The US midterm elections turned out to be a closer race than expected by pollsters and hoped for by Republicans. Even after the election, it is still unclear who will control Congress and the Senate in the future. One thing is certain: The red wave has failed to materialize, as Till Hoppe reports. In the EU, the result is greeted with cautious relief. After all, US President Joe Biden’s propaganda of “made in America” shows how little he thinks of open global trade. However, there is also good news: Military and financial support for Ukraine will be maintained.
The EU Commission addressed and presented its reform proposal on how growth can be promoted without endangering the stability of the EU countries. The maximum limit for new debt of three percent of GDP and 60 percent of total debt will continue to apply, but individual plans will be drawn up for the states.
How gas storage facilities will be filled in the coming year is currently a matter of concern for the EU Commission. It does not think much of a new joint venture between energy companies, as this would be too complex and could not be implemented in less than a year. A joint invitation to tender for the EU-wide purchase of gas, on the other hand, could be implemented in the shorter term. The Czech presidency considers the Leipzig-based EEX energy exchange as a central hub.
The EU Commission has an easy time if it wants to clear the approval backlog for renewable energy plants. Yesterday, it proposed that when, for example, wind farms are replaced by more powerful plants, permits should be issued within six months, as Manuel Berkel reports. This sounds familiar: Back then, Olaf Scholz had received some derisive laughter during the Bundestag election campaign when he demanded that wind farms should be approved within half a year.
The red wave has failed to materialize. The opposition Republicans are hoping for a narrow majority in the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections. But the Democrats have a realistic chance of retaining control of the Senate. For US President Biden, the outcome of the midterm elections is a respectable success – the Democrats did better than under his predecessors, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Many of the candidates supported by former President Donald Trump failed.
In Brussels and Berlin, the outcome was greeted with relief. But there are no illusions about the course of US policy: The election will result in “no disruption, but continued change” in the transatlantic relationship, says Green Party MEP Reinhard Bütikofer. CDU parliamentarian David McAllister expects Washington to orient itself geopolitically even more toward the Indo-Pacific and to focus on competition with China. However, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee expects little to change in terms of support for Ukraine.
The tone with the Europeans has become much friendlier under the Biden administration than under Trump. But the underlying trend remains: In times of increasing geopolitical disputes and domestic polarization, the United States is drawing more heavily on itself. When in doubt, “made in America” prevails over the international division of labor, and trade policy is put at the service of foreign policy goals.
This is being felt not only by China and Russia but also by allies such as the EU, Japan and South Korea. It is dawning on the Europeans what attraction the Bidens climate policy investment program, the Inflation Reduction Act, has for European companies – especially in conjunction with lower US energy prices. In an official statement, the EU Commission criticized just five of the planned support measures, subsidies and tax breaks for climate-friendly technologies as “WTO incompatible.”
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has already warned of a “trade war”. Similar tones are coming from Paris. Other voices in the Commission and industry, on the other hand, are expressly warning against immediately seeking conflict with Washington or countering with their own spending programs. Siegfried Russwurm, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), warns against “starting a subsidy race that would be harmful to both sides“.
The Commission is initially focusing on dialogue with Washington, and both sides have set up a task force specifically for this purpose. Vice President Margrethe Vestager also spoke yesterday with Economy Minister Gina Raimondo. The US government is willing to talk, according to EU sources. It had completely underestimated the negative reactions the IRA would trigger in Europe.
But Congress will not unravel the legislative package, and it is unclear how much leeway the administration now has. Russwurm demands that the US authorities “now have to make the implementation guidelines as generous as possible so as not to put European companies at a disadvantage.” But it is doubtful whether the Biden administration will accept that its own subsidies will also flow to Europe.
But even well-meaning EU diplomats warn that without Washington’s concession on the issue, the “work of the past two years will be thwarted”. Six months after Biden took office, both sides launched the Trade and Technology Council (TTC). In ten working groups, representatives of the Commission and the US government are now discussing closer cooperation, for example, in the regulation of new technologies and for more stable value chains.
The talks at working level were very constructive, according to Brussels. The next meeting of political leaders on Dec. 5 in Washington will also produce tangible results. The negotiators are still keeping details under wraps. However, they are likely to include an agreement on common standards for artificial intelligence. The BDI is also calling for concrete agreements on the supply of key raw materials and joint strategies for greater resilience in the semiconductor supply chain.
The Commission and industry agree that the TTC is the right framework for talks with Washington. There is little understanding there for the push from Berlin to start parallel talks on a trade agreement with the USA. The proposal is “not very helpful,” according to EU circles. After all, there is little interest in this in Washington, either among Democrats or Republicans.
There is still heated debate within the Commission as to whether the EU should respond to the IRA with new support programs. According to reports, Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton is in favor of this, while Vestager and Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis are against it. They point out that the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework offers hardly any financial leeway. They argue that the increased interest costs speak against a new borrowing by the Commission and that, in addition, the counter-financing of the loans taken out for the Covid recovery fund is not even guaranteed.
At the heart of the Commission’s thinking are medium-term fiscal plans for countries to pay down their debt burdens (Europe.Table reported). “EU countries now face significantly higher debt and deficit levels that vary widely,” said EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis at the presentation of the guidance framework. He is thus referring to the pandemic in which debts have soared.
The new debt ceilings of three percent of economic output and 60 percent for total debt should continue to apply, but the states should achieve them with individual plans. Blanket targets such as the 1/20 debt reduction rule, which envisages a reduction in debt of five percent per year, are not realistic.
EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in Brussels that the new set of rules should promote growth while improving debt sustainability. In addition, the rules would have to be simplified and member states’ ownership increased “We have a huge need for investment, especially in climate protection, energy security, defense and our European competitiveness,” the Italian said.
According to the Commission’s ideas, the states are to be given four years to credibly reduce their debts. To this end, the Brussels-based authority will present each member state with a reference path for budget restructuring based on its analysis of debt sustainability. This reference path should ensure that the debt of member states with massive debt (above 90 percent of GDP) and moderate debt (between 60 and 90 percent of GDP) is on a plausible downward path.
New debt must be credibly below the reference value of three percent of GDP set in the treaty. Brussels wants to grant states with moderate debt ratios more flexibility than those with very high debt levels – such as Italy and Greece.
The reference path is based on a single operational indicator, the so-called net primary expenditure (expenditure less special revenue and less interest payments). According to the Commission, this indicator is easier to analyze and can be influenced more directly than the countries’ structural deficits.
On the basis of the Commission’s analysis, the member states are then to submit their four-year budget plan. The period can be up to three years longer if reform and investment commitments make this necessary. The Commission and EU Council must approve and adopt the national plans. The Commission intends to monitor implementation through annual progress reports.
If member states deviate from the net expenditure path, the Commission intends to take stricter action in the future. The regular excessive deficit procedure (EDP) will continue to apply. At the same time, however, the debt-based deficit procedure, which has never been used before, is to become more prominent. According to the Commission, this procedure takes effect if a member state deviates from the agreed expenditure path.
In this context, it also wants to broaden the range of sanctions. Accordingly, lower financial penalties are to be possible in the future to be able to impose them sooner. Currently, penalties range between 0.2 and 0.5 percent of GDP. In addition, Brussels also wants to focus more on reputational sanctions, for example, by having an EU delegation travel to the capital in the event of a member state’s misconduct. “In many cases, this generates more impact than the threat of heavy financial penalties,” said a representative of the authority.
The Commission also intends to sanction member states if they inadequately implement their reform and investment commitments agreed upon under an extended adjustment path. “Failure to implement these commitments may lead to a more restrictive adjustment path and, for euro area member states, the imposition of financial payments,” the authority said. To better prevent and correct harmful macroeconomic imbalances, the Commission is additionally relying on deeper dialogue with member states.
In Brussels, Gentiloni called for a rapid consensus among the member states on new economic governance in Europe. The agreement must be reached before the member states present their budgets for 2024, he said. He said the Commission intends to present the necessary legislative proposals for the reform of the EU fiscal package in the first quarter of 2023. A first debate on the Brussels-based authority’s proposals is scheduled for December at the EU Council meeting of finance ministers. Currently, the Stability and Growth Pact is suspended until the end of 2023 due to the impact of the pandemic.
In Brussels, Gentiloni called for a rapid consensus among the member states on new economic governance in Europe. The agreement must be reached before the member states present their budgets for 2024, he said. The Commission wants to present the necessary legislative proposals for the reform of the EU fiscal package in the first quarter of 2023, he said.
An initial debate on the Brussels-based authority’s proposals is scheduled for December at the EU Council meeting of finance ministers. Currently, the Stability and Growth Pact is suspended until the end of 2023 due to the impact of the pandemic.
With regard to the Commission’s proposals, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that any reform of the fiscal rules must comply with the core principles of ensuring financial soundness. On the one hand, he said, the rules must promote growth, but on the other hand, debt ratios must be consistently reduced. In the past, he said, the rules have not been conducive to improving financial sustainability of debt everywhere in the EU. “We want to change that,” Lindner said.
The guiding principle of the federal government, he said, was to combine more realism with more commitment to a reliable path to reducing debt ratios. There has been a lack of both. Lindner pointed to the existing 1/20 rule. At current post-pandemic debt ratios, this would lead to objective overstretch in some countries. However, it should not come to a situation where – as in the past decade – some countries consolidate successfully while others still have rising debt levels.
According to Lindner, after an initial review, the Commission’s approach of relying on individually negotiated expenditure paths with additional leeway for investment projects is worth discussing. However, there is a great deal of discretion on the part of the Commission, which does not ensure that the goals will be achieved in every case and in the long term.
“A multilateral approach is an essential core element of European fiscal rules.” He said this was crucial “to ensure equal treatment, comparability and sustainability of debt sustainability. This must be achieved consistently, which is why there can be no unilateral relaxation of rules or creation of additional scope for assessment,” Lindner emphasized.
The German economic experts said that the EU rules needed to be reformed. The focus should be on an expenditure rule. “This would reduce the overall complexity of the rules. A binding spending rule makes the fiscal rules more transparent and verifiable,” said Achim Truger, a member of the Council of Economic Experts, which advises the German government. Christof Roche, with Reuters
When Anna Lührmann joined the Bundestag in 2002 at the age of 19, she was the youngest member of parliament. Today, the Green politician is 39 years old, Minister of State for Europe and Climate at the Federal Foreign Office and Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation. A lot has changed in 20 years. Lührmann remembers not only a different party landscape, but also the fact that there was no social media yet – “completely unimaginable” from today’s perspective.
Climate has always been the crucial issue for Lührmann. It starts in the schoolyard, with signature collections against air pollution. Early on, she became involved in a Greenpeace children’s group and in the Green Youth – driven by the “feeling that she had to do something. For several years, Lührmann worked at the University of Gothenburg. The Fridays for Future protest wave motivates her to go back into active politics. She no longer wants to just analyze the problem, but to make a difference.
Formative for the Minister of State for Europe was her time in Sudan, where she studied at a women’s university. “I learned a lot of tolerance and also an openness to other approaches,” she says in retrospect. Her goal today: feminist foreign policy.
On her travels, Lührmann encounters innovations and ideas. Like most recently in Kosovo at the end of October, where a solar power plant will be built on the ash field of a coal-fired power plant: “These are projects where you realize that change is possible.”
The Minister of State is convinced that unity is needed in Europe to make itself independent of Russian energy sources, for example, with the help of solidarity agreements and a joint commitment to reduce energy consumption. She stresses: “Particularly in Germany, we are showing that renewable energy can be very ambitiously expanded with sufficient political will.”
Franco-German relations are currently more strained than they have been for a long time. Anna Lührmann appeals for the matter not to be dramatized too much: “We have very close and stable relations with France.” This leads to “such a basis of trust that you can address things openly and honestly.” And sometimes, it takes a little longer to reach an agreement but everyone will be working to find a consensus in the coming months, Lührmann said.
Economic centers, proximity to the metropolitan area, and at the same time quiet villages with the opportunity to go hiking – for the native Hessian, it is the diversity that makes her constituency Rheingau-Taunus – Limburg. Anna Lührmann is optimistic about the future, with a vision in mind: “I want to help Europe grow closer and thrive – for example, with new member states.” Julia Klann
The US midterm elections turned out to be a closer race than expected by pollsters and hoped for by Republicans. Even after the election, it is still unclear who will control Congress and the Senate in the future. One thing is certain: The red wave has failed to materialize, as Till Hoppe reports. In the EU, the result is greeted with cautious relief. After all, US President Joe Biden’s propaganda of “made in America” shows how little he thinks of open global trade. However, there is also good news: Military and financial support for Ukraine will be maintained.
The EU Commission addressed and presented its reform proposal on how growth can be promoted without endangering the stability of the EU countries. The maximum limit for new debt of three percent of GDP and 60 percent of total debt will continue to apply, but individual plans will be drawn up for the states.
How gas storage facilities will be filled in the coming year is currently a matter of concern for the EU Commission. It does not think much of a new joint venture between energy companies, as this would be too complex and could not be implemented in less than a year. A joint invitation to tender for the EU-wide purchase of gas, on the other hand, could be implemented in the shorter term. The Czech presidency considers the Leipzig-based EEX energy exchange as a central hub.
The EU Commission has an easy time if it wants to clear the approval backlog for renewable energy plants. Yesterday, it proposed that when, for example, wind farms are replaced by more powerful plants, permits should be issued within six months, as Manuel Berkel reports. This sounds familiar: Back then, Olaf Scholz had received some derisive laughter during the Bundestag election campaign when he demanded that wind farms should be approved within half a year.
The red wave has failed to materialize. The opposition Republicans are hoping for a narrow majority in the US House of Representatives after the midterm elections. But the Democrats have a realistic chance of retaining control of the Senate. For US President Biden, the outcome of the midterm elections is a respectable success – the Democrats did better than under his predecessors, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Many of the candidates supported by former President Donald Trump failed.
In Brussels and Berlin, the outcome was greeted with relief. But there are no illusions about the course of US policy: The election will result in “no disruption, but continued change” in the transatlantic relationship, says Green Party MEP Reinhard Bütikofer. CDU parliamentarian David McAllister expects Washington to orient itself geopolitically even more toward the Indo-Pacific and to focus on competition with China. However, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee expects little to change in terms of support for Ukraine.
The tone with the Europeans has become much friendlier under the Biden administration than under Trump. But the underlying trend remains: In times of increasing geopolitical disputes and domestic polarization, the United States is drawing more heavily on itself. When in doubt, “made in America” prevails over the international division of labor, and trade policy is put at the service of foreign policy goals.
This is being felt not only by China and Russia but also by allies such as the EU, Japan and South Korea. It is dawning on the Europeans what attraction the Bidens climate policy investment program, the Inflation Reduction Act, has for European companies – especially in conjunction with lower US energy prices. In an official statement, the EU Commission criticized just five of the planned support measures, subsidies and tax breaks for climate-friendly technologies as “WTO incompatible.”
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has already warned of a “trade war”. Similar tones are coming from Paris. Other voices in the Commission and industry, on the other hand, are expressly warning against immediately seeking conflict with Washington or countering with their own spending programs. Siegfried Russwurm, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), warns against “starting a subsidy race that would be harmful to both sides“.
The Commission is initially focusing on dialogue with Washington, and both sides have set up a task force specifically for this purpose. Vice President Margrethe Vestager also spoke yesterday with Economy Minister Gina Raimondo. The US government is willing to talk, according to EU sources. It had completely underestimated the negative reactions the IRA would trigger in Europe.
But Congress will not unravel the legislative package, and it is unclear how much leeway the administration now has. Russwurm demands that the US authorities “now have to make the implementation guidelines as generous as possible so as not to put European companies at a disadvantage.” But it is doubtful whether the Biden administration will accept that its own subsidies will also flow to Europe.
But even well-meaning EU diplomats warn that without Washington’s concession on the issue, the “work of the past two years will be thwarted”. Six months after Biden took office, both sides launched the Trade and Technology Council (TTC). In ten working groups, representatives of the Commission and the US government are now discussing closer cooperation, for example, in the regulation of new technologies and for more stable value chains.
The talks at working level were very constructive, according to Brussels. The next meeting of political leaders on Dec. 5 in Washington will also produce tangible results. The negotiators are still keeping details under wraps. However, they are likely to include an agreement on common standards for artificial intelligence. The BDI is also calling for concrete agreements on the supply of key raw materials and joint strategies for greater resilience in the semiconductor supply chain.
The Commission and industry agree that the TTC is the right framework for talks with Washington. There is little understanding there for the push from Berlin to start parallel talks on a trade agreement with the USA. The proposal is “not very helpful,” according to EU circles. After all, there is little interest in this in Washington, either among Democrats or Republicans.
There is still heated debate within the Commission as to whether the EU should respond to the IRA with new support programs. According to reports, Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton is in favor of this, while Vestager and Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis are against it. They point out that the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework offers hardly any financial leeway. They argue that the increased interest costs speak against a new borrowing by the Commission and that, in addition, the counter-financing of the loans taken out for the Covid recovery fund is not even guaranteed.
At the heart of the Commission’s thinking are medium-term fiscal plans for countries to pay down their debt burdens (Europe.Table reported). “EU countries now face significantly higher debt and deficit levels that vary widely,” said EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis at the presentation of the guidance framework. He is thus referring to the pandemic in which debts have soared.
The new debt ceilings of three percent of economic output and 60 percent for total debt should continue to apply, but the states should achieve them with individual plans. Blanket targets such as the 1/20 debt reduction rule, which envisages a reduction in debt of five percent per year, are not realistic.
EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in Brussels that the new set of rules should promote growth while improving debt sustainability. In addition, the rules would have to be simplified and member states’ ownership increased “We have a huge need for investment, especially in climate protection, energy security, defense and our European competitiveness,” the Italian said.
According to the Commission’s ideas, the states are to be given four years to credibly reduce their debts. To this end, the Brussels-based authority will present each member state with a reference path for budget restructuring based on its analysis of debt sustainability. This reference path should ensure that the debt of member states with massive debt (above 90 percent of GDP) and moderate debt (between 60 and 90 percent of GDP) is on a plausible downward path.
New debt must be credibly below the reference value of three percent of GDP set in the treaty. Brussels wants to grant states with moderate debt ratios more flexibility than those with very high debt levels – such as Italy and Greece.
The reference path is based on a single operational indicator, the so-called net primary expenditure (expenditure less special revenue and less interest payments). According to the Commission, this indicator is easier to analyze and can be influenced more directly than the countries’ structural deficits.
On the basis of the Commission’s analysis, the member states are then to submit their four-year budget plan. The period can be up to three years longer if reform and investment commitments make this necessary. The Commission and EU Council must approve and adopt the national plans. The Commission intends to monitor implementation through annual progress reports.
If member states deviate from the net expenditure path, the Commission intends to take stricter action in the future. The regular excessive deficit procedure (EDP) will continue to apply. At the same time, however, the debt-based deficit procedure, which has never been used before, is to become more prominent. According to the Commission, this procedure takes effect if a member state deviates from the agreed expenditure path.
In this context, it also wants to broaden the range of sanctions. Accordingly, lower financial penalties are to be possible in the future to be able to impose them sooner. Currently, penalties range between 0.2 and 0.5 percent of GDP. In addition, Brussels also wants to focus more on reputational sanctions, for example, by having an EU delegation travel to the capital in the event of a member state’s misconduct. “In many cases, this generates more impact than the threat of heavy financial penalties,” said a representative of the authority.
The Commission also intends to sanction member states if they inadequately implement their reform and investment commitments agreed upon under an extended adjustment path. “Failure to implement these commitments may lead to a more restrictive adjustment path and, for euro area member states, the imposition of financial payments,” the authority said. To better prevent and correct harmful macroeconomic imbalances, the Commission is additionally relying on deeper dialogue with member states.
In Brussels, Gentiloni called for a rapid consensus among the member states on new economic governance in Europe. The agreement must be reached before the member states present their budgets for 2024, he said. He said the Commission intends to present the necessary legislative proposals for the reform of the EU fiscal package in the first quarter of 2023. A first debate on the Brussels-based authority’s proposals is scheduled for December at the EU Council meeting of finance ministers. Currently, the Stability and Growth Pact is suspended until the end of 2023 due to the impact of the pandemic.
In Brussels, Gentiloni called for a rapid consensus among the member states on new economic governance in Europe. The agreement must be reached before the member states present their budgets for 2024, he said. The Commission wants to present the necessary legislative proposals for the reform of the EU fiscal package in the first quarter of 2023, he said.
An initial debate on the Brussels-based authority’s proposals is scheduled for December at the EU Council meeting of finance ministers. Currently, the Stability and Growth Pact is suspended until the end of 2023 due to the impact of the pandemic.
With regard to the Commission’s proposals, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that any reform of the fiscal rules must comply with the core principles of ensuring financial soundness. On the one hand, he said, the rules must promote growth, but on the other hand, debt ratios must be consistently reduced. In the past, he said, the rules have not been conducive to improving financial sustainability of debt everywhere in the EU. “We want to change that,” Lindner said.
The guiding principle of the federal government, he said, was to combine more realism with more commitment to a reliable path to reducing debt ratios. There has been a lack of both. Lindner pointed to the existing 1/20 rule. At current post-pandemic debt ratios, this would lead to objective overstretch in some countries. However, it should not come to a situation where – as in the past decade – some countries consolidate successfully while others still have rising debt levels.
According to Lindner, after an initial review, the Commission’s approach of relying on individually negotiated expenditure paths with additional leeway for investment projects is worth discussing. However, there is a great deal of discretion on the part of the Commission, which does not ensure that the goals will be achieved in every case and in the long term.
“A multilateral approach is an essential core element of European fiscal rules.” He said this was crucial “to ensure equal treatment, comparability and sustainability of debt sustainability. This must be achieved consistently, which is why there can be no unilateral relaxation of rules or creation of additional scope for assessment,” Lindner emphasized.
The German economic experts said that the EU rules needed to be reformed. The focus should be on an expenditure rule. “This would reduce the overall complexity of the rules. A binding spending rule makes the fiscal rules more transparent and verifiable,” said Achim Truger, a member of the Council of Economic Experts, which advises the German government. Christof Roche, with Reuters
When Anna Lührmann joined the Bundestag in 2002 at the age of 19, she was the youngest member of parliament. Today, the Green politician is 39 years old, Minister of State for Europe and Climate at the Federal Foreign Office and Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation. A lot has changed in 20 years. Lührmann remembers not only a different party landscape, but also the fact that there was no social media yet – “completely unimaginable” from today’s perspective.
Climate has always been the crucial issue for Lührmann. It starts in the schoolyard, with signature collections against air pollution. Early on, she became involved in a Greenpeace children’s group and in the Green Youth – driven by the “feeling that she had to do something. For several years, Lührmann worked at the University of Gothenburg. The Fridays for Future protest wave motivates her to go back into active politics. She no longer wants to just analyze the problem, but to make a difference.
Formative for the Minister of State for Europe was her time in Sudan, where she studied at a women’s university. “I learned a lot of tolerance and also an openness to other approaches,” she says in retrospect. Her goal today: feminist foreign policy.
On her travels, Lührmann encounters innovations and ideas. Like most recently in Kosovo at the end of October, where a solar power plant will be built on the ash field of a coal-fired power plant: “These are projects where you realize that change is possible.”
The Minister of State is convinced that unity is needed in Europe to make itself independent of Russian energy sources, for example, with the help of solidarity agreements and a joint commitment to reduce energy consumption. She stresses: “Particularly in Germany, we are showing that renewable energy can be very ambitiously expanded with sufficient political will.”
Franco-German relations are currently more strained than they have been for a long time. Anna Lührmann appeals for the matter not to be dramatized too much: “We have very close and stable relations with France.” This leads to “such a basis of trust that you can address things openly and honestly.” And sometimes, it takes a little longer to reach an agreement but everyone will be working to find a consensus in the coming months, Lührmann said.
Economic centers, proximity to the metropolitan area, and at the same time quiet villages with the opportunity to go hiking – for the native Hessian, it is the diversity that makes her constituency Rheingau-Taunus – Limburg. Anna Lührmann is optimistic about the future, with a vision in mind: “I want to help Europe grow closer and thrive – for example, with new member states.” Julia Klann
