By David Marsh President Emmanuel Macron’s French election win raises expectations of Franco-German action for Europe to improve its international position, strained by Covid-19, inflation and the Ukraine war. French society is more fractured than at any time since the second world war. Divisions will be on display in the run-up to parliamentary elections. An indifferent result for Macron will impede his ability to govern. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, was the first foreign leader to congratulate the re-elected president. There are six areas where the two sides will struggle to coalesce.Â
 Public debt is a casualty of war for the West By MojmÃr Hampl A major casualty of any war is public finance. This is particularly the case for western countries, whose average public debt-to-gross domestic product ratio had already reached levels comparable with the end of the second world war during the Covid-19 crisis.Â
 MEETINGS Market implications of a changing world order Wednesday 11 May, SeminarOMFIF, DZ BANK, KfW and the Deutsche Bundesbank convene a conference on the latest trends and developments around the topics of capital investments, sustainability finance and digitalisation with renowned experts and high-ranking industry representatives.Â
 ON DEMAND The many facets of European debt sustainability Gloria Bartoli, professor of public management at the LUISS Guido Carli in Rome, speaks with Taylor Pearce, economist at OMFIF, about debt sustainability and fiscal reform in the EU. Bartoli provides her view of the debt landscape and analyses the possibility of returning to a pre-pandemic status quo.Â
 Forging the path to international standards in sustainable finance OMFIF has joined forces with Luxembourg for Finance to consider what is required for the standardisation of sustainable finance. Taking insight from interviews with experts across the financial sector and real economy, this report explores the latest developments in taxonomy regulation and reporting frameworks.
