European stocks slip as investors weigh risks to US debt deal

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May 30 (Reuters) - European stocks slipped on Tuesday, dented by uncertainty on whether Congress will clear a U.S. debt ceiling deal and avert a catastrophic default.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.2% by 0716 GMT, with trading activity expected to pick up momentum as the U.S. and the UK markets reopen after a long weekend.

A handful of hard-right Republican lawmakers said on Monday they would oppose a deal to raise Washington's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, in a sign that the bipartisan agreement could face a rocky path through Congress before the U.S. runs out of money next week.

Among single stocks, Nestle slipped 0.8% after the Swiss food group said it had hired Anna Manz, the finance chief at the London Stock Exchange Group, as its new chief financial officer.

Unilever Plc dipped 0.6% after the consumer goods giant said Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly would leave by the end of May 2024.

Shares of Aroundtown dropped nearly 2% to a record low after the German real estate firm published its first-quarter results.

Euro zone consumer confidence and economic sentiment data for May, among others, are due later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)