31/03 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT Europe – Investment banks face deepening gloom as trading revenues plunge. Analysts put average first-quarter fall at 25%. Job and payout fears amid dismal outlook.

WSJE – Escape for migrants starts at €1,000. Smuggling rings are booming in Greece to ferry the stranded northward.

INYT – Jockeying for leverage in the South China Sea. Fraught dance plays out between Beijing and US over disputed territory.

BBC Europe – Vojislav Seselj acquitted over Balkans war crimes charges. Serbian ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seselj has been found not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the Balkan wars in the 1990s. – The UN war crimes court at The Hague (ICTY) said he bore no individual responsibility for the crimes. Mr Seselj had denied all the charges.

FRANCE

Le Monde – Left massively rejects Francois Hollande. According to a study by Cevipof-Ipsos-Sopra Steria, François Hollande will not be in the second round of the presidential election, regardless of the candidates chosen to face him. The poll shows Marine Le Pen in a good position in the first round.

Les Echos – Towards eased layoffs rules for SMEs. The majority wants more flexible layoffs criteria for SMEs. Opponents of the Labour Law will play a key role this Thursday in the streets.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) – Hollande: war against terrorism without Constitutional amendments. No deprivation of nationality. Sarkozy: The President has failed.

Suedeutsche Zeitung (SZ) – Erdoğan embarrasses Merkel. Does the federal government go easy on the Turkish President in the satire-scandal because they need his support in the refugee crisis? Berlin denies this but remarkably refrains from any loud critic.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Libya, the UN government met by gunfire. Serraj disembarked in Tripoli, causing a battle between militias. A military intervention is now probable.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Telecom, GO to the transition: Cattaneo is the new CEO. Priority to the fiscal consolidation and to partnerships.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza – President above the court. District Court in Warsaw ruled that President of Poland Andrzej Duda could have granted pardon to former Head of Central Anticorruption Bureau and the incumbent Coordinator of Special Services Mariusz Kamiński. The Court reversed the judgment that condemned Mr Kamiński for overstepping his powers.

SPAIN

El País – Sánchez is asking for trust for his impossible mission: governing with Podemos and Ciudadanos. No significant progress has been achieved during the meeting between Iglesias and the PSOE leader. Representatives from the three parties will speak in a few days.

The Times – Chaotic steel crisis response puts 40,000 jobs at risk. David Cameron ordered his business secretary to return to London from Australia last night after the government was accused of a shambolic response to the looming closure of Britain’s biggest steelmaker.

The Guardian – Ministers in “disarray” over steel industry. PM to hold emergency talks on crisis amid fears 40,000 jobs could be lost.