France Riot Mayhem, Trump-Zelenskyy Feud, Europe’s Plastic Dumpsite

Caroline Hepker (0:02)

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Ewan Potts (0:04)

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Caroline Hepker (0:09)

This is the Bloomberg Daybreak Europe podcast. Good morning. It's Monday, the 19th of October. I'm Caroline Hepker in London. Coming up today, Emmanuel Macron calls for calm in France after nationwide protests turn violent. Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells Bloomberg that Trump is trying to push Ukraine into yielding to Russia. Plus, trashed expectations. Turkey has become Europe's plastics dump site, but giving that up will be harder than you might think. Let's start with a roundup of our top stories. French President Emmanuel Macron says that France feels anger and shame after widespread violence over the weekend. Officials estimate that more than half a million people joined Saturday's protests with over 2,000 arrests. In a televised address, Macron called for order to be restored and those responsible to face punishment.

Ewan Potts (1:04)

Whenever offences are committed, they must lead to appropriate legal proceedings. Those who have destroyed must pay. Those who have looted must reimburse.

John Herskovich (1:14)

Those who have sought to bring down the Republic will have to answer for it.

Caroline Hepker (1:19)

President Emmanuel Macron speaking at the RA. Translator, as French bond futures are underperforming their German peers following the unrest, protestors are voicing anger over schools, public services and the cost of living, with strained government finances limiting the response. And France is not alone. Violence and demonstrations also hit Italy, Belgium and Portugal amid similar pressures.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Bloomberg that Donald Trump is trying to pressure Ukraine into surrendering to Russia. In an exclusive interview, the Ukrainian president said, I believe steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate. He continued, I'm not saying that this is the goal our partners are pursuing, I'm just adding, but that is how it looks. Bloomberg's Jeff Mason says it's the latest sign of the rift between these two leaders.

Jeff Mason (2:13)

The broad criticism, of course, is that this is a negative sign to Ukraine and another, what some believe, a sign of cozying up to Putin at a time when broadly the United States views this war as one that Russia, rather, was the aggressor on against Ukraine. We've talked about multiple times before the up-and-down relationship that President Trump has had with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and this is another hit to that relationship as well.

Caroline Hepker (2:40)

That was Bloomberg's Jeff Mason. Zelenskyy also accused Washington of slowing Starlink internet speeds in Ukraine and delaying deliveries of Patriot interceptors. Over the weekend, the White House halted the implementation of massive tariffs linked to Russian energy exports, which President Trump had signed into law only a month ago.

Vladimir Putin is reported to have proposed a three-way summit with Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping in order to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal says that Putin raised the idea during a phone call with Trump on the 9th of October. But here is Bloomberg's John Herskovich.

John Herskovich (3:21)

The idea would be that Russia wants to take care of the better relations it has with the US now, get a settlement that's on its terms and leave Ukraine out of the process. It would be very much the detriment of Zelenskyy to the Ukrainian people and very much to Putin's favor. And to have this with Xi Jinping, it's kind of like the big powers play that we saw during World War II for the carving up of Europe after the war.

So, it's quite a development and the fact that the White House is considering this is something that will be of great concern to Ukraine, Europe and a lot of people in Congress.

Caroline Hepker (3:59)

That was Bloomberg's John Herskovich. The Kremlin confirmed the discussions about a possible meeting to the Journal. Meanwhile, a senior US official said that Trump had not agreed to attend but could be open to the proposal.

Rising Ukraine tensions and unrest in France are adding to the pressure on the Euro. The currency is down as much as half of a percent against the dollar in early Monday trading. The Euro has underperformed every other G10 peer over the past month and recently hit a 17-month low. The pressure comes as ECB officials lean towards another rate hike in December with inflation at a three-year high of 3.8 percent.

NASDAQ futures are showing early signs of recovery though from last week's route. Contracts for the tech-heavy index climbed by 1.3 percent after a heavy sell-off in semiconductor stocks last week. More and more professional investors though are now publicly saying that the stock market is flirting with bubble conditions. Bloomberg's James Walcock has more.

Oliver Crook (5:02)