Brussels Edition: Learning to live with the virus

Follow Us Get the newsletter Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Economic data for the fourth quarter due today will probably confirm that businesses and consumers in the euro area are learning to adapt to the virus. On Friday, data showed that Germany and Spain unexpectedly managed to grow in the final three months of 2020, while France shrank far less than predicted. But things will get worse before they get better, with lockdowns lasting longer than previously thought and the slow vaccination campaign creating more uncertainty. Reviving activity will have to speed up significantly for the expected summer rebound to take hold. But with consumers having squirreled away hundreds of billions of euros in savings, most economists still expect the recovery to be strong when it eventually arrives. — Alexander Weber and Nikos Chrysoloras What's Happening Blame Game | Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk saying "the buck stops here," to show that the president ultimately bears responsibility for all his administration's decisions. So where does the buck stop for the controversies surrounding the EU's vaccination strategy? With Ursula von der Leyen, her trade chief or the entire Commission? The answer isn't straightforward it seems. Our latest here.  Vaccine Pledge | Angela Merkel vowed to offer all Germans a vaccine by the end of September, as long as drugmakers stick to their delivery commitments. Even if new shots aren't approved, there will be sufficient supplies despite earlier delays, the chancellor said yesterday as she seeks to defuse pressure over the country's bumpy rollout.  Unlikely Champion | With the EU's vaccine program a fiasco, member-candidate Serbia has become an unlikely success story. The country's history of balancing its interests in the East and the West looks to be paying off. Here's how Serbia became continental Europe's frontrunner.  Navalny Saga | A Moscow district court is due to decide whether to jail Alexey Navalny for as long as 3 1/2 years today, as Vladimir Putin seeks to crush a resurgence in protests. The U.S. and the EU have called on Russia to release the opposition leader while the EU's top foreign policy official, Josep Borrell, has said he'll raise the case when he visits Moscow for talks this week. In Case You Missed It J&J's Vaccines | More worrying vaccine news may be on the way. Johnson & Johnson will ship some Covid-19 shots ordered by the EU to the U.S. for the last stage of production, raising concern among some member states that the bloc's inoculation program could be hampered by further delays. That's all according to a diplomatic note we've seen. Bayer's Help | But there's also some good news: Bayer agreed to produce CureVac's experimental coronavirus vaccine. The move will boost the rollout of a promising shot as the bloc scrambles for additional supplies, but it won't have an immediate effect.  Apple Taxes | The EU is seeking to overturn Apple's victory in a 13 billion-euro tax dispute, saying judges used "contradictory reasoning" when they found that the company's Irish units weren't liable. The decision was a dramatic setback to Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's probes of national tax rulings that she says were an illegal subsidy for some large multinational firms. Here's what the EU appeal says.  Trade Truce | The EU stepped up a call on the U.S. for a suspension of each side's tariffs over transatlantic metals and aircraft trade. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis urged President Joe Biden's administration to remove U.S. duties on European steel and aluminum based on controversial national security-grounds. We're told Von der Leyen will suggest a trade truce once she speaks with Biden. Chart of the Day The year 2050 looms large. That's the deadline many countries have set to zero out the greenhouse gases they're adding to the atmosphere, according to their Paris accord commitments. We're introducing a new series analyzing how countries plan to reach their climate targets decades from now. Take a look.  Today's Agenda All times CET. 11 a.m. Eurostat to release preliminary flash estimate for fourth- quarter GDP in the EU and the euro area 5 p.m. Commission President Von der Leyen debates vaccination strategy with European Parliament's political groups Like the Brussels Edition? Don't keep it to yourself. Colleagues and friends can sign up here. For even more: Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters. How are we doing? We want to hear what you think about this newsletter. Let our Brussels bureau chief know.   Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.   You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Brussels Edition newsletter. 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