Thursday newspaper round-up: VW, Lloyds, May, Hinkley Point

Countries seeking a trade deal with the EU should meet European standards on labour law and fair competition, one of the bloc’s most senior officials has said in remarks that reinforce Brexit red lines. Margrethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner, described the trade agreement with Canada as a model for the future because it enshrined recognition of labour standards, human rights and animal welfare. – Guardian

The Volkswagen chief executive and his predecessor are facing an investigation by German authorities into whether they misled investors by not releasing information about the company’s cheating on diesel emissions tests soon enough. Prosecutors in Stuttgart yesterday formally launched their case against Matthias Müller and his predecessor Martin Winterkorn, who resigned as VW chief executive when the diesel emissions scandal broke in September 2015. The investigation relates to their role as executives in 2015 at Stuttgart-based Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the holding company that controls Volkswagen. PorscheSE chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch is also under investigation.- Guardian

The chairman of Lloyds Banking Group has given the strongest signal yet that chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio will remain with the bank for the foreseeable future despite speculation about his tenure. Amid continued reports linking the Portuguese banker to the top job at HSBC, Lord Blackwell assured that Mr Horta-Osorio has no intention of leaving the bank in the short term. - Telegraph

Theresa May is to commit to wipe out the UK deficit by the middle of the next decade, allowing for greater borrowing levels to support the economy in the run-up to Brexit. The undertaking, which will be viewed by some as a loosening of fiscal policy, is a departure from Philip Hammond’s pledge at the Budget in March, at which he said the deficit would fall to 0.7pc by 2021-22, the lowest level in two decades. – Telegraph

Britain’s new £18 billion nuclear power plant is being funded by illegal French state aid, according to a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace. The environmental group is urging the European Commission to order EDF, the French state-owned energy giant that is building the plant at Hinkley Point in Somerset, to repay the €6.8 billion it received from the French government. – The Times

Creditors of the European operations of Lehman Brothers have won a £5 billion court victory against the defunct Wall Street bank’s administrators. The administrators have paid £11.5 billion to creditors, which include several big hedge funds, but had asked for a court ruling on what should be done with the interest that had accumulated on the money while the complex web of claims was untangled. – The Times