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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Taking stock with Susan Hayes Culleton.
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This is Newstalk. Well, hello and welcome to Taking Stock. I'm Susan Hayes-Cullerton and this is the show that looks at business and economics from a wider perspective. Coming up on today's programme, how big is the blue economy and where does Ireland's marine territory sit in the world? Siri, powered by Gemini, took centre stage this week, but why are Europeans underwhelmed?
Plus, could Iceland soon be joining the EU? You can email the show, takingstockatnewstalk.com or you can message me on socials at Susan Hayes-Cullerton. So for my explainer this week, I wanted to pick up on something Christine Lagarde said after announcing the ECB interest rate increase on Thursday. She said the major energy shock is lasting longer than initially expected.
So that's not a surprise. But she says it's now beginning to spill over into the wider economy. Now that reference to spillover is significant. Because if energy prices had simply risen and that was that, which was the case last quarter, she might have left interest rates as they were.
However, and I'm quoting the ECB press release now, staff have revised up their baseline projection for inflation in 26 and 27 owing to a higher path for energy prices which to some extent is expected to feed into food, goods and services inflation. That's the reason that the rate particularly was risen. That is the difference.
So that spillover effect has led to her decision and that's the one to watch out for when taking the pulse of the mood music of the ECB in the months ahead. So when you're looking out for how The ECB is going to make decisions. It's not just about one element of inflation. It's about how it spills over into others.
Now, while we might have been focusing a lot on the EU's expansion to the east and, of course, a relentless focus on Brexit over the past 10 years, the real change which may happen to the EU is occurring at its northern fringe. Norway, Iceland and Greenland are currently having quiet conversations about how, and more pertinently, where they see their future.
I'm delighted now to be joined by Jack Power, the EU correspondent for the Irish Times, to give us a whistle-stop tour of the word on the street in the Nordics.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of the blue economy for Ireland?
Right, Jack, big question to start off, first of all. Will you tell us the political and economic relationship of each of Norway, Iceland and Greenland with the EU as it stands?
Yeah, so basically Greenland, for example, is still considered a territory of Denmark. So that kind of governs most of its relations. But when it comes to Norway and Iceland, they're part of what's known as the European Economic Area.
So it's something that, you know, we probably don't hear too much about, but it means that effectively they're part of the EU's single market and common economic area. As a result, they're very kind of enmeshed in the EU system. They follow the vast heap of the EU rules and regulations that basically allows it to be part, allows both of them to be part of the single market.
And so what's interesting now is there's a bit of a debate in Iceland about maybe going a step further and saying, well, will we have a conversation about joining the EU full in?
If they did, then they would be either influenced by or have an influence on things like fisheries. And we need to get to that in particular. Agriculture, foreign and security policy.
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Chapter 3: Could Iceland be joining the EU soon?
And even if they were to go further into the Eurozone, then membership of the Euro, interest rates being influenced by the ECB, etc. So this isn't a small decision, no more than any other country would be, despite the fact that they're further along in the EA. Would that be an accurate way of describing things? Or am I oversimplifying?
No, no, absolutely. And I think it's worth remembering that for Iceland, and it's actually something that people mightn't know, but they were well on the way to joining the EU a good few many years ago. They first applied for EU membership back in 2009. And because they were already part of
you know, the EU single market, things like the Schengen area, which allows borderless, border-free checks when you travel, that basically those negotiations moved pretty quickly at the time. But basically for...
A number of different reasons in late 2013, Iceland decided to basically hit the pause button on its EU membership talks, in part because a more Euro-sceptic or less Euro-enthusiastic government took over. But also, you know, you remember at the time, you know, that was in the teeth of the financial crash, which Iceland were hit pretty devastatingly by.
Well, Jack, I have a particularly good memory of that indeed. And just to remind listeners, I mean, when Iceland went through the challenges that they went through, their exchange rate fell really significantly. Several of their banks went to the wall. They didn't socialise any of the debts of the companies.
And of course, the other thing was some international bond holders, or sorry, deposit holders would have got burned as well. The reason I'm summarizing this is that Iceland treated their financial crash very, very differently to how Ireland did. And one of the reasons was Ireland was a member of the Eurozone and indeed the EU at the time. All that said, that's in the past.
And I'm not saying that anything like that couldn't happen in the future, but Since life has moved on, do you think the conversation now would be influenced less by developments that were so in an Icelandic person's face at the time?
Yeah, I think it's, and I was chatting to a few people in Iceland for some reporting I was doing recently talking about this. And funny enough, they were kind of saying that the debate in Iceland hasn't really...
kicked off in earnest I mean they're having a referendum this August at the end of August to basically ask the question should we restart these EU accession negotiations and so it's not a you know we're not at the point of an in-out question as you had with Brexit it's a question about a vote to restart the talks rather than enter It sounds like they're having a referendum to have a referendum
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Iceland's potential EU membership?
What I'm hearing you say is that we need to consider the relevance of EEA. We need to be watching for the 29th of August when we have the referendum about the potential referendum in Iceland. Norway is a new kid on the block in one way, but one of the most experienced members. Greenland is growing in relevance from a different geopolitical direction.
But if there's one thing I'm absolutely taking away is that we need to make sure that we're turning our eyes north over the next couple of months, because if the foreign minister is looking towards Norway being a member of the EU by 2030, we need to keep our finger on the pulse and also just see how this also respectively shapes the shape of the EU as well.
It's been a pleasure to talk to you today on Taking Stock. Thanks so much indeed. Jack Power, EU correspondent for The Irish Times. This is Susan Hayes-Cullerton here on Taking Stock on Newstalk. Up next, what was the verdict on Apple's moment of truth this week? You're welcome to Newstalk's Taking Stock. I'm Susan Hayes-Cullerton. Now for my trivia this week. I was in a city a few days ago.
I'm going to give you three clues as to where I was and let's see if you can figure it out. John Boyd Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre here in 1887. Sir James Murray invented milk of magnesia in 1829. And in that same century, this city earned the title Linenopolis. Now here's the giveaway answer. The tallest bar on the island is in this city.
Have a think and I will give you the answer at the end of the show. Well, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted what's believed to be his final event for the tech giant on Monday.
The WWDC, which is the company's annual software event, took place and while there were many new features for iPhones and iPads announced, all European eyes were on the fact that they would not be available in this part of the world at launch. Now, our own Jess Kelly, news talks technology correspondent, is joining me now to discuss this.
Jess, I was watching the build up to this on Monday and intriguingly, Apple had added $1.6 trillion of market cap since last year's event. Can you tell us what was announced on Monday?
This is the Worldwide Developers Conference. That's what WWDC stands for, just to save everybody the Google. And this is their software event every year. So for people like me, we set our calendars by Apple. So this time of the year is when we get the software updates, and then in September is when we get the hardware. So if you're waiting for your new iPhone, that'll be coming in September.
And what they unveiled on Monday was a host of updates that will be coming to iPhone and iPads over the coming months. There was a lot of talk about trust and safety. So there were some features that focused on keeping your kids safe on their Apple devices, child accounts, how they work, why they work. We also got some new pretty cool camera feature updates as well.
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Chapter 5: How has Iceland's past influenced its current EU discussions?
And then, very interestingly, the following day, the EU spokespeople for the EU came out and refuted that entirely. They said that Apple was simply unable to develop the interoperability solution necessary that is absolutely required in terms of EU privacy and security standards. They're blaming the Digital Markets Act as sort of an umbrella term for this not going ahead.
But what this means fundamentally is We here in Europe will not have access to Siri AI when it launches and we will not have access to it until Apple finds a way to make this work within the confines of European rules. The key issue is that Siri, because it's ingrained in devices, it's not open to competition.
So users will essentially be forced or have no other option but to utilise this AI and iPhones and iPads aren't open to other competitors in the AI space if consumers decide they want that.
Like that is tricky legal territory, for sure. But I do like to, I'd like to zoom out a little bit here from the specific to the general. Is there a challenge that Europe... With its reputation for regulation, this is reinforcing it now. Does Europe hold back innovation in the name of regulation, do you think?
I think that is a question that I've been faced and I've asked so many times over the last two years. I think those working in big tech spaces will tell you that, yes, it is getting in the way of innovation. There are too many...
boundaries and sort of security ropes put in place but the point that I always come back to Susan and I've said this so many times over the years is that when I was 16 I was on Bebo I'm now 37 we are only getting to grips with the impact of social media all these years later
legislation and regulation of social media is only coming into play now we cannot afford to be in that position when it comes to ai because it is so transformational so from a personal point of view i'm in favor of the regulation and the legislation because i do think it's designed to make the internet a safer better place for everybody and the pressure should be on big tech to be able to operate within the confines of rules that exist to keep people safe
Well, Jess, you have really brought us around the world there from Cupertino all the way right back home via Bebo, in fact, which the only person I hear talking about that is you. Thank you very much indeed for joining me, Jess Kelly, Newstalk's technology correspondent. Thank you so much. This is Susan A. Cullerton here on Taking Stock on Newstalk.
After the break, how do we measure the blue economy and who is its economic stakeholders? Now, you're welcome back to Taking Stock here on Newstalk. I'm Susan Hayes-Cullerton. Now, before I introduce my next guest, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the plethora of historic events that took place this week.
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