EU seeks end to mobile roaming price shock-sources
Price caps on voice, SMS and data for consumers until 2014
04/30/2011
— Filed under: Business
Tags: EU, price, roaming
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EU queries Danish plan to tighten border controls
The centre-right coalition led by Lars Lokke Rasmussen unilaterally declared this week that it will re-establish controls on its frontiers with Germany and Sweden.
04/29/2011
— Filed under: Politics
Tags: Danmark, immigration
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German unemployment falls below 3m
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Seasonally adjusted unemployment in Germany dropped to less than 3m in April — for the first time since 1992 — in a reassuring signal of the strength of the domestic labour market only days before the country must open its borders to free labour movement from its eastern neighbours.
Monthly figures published on Thursday by the Federal Labour Office showed that the number of people out of work dropped by a seasonally-adjusted 37,000 to 2,97m. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 7,1 per cent.
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The steady improvement in the German labour market has encouraged analysts’ expectations of a revival in domestic demand. But concern over rising inflation, on a European harmonised basis,and wage pressures in Europe’s largest economy could persuade the European Central Bank to continue its bias towards further interest rate rises for the eurozone. Annual inflation hit 2,6 per cent in April, rising from 2,3 per cent in March.
Frank-Jürgen Weise, head of the Nuremberg-based labour office, said the jobless figures were based on strong growth in employment figures, with German exporters «showing a high inclination to hire». Some of them are now reporting growing difficulties in finding skilled workers to meet the strong export demand in emerging markets.
The steady fall in German unemployment over the past 18 months has tempered trade union fears of «wage dumping» that might follow the opening of its borders to free labour movement on May 1, when European Union workers from central and eastern Europe will be free to seek employment in Germany for the first time.
The federal labour office predicts a maximum labour migration of some 140,000 a year from the eight eastern members that joined the EU in May 2004. Other estimates suggest that an initial surge in job-seekers could reach 800,000 for the first two years of 2011 and 2012
Ursula von der Leyen, labour minister in the German government, said on Thursday that the switch to free labour movement presented Germany with a great opportunity.
«At the moment, the labour market is as absorbent as a sponge,» she added. «The number of vacancies is rising and many firms are looking for skilled labour with increasing urgency.
«Based on the experience of our neighbours who dropped their (labour market) restrictions earlier, it is mainly well-educated, mobile young people who come,» she said. «They will contribute to boosting our country economically and fill part of the skilled labour shortage.»
But she warned that the «unspectacular but solid» improvement in the jobless figures were «no reason for euphoria».
«Everyone knows the risks,» she said. «We are heavily dependent on the global market, and it remains to be seen if the events in the eurozone, north Africa and the Arab world, and also in Japan, will affect the German economy.»
Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist at Goldman Sachs, said the strength of the German labour market was «good news for consumer spending…The rise in employment and vacancies also shows that companies assess the economic outlook as sufficiently good to add to their production capacities.»
The German jobless figures show a continuing split between rates of 3,9 per cent in Bavaria and 4,2 per cent in Baden-Württemberg, in the prosperous south, compared with 13,2 per cent in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the north-east, and 13,9 per cent in Berlin, the capital city.
Throughout the former east Germany, unemployment remains well above the national average.
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04/28/2011
— Filed under: Society
Tags: German, unemployment
Italy: Police impound €13mln of assets from powerful Naples mafia clan
Police in southern Italy have seized 13 million euros of assets belonging to an alleged member of the Naples mafia’s powerful Casalesi clan, as Italian authorities continue to target the organised crime syndicate.
France Rejects Suggestion It Hasn’t Applied EU Bonus Rules
France denied suggestions it has failed to apply European Union rules limiting banker bonuses, saying payouts at the investment banks owned by major French lenders fell in 2010.
04/26/2011
— Filed under: Politics
Tags: European Union, France
MEPs back transparency register for lobbyists
Parliament has responded to growing demands for more transparency in how it operates by clearing the way for a new register for lobbyists.
04/25/2011
— Filed under: Politics
Tags: obbyists, Parliament
Greek PM: There is no going back on euro for EU
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Friday that Europe must stick with its single currency and stop a «blame game» that is preventing progress on issues from finance to unemployment.
The European Union will crack down on data privacy abuse
THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) is set to issue proposals to tighten online privacy in the wake of Apple’s and Google’s location data logging debacle.
After seeing misuse and hijacking of private geo-location data, the EU will put its foot down and has organised an advisory body to lay out guidelines for clamping down on offenders.
The advisory body, called the «Article 29 Working Party», will publish its proposals and the guidelines will be just that, guidelines. They won’t be enshrined in law, but it is a great first step by the EU and it should provide impetus for other countries or governing bodies to follow suit.
Dubbed the alliance of European national regulators, the body «will say that geo-location data has to be considered as personal data,» an EU official told the Wall Street Journal. «The rules on personal data apply to them.»
«We’re looking at… localisation data services, behavioural advertising, basically anything that’s dealing with new technology,» a spokesman for the European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding told the WSJ.
The EU was too diplomatic to name specific companies, but we’re not. The proposal announcement came as shiny toy maker Apple had to release an IOS 4.3.3 update to patch a location data tracking ‘bug’ in its Ithings. It was also discovered that Iphones have been recording punters’ WiFi data.
The other big offender is Google, on at least two counts. The search giant was caught harvesting personal data from unencrypted WiFi networks using its Streetview cars. Google’s Android OS was also found to be collecting location data as well. In fact, the EU team is probably well aware that lawmakers in the US sent missives to six companies, taking them to task for breaching users’ privacy. Those companies include Apple, Google and Microsoft.
U.K. Gilts Rise as Economic Reports Seen Encouraging Bank of England Doves
U.K. government bonds advanced and the pound dropped versus the euro as investors pared bets on monetary tightening from the Bank of England after data showed British factory orders deteriorated.
04/22/2011
— Filed under: Politics
Tags: Bank of England, UK
Unemployment Rate improves in Feb following last month´s revision
The EU unemployment rate dipped to 9,9% in Feb, a slight improvement when considering the upwardly revised 10% in Jan.
