20/04/2017 World Business Report

Will be looking at the international newspapers later.

Now for the latest financial news with Sally Bundock

Red lines: The head of the European Parliament meets

Theresa May with a list of 'non-negotiables'.

But will the UK's June election mean a softer approach to Brexit?

Plus: Rural revolution - why anti-Europe candidates

are finding fertile ground in the French countryside.

Also coming up, Japan sees its biggest jump in exports

We will have the numbers soon. It has been moving the markets in Asia.

But first: We start here in London

where in a few hours time the head of the European Parliament is due

in Downing Street to meet the British Prime

Minister Theresa May. Antonio Tajani's visit comes

as the country prepares for an election which will be

dominated by Britain's exit The European Parliament has a vote

on the final Brexit deal, and has set out a series of "red

lines" it won't compromise on, something Tajani will no doubt

discuss with May today. It wants the final agreement

to make sure the UK complies with a range of EU policies

on issues such as the environment, It also stresses the

United Kingdom must honour all its legal and financial

obligations to the EU, which includes its agreement to pay

into the budget until at least 2020. Now, that could mean

a hefty exit - or divorce - And one that's bitterly

disputed by some in the UK and it insists two major EU

regulators currently based in London - the European Banking

Authority and European Medicines Agency - will also have

to move to the continent. Some in financial markets are now

betting that getting the election out of the way in June will allow

the UK to be much more flexible in agreeing to these demands,

and avoid a so-called 'hard Brexit'. Markets have recognised that

Theresa May defending an effective majority of only 17 in Parliament

was likely to be quite problematic for her in the next

couple of years while Brexit And so, on the basis that currently

the Conservative party is enjoying a lead of 18%-20%

in the polls, we might logically expect a much bigger and more

defensible majority government post the June 8th election and make

the negotiations that she has to conduct over Brexit

that much more viable. That was the view there. But we get

another from Anand Menon. Professor Anand Menon is Professor

of European Politics and Foreign Affairs

at Kings College London. Thank you for coming in. Mike Ingram

Mac, and many have argued that it Theresa May does get their strong

majority there that she is hoping for, she will get a better position

to negotiation. What are your thoughts on a meeting today? In one

sense, she is in a stronger position because it makes life easier

Parliament. She has to make a lot of things happen. I don't think it will

affect the European Union was that position. I don't think they care

one way or another what her size of majorities in Parliament. I think

they will put together what they think is a fair negotiating

position. That won't change to matter what. How important is

today's meeting? The European Parliament is not involved in the

negotiations, but it does have designed. It is a curious one. We

are not negotiating with the European Parliament. But we need to

keep them onside. Because the worst of all world is that we get to the

end of the two years, and they voted down. They can do that. Keeping them

on side is important. Some of these things we have talked through, they

described as red lines that cannot be crossed. The divorce bill of 60

billion euros already, David Davis is saying that it is nothing like as

nearly as high. This has been bandied about as a possibility. The

first stage of our negotiations with the commission is going to be to

figure out what we should be including in our bill and what we

should not. I don't think that figure is set in stone. But the EU

is making it clear that whatever the figure they arrive at, we had to

pay. We can get around it. The issue of the timeframe, it has been said

from the beginning that it is tight. We had to get negotiations in so

that national governments can pass it through their own parliaments,

and that it is signed. Now the timeframe is even tighter because

the Prime Minister has to fight an election, first. What are your

thoughts on that? Brussels seems to be fairly miffed about that. I think

we can do the divorce within the time we got. That will be easy. --

we have got. But I don't know any trade experts that think we can

negotiate a trade deal to the future even with the two years, which we

don't have. What we're looking at is more likely transition. A the

translation is then lengthened between the negotiation and our next

general election. So Theresa May might be able to say have a short

transitional implementation phase that allows us falling off a cliff

edge for the moment. I will probably talk to you again in the next little

while. We appreciated. We are also in rural Provence

in southern France - as the nation gears up for the first

round of its Presidential It's in the countryside that most

support has been building for the two populist anti-EU

and anti-Euro candidates: The National Front's Marine Le Pen

and the hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Theo Leggett has been

finding out why. Glittering under the Hajj son of

Provence. These rice fields are floated before the crop is planted.

Prices being grown in the region for centuries, but now the industry

faces a difficult future. Competition from abroad and a big

reduction in subsidies have taken a heavy toll on production. Growers

say they that no help the government in Paris. They think that has to

change. TRANSLATION: Politician should be

focusing on rural issues in France. There are 15 million people living

in rural areas. About one quarter of the population. Politics must become

rural again. The rice business has its own particular concerns, course,

but you will hear much the same sort of thing if you talk to farmers up

and down this country. They are worried that their problem simply

are not being taken seriously enough by politicians in towns and cities.

In the small village here, farmers have gathered for the weekly market.

They have little time for mainstream politics.

TRANSLATION: Rural issues are taboo. It is only large towns and their

inhabitants that politicians care for. Country people are being

forgotten. TRANSLATION: I think it is the

candidates on the far right and far left that people here would vote

for. The extremes. TRANSLATION: I will vote Marine Le

Pen. Because she is a woman, and we have never had a female president in

France. She could bring something new that male leaders have not in

the past. Opinion polls suggest that dissolution among rural people is

providing a boost for the populist candidates. Jean-Luc Melenchon and

the Front National's Marine Le Pen. They have a sense of abandonment

from the major political parties. You know, they used to be a large

portion of the population. Now they are very small portion, and

therefore they are not in the centre of the political scene any more and

so more and more they are turning to the Front National, which again

looks like the only alternative for them. Although more than three

quarters of friends's population now lives in cities, the countryside is

still home to millions of voters. -- France. Their voices might

ultimately become very important indeed. Theo Leggett, BBC News,

Provence. Now, let's go to Asia now

where markets are getting a boost from some strong trade

figures from Japan. Rico Hizon has been

looking at them for us. Nice to see you. This is great news

out of Japan in the munch of March. It has sold a lot of goods overseas?

But the big question now is can be sustained? For now, the Japanese

stock-market and investors are cheering will stop this was better

than expected. These export levels have not been seen in more than two

years. And a strong result, which came in better than expected, may be

a sign that the economy is indeed picking up in the world's third

largest economy. Export gains were led by strong than full auto-parts

and optical instruments, such as mobile phones and tools to make

semiconductors. And by regions, exports to China rose by more than

16%. Shippers to America expanded by three and a half %. So the

fundamentals are improving here, you now have the International Monetary

Fund raising its forecast, projecting a 1.2% annual expansion

this year from a previous forecast of just .8%. And also a key business

confidence survey also pointing to rising optimism amongst big

Manufacturer 's. Soap Shinzo Abe might be pulling the right strings,

pushing the right buttons, and he has been trying for years to

rejuvenate growth and end a period of the non- inflation through a

policy of easy money, stimulus, and reform. -- predator. But the

question is can be sustained in April and the coming months? We will

rely on you to keep us informed. We will see you soon. -- So, Shinzo

Abe. That is all promised on World Business Report for the time being.

We will see you in a minute for a review of the new stories. See you

in a moment. Sally will be back in a