EU leaders will hold an emergency summit on Jan. 22 to discuss responses to threats of new duties from the White House

Europe has a $13 trillion "weapon" against Trump, could it be activated?

The European Central Bank, as expected, on Thursday, December 18, kept the interest rate unchanged and raised some forecasts for economic growth and inflation, which is likely to strengthen investor forecasts for the absence of further rate cuts, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-keeps-rates-steady-nudges-up-growth-forecast-2025-12-18/">writes</a> Reuters. The ECB keeping the rate unchanged can be considered a signal of confidence in the current state of the eurozone economy: growth exceeds expectations, and inflation, despite external trade shocks, remains close to the regulator's target benchmarks, the agency notes.

ECB keeps interest rate unchanged for the fourth time in a row

Alphabet Inc.

Meta Platforms, Inc.


This is the second investigation into Google launched by Brussels in less than a month

EU to probe Google for 'abuse of dominance' over AI training

The move, Politico points out, would oblige European financial institutions to step up scrutiny of all Russia-related transactions

EU decides to add Russia to list of countries with high risk of money laundering - Politico

Many Russians living in Europe still have accounts and cards in Russian sub-sanctioned banks. But EU countries are gradually introducing <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1226/oj/eng">liability</a> for circumventing anti-Russian sanctions, which raises the question of whether having an account in such a bank and using it is considered a criminal offense. Lawyers from the EU and Russia have presented two scenarios for the application of this norm - optimistic and pessimistic.

Life in the EU and an account in the Russian sanctions bank: lawyers' opinions on risks and action plan

Kiev's major European allies sided with President Vladimir Zelensky in rejecting key elements of a U.S.-Russian plan to end the war in Ukraine that involves significant concessions to Russia, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-21/ukraine-and-european-allies-reject-key-parts-of-us-russian-plan">writes.</a>

Europe and Kiev reject key points in plan to end Ukraine war

On the night of November 1, citizens of Russia and Belarus living in Europe faced blocking of accounts and cards of Revolut, one of the key banks for citizens of these countries in the EU. This is not the first time that Neobank has blocked the accounts of passport holders of these countries. Oninvest spoke to two people who had previously managed to get their accounts unblocked at Revolut. In one case, the issue was solved by an official appeal to the regulator, in the second case - by uploading documents to the bank's system in the right combination.

How to get Revolut to unlock your account? Here are two success stories 

In the fall of 2025, Russian lawyers faced a sharp increase in the number of refusals by the Belgian Treasury to issue individual licenses to private investors to unblock assets in Euroclear, six lawyers specializing in such matters told Oninvest. This is due to new requirements of the Belgian regulator, which the latter began to apply retrospectively. The new conditions prove impossible for the majority of Russians who applied in 2024-2025 or transferred assets between brokers after 2023, the lawyers complain. They are already preparing their clients for a further fight - in the Belgian Council of State, Belgian courts and international investment arbitration, since Belgium will not accept corrected reapplications either.

99% rejection rate: how did Belgium deprive Russians of chances for quick unblocking of assets?

The European Union is planning to raise duties on steel imports to 50%, Bloomberg news agency, which has seen the draft proposal, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-02/eu-to-propose-doubling-tariff-rate-on-steel-imports-to-50?srnd=homepage-europe">reported</a>. The move would equalize the EU rate with duties in the United States.

Bloomberg: EU intends to double duties on steel imports - up to 50%

BP p.l.c.

Shell plc

TotalEnergies SE

Oil prices could fall below $60 a barrel before the end of the year, some analysts suggest

Shares of EU oil and gas giants were among the growth leaders. What is driving the market?

Shares of Alphabet (Google's parent company), however, were up 1.5% in trading on Sept. 5

Google fined nearly €3 billion in Europe for advertising market abuse

Washington is willing to lower auto duties only after European fees are eliminated