Nominations now invited If you’ve seen, heard or read an outstanding report on the European Union that deserves wider recognition, then we’d like to hear from you.Read more… Continue reading →
Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters 9.02am: David Cameron spoke bluntly to reporters after the Brussels summit concluded last night, hitting out at proposals for a financial transaction tax (FTT) (or Robin Hood tax).Sky News has the quotes:Leaving the summit in the early hours, Mr Cameron said: "There were good innovative ideas that can help growth in Europe, but frankly there were some bad ideas too."A financial transactions tax is a bad idea, it will put up the cost of people's insurance, put up the cost of people's pensions, it would cost many many jobs, and it would make Europe less competitive and I'll fight it all the way.That may disappoint, but probably not surprise, campaigns for a FTT, such as Oxfam, which argues that it would "boost ... Continue reading →
Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters 9.02am: David Cameron spoke bluntly to reporters after the Brussels summit concluded last night, hitting out at proposals for a financial transaction tax (FTT) (or Robin Hood tax).Sky News has the quotes:Leaving the summit in the early hours, Mr Cameron said: "There were good innovative ideas that can help growth in Europe, but frankly there were some bad ideas too."A financial transactions tax is a bad idea, it will put up the cost of people's insurance, put up the cost of people's pensions, it would cost many many jobs, and it would make Europe less competitive and I'll fight it all the way.That may disappoint, but probably not surprise, campaigns for a FTT, such as Oxfam, which argues that it would "boost ... Continue reading →
Eurozone suffers worst downturn since mid-2009, according to PMIs. Q2 economic contraction on the cards. See chart Continue reading →
Divisions between Angela Merkel and François Hollande over the eurocrisis were on display last night. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP 8.15am: Worrying economic news from France, where activity in its private sector has fallen to a three-year low. This suggests the French economy is contracting – bad news for new president Hollande.Data firm Markit just reported that the composite measure of French services and manufacturing output fell to 44.7 in May, from 45.9. That means activity shrank, to its lowest level in three years. This graph shows how the PMI (based on interviews with purchasing managers), is a pretty good leading indicator of GDP. Any PMI reading below 50 shows that activity contracted. The French economy was stagnant in the first three months of 2012.Markit's Jack ... Continue reading →
To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser. Please download Flash from the Adobe download website. 6:39am UK, Thursday May 24, 2012 Robert Nisbet, Europe correspondent A summit of European leaders has ended without clear agreement on how best to restore confidence in the euro, despite pleas from the British PM to get a grip on the crisis. The informal dinner stretched into the night as the 27 leaders chewed on ways to boost growth. These ranged from lending more money to small and medium businesses and redeploying structural funds to help generate youth employment. The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, said the discussions were "focused and frank" and ended with broad agreement that in order for ... Continue reading →
