Government deficits in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark and Finland have gone too far over the 3% of GDP reference value for the European Union and need to be brought down through stronger budget consolidation measures, concluded the European Commission in reports considered on Wednesday.
United States trade deficit rose to a 15-month high in March as rising imports underlined the economy's recovery. Figures from the Commerce Department showed the gap between imports and exports rose 2.5% to 40.4 billion US dollars.
The European Union asked Argentina not to restrict food imports, which was reported by manufacturers and producers. Manufacturing sources said that restrictions began being applied in the last few days on products that are also elaborated locally, in a non-written measure that primarily affects the EU and Brazil.
Under pressure from Europe to deliver (shape up or ship out) Spain's PM has outlined a plan to tackle the country's budget crisis, amid concerns that problems afflicting Greece may spread across the Eurozone.
European countries saddled with debt should focus on cutting deficits in the wake of policy makers' unprecedented efforts to contain the region's sovereign-debt crisis, said John Lipsky from the International Monetary Fund.
France and six other countries expressed concern before the European Union about the competition consequences for the farm sector in the event of an agreement with Mercosur.
Global stock markets soared after the European Union and International Monetary Fund intervened to stop the Greek debt crisis spreading and support the weakened Euro.
French resistance to the resumption of Mercosur European Union trade talks caused great disappointment among the block’s members, but Brazil believes it has a strong bargaining chip for a greater opening of the European agriculture market: the several billions US dollars fighter planes contract for the Brazilian Air Force.
European leaders unveiled an unprecedented loan package worth almost one trillion US dollars and a program of bond purchases in an attempt to bolster the Euro that has become highly vulnerable because of the Greek sovereign-debt crisis.
Germany's highest court on Saturday rejected a request by a group of academics to block the immediate release of Berlin's multi-billion-euro loan to debt-stricken Greece.