Europe

The big economic question for the U.K.’s Brexit negotiators, Stephen Fidler writes, is how free British companies will be to sell goods and services inside the EU after Brexit without confronting new bureaucratic hurdles?

Spain’s constitutional court on Thursday moved to block Catalonia from holding a referendum on separating from Spain, prompting vows from regional officials to push ahead with the vote in defiance of the ruling.

The European Central Bank is likely to announce plans next month for phasing out the bond-buying program that has helped reinvigorate the eurozone economy, while the U.S. Federal Reserve is weighing how aggressively to retreat from its own easy money policies.

British Prime Minister Theresa May faced her first major parliamentary hurdle on Brexit since the start of negotiations with the European Union. Lawmakers debated whether a bill to transpose EU laws on to the U.K. statute book hands too much power to the executive.

The eurozone economy grew more quickly over the 12 months through June than previously estimated, according to figures released Thursday as policy makers at the European Central Bank met to decide what to do with their program of bond purchases.

Sweden’s central bank signaled that a small interest rate increase is still many months off--highlighting the caution of Europe’s central banks as they try to balance the effects of a strengthening currency and an improving economy.

The idea that the U.K. should join the European Economic Area as a way to avert Brexit cliff edges is persistent, but it won’t work.

The Spanish government asked a top court to block the Catalan regional government’s bid to hold a referendum on independence, the latest clash in what has become Spain’s most pressing political issue.

The European Central Bank is walking a tightrope as it prepares for its most momentous decision in years: How to wind down its giant bond-buying program without derailing the eurozone’s economic recovery.

Germany’s rapidly worsening relations with Turkey could scramble long-established voting patterns among the roughly one million German voters of Turkish origin, throwing a wild card into this month’s election.

The EU’s top court ruled that Central European states have no legal grounds to reject a refugee relocation program, backing the bloc on a policy that has roiled politics across the region since a major influx of people two years ago.

The European Union’s economic growth will beat expectations this year, leaving behind a decade of financial crises and creating the new challenge of tackling long-delayed reforms, EU economy chief Pierre Moscovici said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European Union leaders should decide whether to suspend or end membership talks with Turkey at its summit next month, backtracking from her call to end accession talks.

Under President Vladimir Putin, enormous monuments to Russia’s often painful history have been rising again. Kirov leaders are unveiling a statue of the KGB’s founder, who oversaw the execution of hundreds of thousands.

The main televised debate between Angela Merkel and Martin Schulz highlighted something that makes Germany unusual among large democracies: on many of today’s most polarizing issues, its two leading parties are in agreement.

German police gave the all-clear after disarming a World War II era “blockbuster” bomb in Frankfurt that sparked the evacuation of over 60,000 residents.

As the U.K.’s demands in negotiations to leave the European Union are watered down, one appears rigid: London’s insistence on being able to strike free-trade agreements with third countries.

The European Central Bank has emphasized persistence and patience on its monetary policy. But with the path of its bond-purchase program set only until the end of December, the pressure to lay out 2018 plans is building.

As President Vladimir Putin pushes Russia into the digital age, energy-and-aluminum giant En+ Group’s is harnessing the cold temperatures and powerful rivers of Siberia to leap into the data-storage market.