FirstFT: Discord over EU’s €86bn Ukraine funding plan

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Disagreements within the EU are holding up funding to support Ukraine, as costs in Brussels rise and member states grow worried about their strained national budgets.

Brussels’ requests for a total of €86bn in additional funding, aimed at easing strains on the EU budget while locking in four years of provision to Kyiv, have divided member states and led to calls for reductions and a longer approval timetable, according to people involved in talks.

Brussels proposed the latest package of financing for Ukraine to stretch over four years, in part to insulate Kyiv from political volatility. EU ministers will restart consultations today after their summer break, with support for Ukraine top of the agenda at meetings of defence and foreign ministers.

So far, funding negotiations have been complicated by the European Commission bundling together financial support for Ukraine with top-up requirements for the EU budget, including provisions to cover debt interest costs and a salary increase for EU officials. Here’s more on the debate.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Apple in court: The tech giant will be contesting a $2bn mass lawsuit at London’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in which it is accused of hiding defective batteries in millions of iPhones by “throttling” them with software updates.

• Economic data: GfK publishes its consumer climate survey for Germany, while The Conference Board releases US consumer confidence data.

• London’s Ulez: Mayor Sadiq Khan has shelved plans for a zero-emissions zone in central London as he faces backlash for pushing ahead with an expansion of the capital’s ultra low emission zone from today. Read our exclusive story here.

Five more top stories

1. The UK will scrap environmental rules that property developers say have prevented tens of thousands of homes from being built in recent years. The regulations, introduced under an EU directive, protect rivers against pollution by restricting house building. Ministers will set out plans to remove the rules today, calling the decision a “Brexit freedom”.

• Taxation: Adam Smith wrote that tax policy should adhere to four principles: fairness, certainty, convenience and efficiency. Britain’s property taxes violate all four, writes the FT’s editorial board.

• Inflation: UK shop price inflation fell in August to its lowest level in almost a year, driven by an easing in food cost pressures, according to sector data.

2. A war of words has broken out between the OECD and the UN over international taxation ahead of a meeting on the issue next month, with the latter backing developing countries’ claims that the Paris-based group’s policies favour richer economies, which make up its membership. The UN has asked for a greater say in global tax affairs. Here’s how the OECD has hit back at the criticism.

3. Spain’s regional football bosses have demanded that Luis Rubiales resign after he kissed Women’s World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso. This comes just hours after prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiry into the case and as his mother said she was going on a hunger strike to support her son. More on the scandal’s latest dramatic turn.

4. Flows of money moving into so-called alternative investments have slowed down this year. Alternative funds — which invest in assets such as private equity, hedge funds, real estate and credit — have raised $740bn since the start of 2023, down 27 per cent from the same period last year. Here’s how the performance of such funds disappointed expectations for a boom.

5. Donald Trump’s federal criminal trial on alleged election interference has been set for March 4 after a judge rejected his efforts to delay it until after next year’s presidential election. The date is one day before “Super Tuesday”, when Republicans in more than a dozen states are expected to vote for their party’s presidential nominee. Here’s why the former president has been trying to push back the legal proceedings.

News in-depth

British industry has long complained of an uncompetitive environment due to higher carbon and energy prices than elsewhere in Europe, so the government’s recent decision to water down reforms to the carbon market should be welcome news for UK manufacturers. But they are far from convinced the drop in the cost of polluting is a panacea for their woes.

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Limits on rent increases, a shortlived attempt to impose a cap on rents and relatively strong tenants’ rights have helped long-term tenants secure cheap accommodation in Berlin. But the moves have failed to prevent high costs and ferocious competition among newcomers, spelling trouble for the German capital, where 84 per cent of households rent.

Take a break from the news

. . . and drool over this two-tone chocolate cake, one of many reimagined plant-based recipes from Philip Khoury. Harrods’ head pastry chef sat down with — and baked for — the FT’s Ajesh Patalay to discuss his debut cookbook A New Way to Bake.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Georgina Quach