BRUSSELS: The EU is in a healthier economic state than it has been for more than a decade and is ready to move on from Brexit, the bloc’s top official said on Wednesday.
Addressing lawmakers at the European Parliament, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU is “bouncing back” after a tough decade that has seen much of the 28-country bloc mired in an economic crisis and Britain vote to leave.
“The wind is back in Europe’s sails,” he said in an upbeat hour-long annual “State of the European Union” address in Strasbourg, France.
Juncker, whose Commission proposes EU legislation and polices the bloc’s laws, said the EU is into its fifth year of economic recovery, with unemployment at a nine-year low.
“Let us make the most of the momentum, catch the wind in our sails,” he said. “Europe can deliver for its citizens where and when it matters.”
Since the global financial crisis first bared its teeth a decade ago, the EU project has been dealt a series of blows, most notably with Britain’s decision last year to leave. It has also had to contend with economic difficulties afflicting the countries — currently 19 — that use the euro as their currency. However, the euro zone crisis appears to have abated somewhat and Greece is set to end its bailout era next summer.
With Britain due to leave the EU in March 2019, Juncker vowed that the bloc would take on no new members in the short-term, and he dealt a blow to Turkey’s hopes of joining Europe’s rich club anytime soon.
“Turkey has been moving away from the European Union in leaps and bounds,” he said, criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government for arresting journalists and branding EU leaders “fascists and Nazis.”
Ankara’s attitude, Juncker said, “rules out EU membership for Turkey in the foreseeable future.”
As the EU comes to terms with losing one of its biggest member states, Juncker called for the bloc’s leaders to meet in Romania the day after Britain leaves on March 29, 2019 to chart the way forward as 27 member states.
Juncker vowed that the EU “will move forward once Britain leaves,” saying that “Brexit is not everything. It’s not the future of Europe.”
To cheering British lawmakers celebrating the country’s departure, Juncker said: “I think you will regret it quite soon.”
With the EU under fire for policies perceived to be blocking migrants in dangerous and sordid detention centers in Libya, Juncker said, “Europe has got a collective responsibility” to help improve conditions there.
He told lawmakers that the EU must work closely with the UN’s refugee agency to ensure that this “scandalous situation” does not continue.
EU chief says bloc is ‘bouncing back’ after crisis-hit decade
EU chief says bloc is ‘bouncing back’ after crisis-hit decade
Aramco’s 13% rally helps Saudi stocks post second weekly gain
RIYADH: Saudi Aramco extended its year-to-date rally to nearly 13 percent on Thursday, helping the Kingdom’s benchmark stock index secure a second straight weekly gain despite a weaker final trading session.
Saudi Aramco shares, which carry the heaviest weighting on the Saudi Exchange, closed at SR26.86 ($7.16), leaving the stock 12.72 percent higher since the start of 2026. The stock also remained 3.09 percent above last week’s close, even after falling 1.1 percent in Thursday’s session.
The rise in energy shares came as escalating tensions in the Middle East pushed oil prices above $100 a barrel, after attacks on tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz heightened concerns over supply disruptions.
The Tadawul All Share Index maintained its weekly uptrend, rising nearly 1.07 percent week on week to close at 10,778.32, despite falling 0.45 percent in Thursday’s session. Compared with the first trading day of the year, the index has gained 4.01 percent.
Total trading turnover on the benchmark index reached SR5.05 billion at Thursday’s close, with 88 stocks advancing and 176 declining.
Aramco’s performance continued to anchor sentiment after the company reported adjusted net income of $104.7 billion for 2025 earlier this week, while net profit fell 12.1 percent year on year to $93.39 billion, compared with $106.25 billion in 2024, as lower crude prices weighed on earnings despite higher sales volumes across oil, gas and refined products.
On a March 10 earnings call, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned that prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz could have severe implications for global energy markets. Roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil normally passes through the waterway each day, but shipments have been largely blocked.
“There would be catastrophic consequences for the world’s oil markets and the longer the disruption goes on ... the more drastic the consequences for the global economy,” he said.
“While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region’s oil and gas industry has faced.”
Saudi equities showed mixed performance in Thursday’s session. The MSCI Tadawul Index fell 5.99 points, or 0.40 percent, to close at 1,476.76.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu gained 132.47 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 22,370.4, with 38 stocks advancing and 34 declining.
On March 11, the International Energy Agency announced the release of 400 million barrels of oil from its reserves, the largest such move in its history. As part of that, the US said it would release 172 million barrels starting next week.
