German reforms, Google's final EU defeat and a $20M Swift wedding?

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.

One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.

Issued on:

In today’s edition, FRANCE 24's Charlotte Lam takes a look at Germany’s new tax and pension reforms, Google’s big loss in EU courts and the “Swiftonomics” bonanza that the star’s wedding could bring to New York City.

Germany's ruling coalition has agreed on sweeping tax, labour and pension reforms – a breakthrough Chancellor Friedrich Merz said would revive the struggling economy and counter the far right. Berlin recently halved its growth forecast after the Iran war sent energy prices soaring. On Thursday, Merz estimated that the reforms could lift trend growth from 0.4 to 0.7 percent per year.

In Luxembourg, Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company, lost its long-running fight against a €4.1 billion EU antitrust fine. First imposed in 2018 over Android pre-installation deals, the penalty was upheld by the EU Court of Justice in a final ruling likely to embolden Brussels' big tech crackdown.

And in New York, the Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce wedding rumoured to take place at Madison Square Garden could cost at least $20 million, according to Forbes, with "Swiftonomics" promising a bumper weekend for the city's hospitality industry.