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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is considering a "whole range of actions" in response to rising tensions in Venezuela, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday after the head of the bloc's parliament called for targeted sanctions against President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela jailed two leading Maduro critics on Tuesday in a fresh blow to the opposition after deadly protests erupted around an election last Sunday, prompting the United States to impose sanctions on the leftist president.

Washington and the EU tend to coordinate their sanctions but the bloc has been divided over how to respond. Spain has been the most vocal in advocating sanctions, while others have so far mostly been cautious.

The European Parliament head, Antonio Tajani, joined the small choir calling to punish Maduro.

In a letter Tajani said that following the "unjustified arrests" of opposition leaders Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo Lopez, he would like to consider "freezing assets and imposing travel ban to the EU to the members of the Venezuelan government including its President, Nicolas Maduro and its entourage".

Since the bloc needs unanimity to introduce sanctions, diplomats in Brussels said that did not seem imminent.

Catherine Ray, a spokeswoman for the EU's executive Commission in Brussels, told a news briefing:

"Consultations with member states are ongoing to ensure an appropriate and coordinated response by the EU. Obviously the whole range of actions is (being) discussed."

Diplomats explained the bloc was working on joint declaration on Venezuela, where clashes last Sunday marred the election of a new political body with sweeping powers to strengthen the hand of the leftist government.

The EU has suggested it might not recognize the result of the voting.

The diplomats said the declaration would threaten Maduro with more "measures" it can take against what Tajani described as a country "falling into dictatorship", but would not mention sanctions specifically.

On Monday, the United States government slapped sanctions on Maduro, freezing his assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and barring Americans from doing business with him.

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EU says mulling 'range of actions' on Venezuela but sanctions unlikely now - Reuters

Peter Nicholls | Reuters

A supporter of Britain leaving the EU, attends an event in London, Feb. 19, 2016.

Voters who supported the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union seem adamant that they made the right decision last year.

A recent YouGov poll found that 61 percent of people who voted to leave the EU said Brexit would be worth "significant damage to the British economy."

The poll comes as Prime Minister Theresa May advocates for a so-called hard Brexit, which would end the free movement of goods, services and people between the U.K. and European Union.

Amid Britain's uncertain economic future, a number of companies have already said they are considering relocating their regional offices to other major European cities. Consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates that London could see 40,000 sales, trading and investment banking jobs relocate to other financial centers in Europe.

When asked if leaving the EU would be worth causing the respondent or their family members to lose their job, 39 percent of Brexit supporters said that it would be a price worth paying.

The 2016 referendum to exit the EU saw broader support among older generations. Pollsters found that high turnout among older white, working-class people helped drive the win for the Leave campaign.

YouGov's most recent poll echoed those findings, even among those with similar ideological leanings.

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Brexit supporters think leaving EU is worth 'significant damage' to UK economy, poll finds - CNBC

Hans-Olaf Henkel, vice-president of the European Parliaments third-largest group the European Conservatives and Reformists, launched the furious tirade at Brussels leaders after they allowed Italian banks to be bailed out to save their single currency.

The German accused the European Commission, headed up by its president Jean-Claude Juncker, of breaking its own rules to keep the euro afloat while it faces difficulties due to faltering economies across its southern states.

Speaking during an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Henkel also scorned Mr Juncker and co for not offering the same level of flexibility to keep Britain inside the European Union and avoided Brexit.

The German blasted: The only way of keeping the euro was breaking all the rules.

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The only way of keeping the euro was breaking all the rules

Hans-Olaf Henkel

The same Commission, and the same heads of states, who said we must not allow one exception to our rules the same people constantly violate our rules in order to keep the euro.

Im afraid they will continue to do so because they either stick to the rules and the euro is dead, and that its obvious they made a mistake, or they continue to violate all of the rules so nobody will find out theyve made a mistake.

The EU laid down new rules to protect taxpayers from banking failures in 2014, after member states used almost two trillion euros to prop up lenders during the crisis.

Another ruling, introduced last year, forbid taxpayers money being used to rescue lenders without investors also taking a hit.

But seemingly they flaunted their own rules and allowed Italian taxpayers to foot the bill after two failed lenders were taken over by the countrys biggest retail bank Intesa Sanpaolo.

Instead of shareholders of Popolare di Vicensa and Vento Banca facing huge charges to save the lenders, a 14billion (17bn) was signed by the state instead of allowing another eurozone collapse.

Rome was also allowed to step in to rescue its oldest lender Monte de Pachi, despite the EU rules.

Bailouts arent reserved only for Italian banks, Santander bought toxic lender Banco Popular for a nominal 1 but not before shareholders lost everything.

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A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices

Experts have predicted more bail outs, with Italian banks weighted down by about a third of eurozones toxic non-performing loans.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: So much for the so-called new single European rule book and the much vaunted European Banking Union.

It appears that there is one rule for Spanish banks, and the recent rescue of Popular Bank, and another for Italian banks.

Lets hope the Italian government has deep pockets given that this particular bailout is a fraction of the non-performing loans in the Italian banking system, of which it is estimated there about 300bn.

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German MEP savages EU for 'breaking their own rules' to save crumbling eurozone - Express.co.uk

In fact, opinion polls before and after the vote concurred that the main issue for Leavers was democracy. An exit poll of 12,369 people, for example, found that 49 percent of Leavers had been motivated by the desire to bring decision making back to Britain, and only 33 percent by wanting more control of immigration.

Ive learned in politics that almost no one listens to the other side. Rather than going to the source, people read allies reports of what the other side is supposed to have said. If a British person tells you that the vote was all about immigration, I can almost guarantee that you are talking to a Remainer. Those among my friends who voted to stay in the European Union didnt weigh and then dismiss the economic and democratic cases against membership; they never heard them.

The same confirmation bias can be seen in their determination to find bad economic news. Here is a selection of British reports from the past two weeks: Unemployment fell again, as every month since the vote, to 1.49 million (from 1.67 million in June of last year); manufacturing orders are at their highest level since August 1988; retail sales, official figures show, are up 2.9 percent on this time last year.

Exports were up 10 percent year-on-year in May, helped by the long-overdue correction of the exchange rate. Remainers like to point to the fall in sterling, but rarely mention that, before the vote, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England agreed that Britains currency, seen as a haven from the travails of the euro, was artificially expensive.

Continental Europeans evidently still regard the British economy as attractive; more of them are working in Britain than ever before. As for the supposed decline of London, a number of European banks, including Deutsche Bank and ING, have grown their operations here since the referendum. Last year, Wells Fargo spent 300 million (about $392 million) on its new European headquarters in London. The latest survey from the Robert Walters City Jobs Index, for July, reported that hiring in financial services was up 13 percent year-on-year.

You may think Im prone to a confirmation bias of my own. But its only fair to contrast what has happened since the Brexit vote with what was predicted during the campaign. Remain campaigners told us to expect a recession in 2016; in fact, Britain grew faster in the six months after the referendum than in the six months before. They told us that the FTSE 100 index of leading companies share prices would collapse; in fact, British stocks performed strongly after the Brexit vote. They told us that Scotland would leave Britain; in fact, support for separatism has collapsed, and the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has shelved her planned independence referendum.

Most people, whichever way they voted, are celebrating the good news. But a few Euro-fanatics, disproportionately prominent on the BBC and at The Financial Times, are acting like doomsday cultists, constantly postponing the date of their promised apocalypse. First, a Leave vote was supposed to wreck the economy. Then, it became wait until we begin the disengagement. Now its wait until you see what a bad deal we get from the European Union.

Its odd. The people who are the most pro-union are generally the most convinced that the union will act in a self-harming way out of spite. I have a higher opinion of our European allies. But even if I didnt, Id still expect a deal. Adam Smith observed that it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. It is not from the benevolence of the European Union that we expect a free-trade agreement: Exchange makes everyone richer.

If you want a picture of Britains future relationship with the European Union, think of Canadas with the United States. Canadians have a type of federation on their doorstep that they decline to join, but with which they enjoy the closest possible diplomatic, military and economic ties. Two years from now, in a similar vein, the European Union will have lost a bad tenant and gained a good neighbor.

Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan), Conservative of South East England, is a member of the European Parliament and the author, most recently, of What Next: How to Get the Best from Brexit.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

A version of this op-ed appears in print on August 1, 2017, in The International New York Times.

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The Good News on Brexit They're Not Telling You - New York Times

In July 2017, the European Union announced two new measures to address the problem of NPLs in Europe. On 10 July 2017, the European Commission launched a public consultation, and one day later, on 11 July 2017, the Council of the European Union laid out an action plan. The two initiatives serve the common goal of reducing the high levels of NPLs held by European banks.

High Levels of Non-Performing Loans in Europe

Since the financial crisis, European banks have accumulated significantly high levels of nonperforming loans (NPL). The European Banking Authority defines NPLs as loans that are at least 90 days past due or unlikely to be repaid without recourse to collateral. At the end of 2016, NPLs in the European Unions banking system amounted to almost 1 trillion, equivalent to 5.1% of total outstanding loans or 6.7% of Europes compound gross domestic product. While individual levels vary across the European Union, ratios of NPLs in some Member States in southern Europe even exceed 40%. Europes NPL ratios are considerably higher than in other economies. In the United States or Japan, for example, where the issue of NPLs has been more effectively resolved, NPLs constitute only 1.5% of total outstanding loans.

It is generally understood that high levels of NPLs can cause real threats to individual banks, the financial system and the overall economy. NPLs tie up bank capital, cause higher funding rates, pose risks to a banks going concern, shorten credit supply, and drag economic growth. Starting in 2016, task forces within the European Union have been working on strategies to reduce the high levels of NPLs held by European banks. In March 2017, the European Central Bank published new guidance, requiring banks to implement specific strategies and improved risk management techniques for NPL portfolios. Furthermore, the actions now taken by the European Commission and the Council show that NPLs have also become subject to potential legislative measures.

The Action Plan by the Council of the European Union

On 11 July 2017, the Council of the European Union set up an action plan for NPLs, allocating a wide range of policy actions and timelines to the competent European institutions. The plan is designed to establish a comprehensive European strategy to lower the high levels of NPLs in Europe. Underlying the plan, the Council has identified four main policy areas: (i) bank supervision, (ii) insolvency and debt recovery laws, (iii) secondary markets for distressed assets, and (iv) restructuring of the banking system.

Within these areas, there is some focus on the development of strong secondary markets for NPLs. While these markets, until now, have remained relatively small and undeveloped in the European Union, stronger secondary markets would enable effective transfer of NPLs from banks to non-bank investors. Actions mentioned in the plan that could strengthen the secondary markets are, inter alia, streamlined data infrastructure in the form of standardised data production and templates, NPL transaction platforms which serve as data hubs or clearing houses, national asset management companies which acquire NPL portfolios from banks and manage them over a longer time frame, and simplified licensing requirements for third-party loan servicers.

For more information about the action plan, please visit the Councils website:

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/07/11-conclusions-nonperforming-loans/

The Consultation by the European Commission

On 10 July 2017, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the development of secondary markets for NPLs and distressed assets and protection of secured creditors from borrowers default. In accordance with the Councils action plan, the main focus of the new consultation is to receive information on the current state of secondary markets for NPLs in the European Union. The consultation is intended to inform the European Commissions work on potential legislative measures. Market participants are invited to contribute through an online questionnaire by 20 October 2017.

The consultation mainly concerns current impediments to the transfer of NPLs from banks to non-bank investors, loan servicing activities by third parties, and cross-border activities. In addition to that, the consultation also discusses the potential introduction of a new accelerated loan security". According to the Commission, this could be a new type of security right, in addition to the spectrum of existing national security rights. Its core feature could be faster out-ofcourt enforcement, as time-consuming court proceedings in some Member States have deterred some investors from buying NPL portfolios.

For more information about the consultation, please visit the European Commissions website:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/consultations/finance-2017-non-performing-loans_en

Impacts on the Market for Non-Performing Loans

The action plan by the Council and the consultation by the European Commission are initiatives at an early stage of what promises to become a complex legislative process. While the outcome of this process remains uncertain, expert reports on NPLs shed more light on what future policy options in the European Union might look like:

http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9854-2017-INIT/en/pdf

https://www.esrb.europa.eu/news/pr/date/2017/html/esrb.pr170711.en.html

With stronger secondary markets as a primary goal of the European Unions latest plan for action, and with increasing regulatory pressure on banks to sell off NPLs, it seems safe to predict that the number and value of NPL transactions are likely to rise in the future.

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European Union Takes New Steps to Reduce High Level of Non-Performing Loans in Europe - Lexology (registration)