, the market reaction so far has been pretty calm, so to speak, because a lot and market petitioners i have talked to, they feel that the immedia

maria tadeo spoke to her in france where she was asked how europe's regulatory posture on tech is differentn the business environment, you find a lot of impressive tech. you find engineers, research, and an impressive startup environment and the willingness to balance possibilities. >> you are talking about innovation, but we do here the reason we are focused on taxation is because we have not seen real innovation in europe. is that fair? >> absolutely not. what is fair is to say to the many businesses in europe that not just some of them should contribute but every company should contribute where they do excellent business. that is the bottom line in europe. you do very good business here. >> when would that be? is that something where you think, if by the end of 2020, there's no international agreement on digital taxation that it would be fair for the eu to go it alone? >> yes, of course it would. we are strong believers in a global agreement i am happy to see the progress made by the oecd. is a very strong push. and there is positive feedback on the first draft. of course, that would be

incoming president urszula to fonterra lane one the blacking won thehe backing -- backing -- maria tadeoith her early today. >> it is a must for all of us because we know climate changes existential. there is a huge opportunity because the moment we are the european front-runner is hiding climate change and new technologies and green finance and we have 40% of all the patents of renewable energies worldwide. if we do well, it is not only good for the planet, is not only good for the people, but it will also be good for the european economy because we will be the expert of knowledge and technologies and be the front runner. maria: when you look the friction we have seen over the euro and france, as the head of the european commission, do you see a bigger role for the eu within nato are you think it is time to consider a bigger european army? >> nato will always be collective defense, article five, without any question. nato is the strongest military alliance in the world. the european union has a central role. we have many european union member states that are also members in the nato all

maria tadeo is reporting from madrid. where do we go from here?d night for the acting prime minister. he was hoping this election would give him a majority. in fact, he lost seats. there is no obvious way to form a government in this country today. the front page of the most read newspaper in the country, the editorial this morning says spain has gone back to square one. that is what it feels this morning in madrid. the prime minister could still try to form a coalition with the opposition. the leader of that party said he has no intention of joining. he wants to lead the opposition. howbig question mark is much of the political paralysis affecting the economy in spain had a rebound after the crisis? what you see now is this is a country that is losing momentum. governments are not able to get anything done. the country has not been able to approve a budget for two years. no meaningful reform in four years. deadlock is translating into government action or the lack of, i should say. you so much. let's stay with politics, turning to the u.k.. boris

anna: maria tadeo at the european parliament. leyen is giving her speech in strassburg.o the incoming european commission president later today. that interview, you can see it on bloomberg tv at 3:00 p.m. london time. plus, we will also be joined by the incoming european commission vice president for economy at 1:30 p.m. london time. some of these briefs shifting around a little bit. kevin thozet, portfolio advisor gnac still with us here. let me talk to you about where european equity markets head from here. a real focus on the green agenda, as you might expect. what do you expect in terms of the european equity story from here, kevin? should,uropean equities well some of them, anyway, should be behaving pretty well going forward. i mean, those european companies cannot really rely on economic growth in the euro zone and in growth because european low.etty germany's gdp growth is expected around zero for q4 and q1 of -- zero low. ofmany for q4 and q1 20. companies -- of 2020. anna: i have a chart here which talks about european firms stronger finances, doing better rece

nejra: maria tadeo in strasbourg, thank you so much. up, we will be speaking to european commission president , ursula von der leyen, as her team faces confirmation votes in strasbourg. it will be at 3:00 p.m. london time. do not miss our interview at 1:30 p.m. with maste -- mariusz tjabroki. in an exclusive interview with bloomberg, he said there is a long way to go for the island of ireland united. >> this unique agreement directs now this unique circumstance under the island of ireland. the british government, the irish government, the european union have played collectively a very imaginative role in looking to come up with an agreement to prevent the development of a hard border on the island of ireland. i believe the agreement has been reached between the au and the that it does deliver insurance policy. i hope it is not needed. i hope we can reach a trade agreement and a future political agreement that means insurance .lan is not triggered come the idea that the british may cause a problem with the border has just raised, as far

maria tadeo joins us with more from madrid. it was a gamble to begin with, but what are we left with? maria: that is the question today in madrid. this was supposed to be the election that would end the deadlock, the fourth in four yea rs, but it is probably only made it worst. the socialists won the election come about lost seats, and have no past to a majority. there is speculation the country could be headed to a grand coalition with the traditional rival, but if you listen to the words of the party leaders, they say they want to continue to stay in the opposition. overall, when you look at the state of spanish politics today, it is a mess. you are seeing a lot of political fragmentation, nationalist forces entering the congress, and a very frustrated country. alix: thank you very much. bolivia,we end in where south america's longest-serving president avoid the violence after election irregularities led to weeks of clashes and eventual intervention from the armed forces. morales claims he was the victim of a two. joining us o

alix: bloomberg's maria tadeo joins us at the european banking congress. what were some of the takeaways from christine lagarde's speech? investors don't really know christine lagarde as head of the european central bank. she has been very quiet for the past three weeks. investors don't really know where she stands in the debate, but it is interesting that she echoed mario draghi, and those comments really telling european governments this is the time to get spending, especially when we are facing a downturn. she also said it is crucial that we complete the european union, a tear reference to the banking union and the single market. those are still very thorny issues politically in the eu. the major take away perhaps is the fact she says there will be strategic review and the tools put forward by the european central bank. we know the context is important because the european governing council was split on the position mario draghi made. some embers of the governing council felt that she does not have to be a mario draghi 2.0, and maybe this is a good time

maria tadeo joins us. a lot of topics on the table. what so far has been the biggest take away? there's many calls right now in europe to get germany to get spending. the european commission cut its growth forecast. they see the country in a technical recession. we are seeing more european space to that have spend or need to grow their economy should do it now, but obviously a clear reference to germany. when you speak to the german finance minister, he is sticking to the script. he says there is no need to deploy major funds now because germany does believe the fundamentals remain strong. they have a very strong labor market, and they point out external factors. they say our model is not flawed, and we have not become too dependent on china. this is all to do with trade tensions. the minute they go away, we will see germany move back from negative headlines and pickup growth. the export data that came out for september does back his point to a certain extent. we saw exports pickup for the month of september. the bigger question now, but the europeans are really keeping an eye o

maria tadeo in brussels looking back at what we had and what we will get next. ificance of this, because it is a huge shift in power. maria: that is right. it is the end of the juncker commission and this man has done every single possible job you can think of. if you look back at the legacy -- and this is probably something jean claude juncker will mention when he speaks -- this is the fact that this was a commission hit by one crisis after another. crisis, thee euro migration crisis, and brexit, which was such a shock to the system. when you speak to people around jean claude juncker, they will tell you when you look back at those five years kate is very yearsnging euros -- five it is very challenging, but the euro is still here and greece is still here. tom: the farmer president of belgian -- former president of belgian is taking over. is this a generational shop in strasburg? shift in strasburg? it is.a: you have the biggest jobs going to women, and younger people taking over. that is because the commission has set the number one priority to tackle issues tha

yesterday does not do anything, and if anything, it makes things worse for the spanish prime minister maria tadeok you. we stay in spain. joining us from madrid is closing one of the about us -- closing one of adverse -- joining us is jose manuel albarres. how will the prime minister negotiates a coalition? guest: he had a clear victory. the fourth victory in the last four elections, two general elections, a local election, and the european election. the spaniards have clearly said they want pedro sÁnchez and the socialist party in front of the government. but he will need to the support of all the constitutional forces, so it is up to pp and to podemos. all will have to unblock this situation to move forward. francine: i don't know if this is a winner, this is something that has backfired against mr. sanchez. was kind of government can come out of this election if any? guest: backfire probably is not the word. the spaniards have spoken, and they are the ones of that have to decide which majority they want. they have pointed very clearly was again to mr. sanchez, and the socialist party. this is

maria tadeo asking him about nato, a question that he would not answer, but also asking him about thereligion. we should not be obsessed, we should just follow the rules. if you are italy or some of the other countries that want to leave austerity to one side to spend more, these are significant comments. tom: i agree with that. significant 24 hours on nato and the catalyst for this, folks, the 30th anniversary of the filing of the berlin wall. stephen stanley with us. he is with amherst pierpont as well. let's take it back to macarthur. america?tionist is with that statement, how alone is mr. lemaire in europe? >> i think some of the best words, a lot of the tension around where nato allies. president trump feels like europe has been a free rider. tom: certainly on nato budgeting. stephen: i think in some ways, i think there is some truth to that. obviously, the european defense budget has been pretty skimpy over the years. can this be negotiated in such a way that we can all still be friends? tom: this is an esoteric question but it is esoteric friday, so let's go with it. can you e

maria tadeo talking to the finance minister of germany in the last hour about managing forward the hopewe hope for a good first word news. in new york city, here's our reporter. >> the european commission warns the worst may be yet to come. the executive arm of the eu cut euro area growth and inflation outlook. it says the bloc's economic resiliency will not last forever. it calls for 1.2% growth in 2021. germany and italy are seen as the slowest euro area economies this year. more progress reported in u.s.-china trade talks. beijing says both have agreed to rollback tariffs on each other's goods in phases. china ski demand has been the removal of tariffs imposed by president trump. undercutting is o white house claims that he was -- he says his controversial work with ukraine was done solely as president trump's defense attorney. that work is now at the center of the house impeachment investigation. the bank of england is expected to keep interest rates on hold today. the central bank may cut its growth and inflation forecast. the policymakers compiled their forecast in the midst of po

she spoke to maria tadeo. >> i think it is a must for all of us because we know that climate change istunity in it, because at the moment, we are the european front runner in fighting climate change and new technology and green financing. we have 40% of all of the renewable energy worldwide, so if we do well, it is not only good for the planet and the people, but it will also be good for the european economy because we will be the front runner. maria: when you look at the friction between germany and , as the head of the european commission do you see a bigger role within nato, or is it time to consider a european army? urszula: nato will always be defense of article five and the strongest military alliance in the world. we have many european member states that are also members in europeans,ce, and as , the european union had the well to answer the crisis, without destruction. we are building up the defense union, knowing that it will be complementary to nato, but it is for cases where we need the european union with the huge toolbox we have from development, investment, diplomacy to s