New Euro leaders face familiar fault-lines

CHRISTINE Lagarde urged Europe on Tuesday not to "allow self-doubt to drag us down" in her first major speech as new European Central Bank (ECB) president. Despite a big change in the economic and political leadership in Brussels this month, the challenges facing the continent will remain eerily familiar into 2020, from Brexit to Eurozone economic frailty.

Only last month, Ms Lagarde's predecessor as ECB chief, Mario Draghi, warned of growing Eurozone weakness concerns with Germany on the brink of recession again. He highlighted that risks were "all to the downside" with ECB concerned that the 19-member currency bloc's growth, which has slowed this year along with much of the global economy, faces "protracted weakness" with consumer and business confidence low, and transatlantic trade risks from the latest US import tariffs.

This economic picture could deteriorate further with upcoming political developments, including Sunday's Spanish election. Next month's UK ballot aside, Spain's fourth poll in as many years is the most important election in Europe in the second half of 2019. With no single party expected to win nearly enough votes for an outright majority, either another period of minority government or a potentially shaky coalition will add to political uncertainty in the Eurozone's fourth- largest economy.