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The European Commission is preparing a "Buy European" initiative that would allow public authorities to favour EU and partner-country suppliers in public procurement, as Brussels seeks to strengthen European industry and reduce dependence on foreign providers, particularly from China. The draft proposals, expected to be published in September by industry commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, would create a legal basis for governments to prefer European companies, while still allowing non-EU suppliers where European alternatives are unavailable or would result in disproportionate costs. The measures are likely to spark debate over protectionism as public procurement, worth around 15% of EU GDP, is increasingly viewed as a strategic industrial policy tool.

 

EU Today

Financial Times

Reuters

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Volkswagen's labour leaders have vowed to fight plans for large-scale job cuts, as Europe's largest automaker considers a wide-ranging overhaul that sources say could cost around 100,000 jobs. “Us workers didn’t cause this crisis,” Daniela Cavallo, head of VW’s works council, said at a protest at the German company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. “Management must do its homework, politicians as well, while we’ve already stood ready to do our part.” Reuters reports that Volkswagen is under unprecedented pressure to restructure ‌its business model as it battles with high costs and excess capacity at home. "The global situation has continued to deteriorate over the past twelve months," Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said. "That is why we are ​acting now."

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Airbus employees across most of ​Spain have gone on strike until the end of July. They are protesting over issues including sub-inflation pay rises, tighter attendance monitoring and requirements for office staff to spend ​more time on site. "If no agreement is ​reached, delivery ​schedules will be ⁠seriously affected by the strike and the industrial action taking place during the final four ​months of the year at all Airbus Spain ​sites," ⁠said CCOO, ‌Airbus's ⁠largest union in Spain, which has not joined the immediate strike at the aircraft maker but said it would call an indefinite halt from September 7 if its demands were not met.

 

Reuters

France's competition authority ‌has said its probe of chipmaker Nvidia over alleged anti-competitive ⁠practices will soon conclude. "We are nearing the end ​of the investigation," said Umberto Berkani, ​the antitrust watchdog's general rapporteur. The end of the ​investigation does not mean ​Nvidia will necessarily face sanctions.

 

Reuters

Draft rules indicate the EU is set to bow to pressure from tech groups by proposing they can use cheaper offsets to counter the climate impact of gas-powered data centres.

 

Financial Times

Human rights campaigners are demanding an investigation into the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for failing to address data breaches linked to the Home Office's eVisa system. A letter co-ordinated by the Open Rights Group and sent to Dame Chi Onwurah, chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee, says "the human price of data non-compliance is high and unjustifiable." The ICO received 851 complaints about the Home Office between December 2023 and December 2025.

 

The Independent

German steelmaker Salzgitter is to take full control of joint venture ‌HKM from co-owners Thyssenkrupp's steel unit and Vallourec. Around 2,000 jobs are to be cut ​as part of a restructuring, to roughly ⁠1,000 positions from around 3,000 by ​the end of 2028. "Without these painful job cuts, Salzgitter AG would not ​have been able to complete the ​acquisition on its own," the company said. "We aim to guide toward a ⁠sustainable ​future through a consistent focus ​on the green transition," Salzgitter chief executive Gunnar Groebler advised.

 

Reuters

The United Nations' agency for digital technologies is establishing a focus group comprised ⁠of ​technical, policy and legal experts to improve trust in artificial ‌intelligence agents, amid growing concern about accountability and human oversight over these increasingly autonomous AI systems.  The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said that while AI agents - systems that act ​independently on behalf of users to carry out ⁠tasks - can improve productivity, they also run ​the risk of impersonating people and taking unauthorised decisions. The group will hold its first meeting in Paris in November and its ​second in Geneva in January.

 

Reuters

Senior judges and barristers have issued guidance saying that lawyers in the UK must adopt AI to avoid potential disbarment. The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT), backed by the Ministry of Justice and chaired by Sir Geoffrey Vos, warns that lawyers could face disciplinary action, including being struck off, if they fail to use the technology where a competent professional would reasonably be expected to do so. The guidance says that refusing to use AI tools that could significantly improve the quality or efficiency of legal work may amount to professional negligence. However, the UKJT also warns that lawyers could be punished for misusing AI, including relying on inaccurate AI-generated information, submitting documents containing false citations, or exposing confidential client information through insecure systems.

 

The Daily Telegraph

UK lawmakers have warned that exempting the United States from a global minimum tax deal could cost the UK £600m annually. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) highlighted that the risk of lost tax revenue from multinational companies shifting profits remains high, despite a 15% global minimum tax rate. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development brokered the deal, but the US is exempt from key parts. The PAC said HMRC's approach to collecting tax from large businesses is "generally working well" but noted that there are still "significantly high" risks related to multinationals potentially diverting profits. Of the £70.1bn of tax under consideration as part of investigations into large businesses in 2025, HMRC estimates around £21bn of this faces international risks. Clive Betts, deputy chairman of the committee, commented: "HMRC needs to look into how companies are complying with new rules on minimum corporation tax rates, particularly after the US exempted its own firms." 

 

Financial Times

The Independent

The Times

Hugo Boss has urged shareholders to reject Frasers Group's €2bn takeover offer, describing the €38-per-share bid as "financially inadequate" and arguing that it reflects only the minimum price required under German takeover rules rather than the company's intrinsic value or long-term growth prospects. The bid represents a premium of 4.3% to Hugo Boss' share price at the time it was announced. Frasers, which already owns around 26% of Hugo Boss, launched the offer after seeking to increase its stake beyond the 30% threshold that triggers a mandatory takeover bid under German regulations. Analysts said the low-premium offer appears designed to preserve Frasers' strategic flexibility while increasing pressure on Hugo Boss' management to deliver improved financial performance.

 

Financial Times

Reuters

The number of visits to UK shops fell 3.4% year-on-year in June as record temperatures discouraged shoppers, with high streets suffering the steepest decline while retail parks and shopping centres proved more resilient, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC). High-street footfall dropped 6.2% in the five weeks to 5 July, compared with declines of 2.5% at shopping centres and 0.3% at retail parks. The figures come after England recorded its warmest June on record, with the BRC also warning that higher taxes and regulatory costs are making it harder for retailers to invest, create jobs and grow, as it calls for reforms to business rates and energy costs.

 

Daily Mail

The Daily Telegraph

The Independent

Reuters reports that China's booming gig economy is masking job market pain in other sectors as the property crisis eliminates construction jobs and manufacturers shed workers through automation and cost-cutting. The China New Employment Forms Research Center, a think tank, estimates the number of people without a permanent full-time contract - those in so-called "flexible employment" - has risen to 320 million this year from 280 million in 2025, a number almost as large as the US population and about 44% of China's total labour force. The country's gig economy increasingly hires educated young people and white-collar workers. "The proportion is extremely high," observed Yang Zhan, a cultural anthropology expert at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. "It's no longer ​limited to rural migrants and has spread to the middle class and university graduates . . . China is upgrading manufacturing, and many industries that used to absorb large numbers of workers are being phased out. ⁠Then there is AI."

 

Reuters