Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.
Many EU leaders have been deeply apprehensive about the growing odds that Donald Trump will win the US presidency in November, but they were unanimous in condemning the attempted assassination — and the worsening culture of political violence on both sides of the Atlantic. As President Joe Biden used a rare Oval Office address to implore candidates to cool their rhetoric, several European leaders echoed the warning that the shooting represented a wider problem: extreme rhetoric amplified by social media that’s increasingly leading to real-world attacks. Against the backdrop of the shooting of Slovakia’s Robert Fico, the attack on Trump resonated in countries with far-right parties in power. “It is a warning to everyone, regardless of political affiliation, to restore dignity and honor to politics,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said.