Welcome to the Brussels Edition. I’m Suzanne Lynch, Bloomberg’s Brussels bureau chief, bringing you the latest from the European Union each weekday. Make sure you’re signed up.

France’s political drama may finally be heading towards a denouement, with President Emmanuel Macron due to name a new prime minister by this evening. As Samy Adghirini and Francois de Beaupuy report from Paris, political players aren’t the only ones jockeying to shape the shifting balance of power in France.

The country’s business elite is courting the head of the Socialist party, Olivier Faure — one potential replacement for outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Earlier this week, Faure attended a dinner with France’s powerful business lobby AFEP, according to people familiar with the matter.

Faure’s chances of being named prime minister are slim, though the Socialists have become potential kingmakers, particularly in any new government that doesn’t include the far right.

The French Socialist Party’s Olivier Faure during an anti-far right demonstration in 2024.  Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

Faure told the business leaders that the political instability that would result from another snap election would be much more damaging to the economy than any of the policy measures backed by the Socialists – including pausing Macron’s pension reform that raised the retirement age, according to one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Changes to France’s pensions laws have become a political lightning rod as Macron struggles to get a government together and prepares to name his sixth prime minister in less than two years. France is due to present its budget to parliament by Monday, piling pressure on the country’s president to make a decision. 

Though not formally on the agenda, the precarious situation in the EU’s second-largest economy was high on the minds of finance ministers who gathered for two days of meetings in Luxembourg. France’s caretaker finance minister, Roland Lescure, met EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on the margins of the meeting, and pledged to get France’s deficit within the EU’s 3%-of-output limit by 2029.

Among the officials adopting a more upbeat stance is Paschal Donohoe, who chairs the group of euro-area finance ministers. “I am confident the efforts of the French government will be successful with regard to their public spending and borrowing plans, and I also continue to be confident in the resilience and safety of the euro,” he said.

However, the key test may be how markets will respond to any further slippages in government formation or another parliamentary election.

The Latest

• US President Donald Trump floated the idea that Spain could be removed from NATO in his latest swipe against the country for under-spending on defense. 
• OpenAI has raised concerns with EU antitrust enforcers over potentially harmful conduct by the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple.
• Belgian authorities said they uncovered a terrorist plan to target Belgian politicians including prime minister Bart De Wever, after a number of raids were carried out in Antwerp yesterday. 
• Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said this morning that the EU must move ahead with a proposal to deploy frozen Russian central bank assets for Ukraine, given a lack of other options.
• Slovenia’s top diplomat warned Bosnian Serbs against holding a referendum that could threaten the integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and jeopardize the Balkan nation’s chances of eventually joining the EU. 

Seen and Heard on Bloomberg

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said she welcomed the EU’s plan to set up a so-called drone wall along the eastern border of the bloc, but called the idea “very raw.” The Baltic leader spoke in an interview with Bloomberg TV as Russia’s hybrid war has escalated with a series of airspace violations in NATO member states.

Chart of the Day

French markets have mostly recovered from the ructions of this week’s political drama, hours before Macron names a new prime minister. The gap between French debt over safer German peers has returned to pre-crisis levels, while France’s benchmark stock index has also recouped losses of 2.1% this week. 

Coming up

• Moody’s credit rating decision tonight on Belgium; S&P decision on Italy
• EU Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius speaks at Visby Conference 2025 in Sweden tomorrow
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visits the Western Balkans on Sunday

Final Thought

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado Photographer: Matias Delacroix/AP Photo

Better luck next time, Trump. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 for her efforts to promote democracy at a time when an increasing number of countries slide into authoritarianism. She received 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million) prize “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” the Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

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