Hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.0% in the year up to the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2.8% for the previous quarter, Eurostat reported today. In the European Union, the annual rise was 1.7% up to the first quarter of 2012, compared with 2.7% for the previous quarter. In the euro area, wages and salaries per hour worked grew by 2.0% in the year up to…
LONDON | UK firms are this week seeking new businesses in Baltic States and Finland. The British trade and investment minister, Stephen Green, is in a visit to Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland that began Tuesday, focused on developing trading links with the UK and attracting new investment. Exports of goods and services from the UK to the four countries visited this week totalled more than £3.6 billion in 2010, while…
After significant falls in 2010, European Union foreign direct investment flows more than doubled in 2011, the statistical office Eurostat said on Wednesday. The EU foreign direct investment flows to the rest of the world reached €370 billion in 2011, after having decreased from €316 billion in 2009 to €146 billion in 2010. Foreign direct investment into the EU27 from the rest of the world were at €225 bn in 2011, after having…
By Tania Suárez | Vassos Shiarly, minister of Finance in Cyprus, admitted Monday night that his country would urgently need a bailout. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times refer to several European officials who have said that this rescue would rise to €3 billion to €4 billio. Shiarly said that “This issue is urgent. We know that the recapitalisation of the banks (in Cyprus) must be finished by June…
LONDON | More than 2,400 people have registered to disclose unpaid tax under the Liechtenstein disclosure facility with £363 million already paid in tax bills, the British tax authorities announced Monday. The new legal framework is now expected to bring in up to £3 billion by 2016 based on the current numbers of disclosures. The figures were released as the United Kingdom and the Principality of Liechtenstein prepared to sign a double…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | The European common currency has become poisonous for almost everyone else but Germany. Check below a chart coming from the International Monetary Fund, which shows that not even other core euro economies (that is France) have been able to profit as much as Germany. It also renders perfectly understandable why Nicolas Sarkozy lost the general elections and why he did so amid angry voters….
i want you back letter for boyfriend LONDON | The European Commission on Wednesday tumbled and mumbled about the set up of a banking union. Although urgently needed, it would only languish in the corridors, even provided a sudden agreement to push it through could be met. The European Union has no main political door, as it lacks of an executive body directly propped up by a legislative chamber: both…
How To Get Your Ex Girlfriend Back By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Solidarity is one of the feelings that gives more satisfaction to human beings. In some societies, this capacity of putting oneself in the place of another person is more pronounced or more developed. In gross terms, and according to the Spanish Fundraising Association (AFEr, in its original acronym), Spain is not the most supportive country within the European…
I Want To Get Back With Him MADRID | An Spanish offensive seems to have been deployed in all fronts. Spain's King Juan Carlos in Brazil called on the European Union to advance its integration because the problem, he said, rather than economic, is political. Meanwhile, president Mariano Rajoy introduced in a Senate session what the Spanish position will be in the next European summit: Europe needs a horizon, make…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Most financial commentators have focused its attention on the comments that the Spanish president Mariano Rajoy made last Saturday. He emphasized the importance of creating a European body whose main objective would be to control of the finances of the different States, i.e. a fiscal integration. According to macroeconomic experts at Morgan Stanley, such measures of fiscal integration should be the aim of Europe…