The European Union has clinched a deal on a sharply trimmed 2014 budget after a marathon 16-hour session ending a long dispute over how best to spend taxpayers' money. After decades of growth, next year's EU budget is set to be around 7% lower than this year's at 135.5 billion Euros in contributions by member states.
The Spanish Government warned on Tuesday that it would continue to implement exhaustive checks on vehicles and pedestrians crossing into Spain from Gibraltar.
Mercosur negotiations, disputes with Argentina and economic complementation with Brazil are among the main issues of a long agenda that Uruguay and Brazil will address when President Jose Mujica visits his Brazilian peer Dilma Rousseff on Friday in Brasilia.
The Euro zone economy's gross domestic product will grow 1.1% in 2014 and 1.7% in 2015, with imbalances diminishing as unemployment remains at unacceptable levels, the European Commission said in a report released earlier this week.
Mercosur members will be holding an extraordinary meeting in Caracas on 15 November to define an 'only joint position of the group ahead of the presentation to the European Union, in the framework of negotiations for the trade and cooperation accord, said Venezuelan foreign minister Elías Jaua.
A member from the European parliament, Jean Pierre Audy who headed a mission to Brazil last week said he was confident that next year the long standing negotiations for a free trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur could be concluded.
Russia, Ukraine and China are being blamed for a failure of plans to protect almost 3 million square kilometers of ocean in Antarctica. After two weeks of discussions behind closed doors, the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has failed to come to an agreement on new marine reserves.
The unemployment rate in the 17-nation Euro-zone remained at a record high of 12.2% in September as the bloc’s recent recovery failed to generate new jobs, official data shows. The number rose by 60,000 to 19.45 million, while the jobless rate for those aged under 25 edged up to 24.1% from 24% in August, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.
Mercosur will be holding a special meeting of foreign ministers next 15 November in Caracas to consolidate Mercosur presentation before the European Union, according to a release from the Argentine Foreign ministry.
European Union member states agreed to impose punitive duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia, which are accused of selling it into the bloc at unfairly low prices, according to diplomats. Argentina has anticipated it will take the case to the World Trade Organization.