LONDON—Consumer prices in the 17-member euro zone rose at the fastest pace in almost three years, even as the economy slowed sharply, leaving the European Central Bank's rate setters to make a very tough call when they meet next week. The European Union's official statistics agency Eurostat Friday said consumer prices rose by 3% in the 12 months to September, up from 2.5% in August and well above the ECB's target of just below 2%. It was the fastest rise in prices since October 2008, and under normal circumstances the response from the ECB's 23-member governing council would be an immediate increase in its key interest rate. But these aren't normal times, and other data indicate the economy is slowing sharply as confidence evaporates in the face of the currency area's deepening fiscal crisis. A measure of activity compiled by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of Italy, also released Friday, showed the economy grew at the slowest pace since the end of the recession in August 2009. The Eurocoin reading suggests growth slowed further in the third quarter, and is consistent with other timely measures of activity and leading indicators. Taken together, they suggest the ECB may soon have to reverse its April and July rate rises. Markit Economics last week said the purchasing-managers index for the euro zone fell to 49.2 in September from 50.7 in August, indicating the economy contracted. A survey of confidence released by the European Commission on Thursday recorded a sharp fall among manufacturers, service providers and other businesses, as well as consumers. The economic-sentiment indicator fell for the seventh straight month, to 95.0 from 98.4

BREAKING The German parliament has backed the expansion of the European bail-out fund. Reuters reports 523 politicians voted in favour of it, 85 opposed and three abstained. Debate is continuing in the Bundestag, with MPs explaining their votes. So far, only lawmakers from the opposition Left party have set out why they opposed the legislation. Sevim Dagdalen says she voted against the EFSF deal. She accused the German government of pandering to banks, speculators, the "financial mafia". She added she sympathised with the Greeks who are protesting against their government's harsh austerity measures, as well as the Portuguese. She attacked a "Europe that is unsocial and unfair".

Here's the voting details:
In favour: 523 MPs
Against: 85
Abstentions: 3

So, a huge majority for Angela Merkel. We'll get the full breakdown of who voted, and whether many of the coalition government rebelled, soon.

"Germany at war" to fulfill the RIBBENTROP - MOLOTOV pact provisions - European officials have confirmed that discussions are afoot to boost the eurozone bail-out fund's firepower as part of a grand plan to contain the region's sovereign debt crisis in Greece. Confirmation of the talks, however, sparked outrage in Germany, where opposition politicians threatened to derail the plans by voting against a key amendment to the bail-out fund this Thursday. The head of Germany's constitutional court also piled on the pressure by warning the government not to circumvent the law "by the back door". Despite the wrangling in Germany, markets across Europe staggered back to life on hopes that the crisis could be contained and the recovery restored. In the UK, the FTSE 100 rose 0.4pc to 5,089.37 after £78bn was wiped off shares last week. In France, the CAC 40 rose 1.75pc, and Germany's DAX recovered almost 4pc. Policymakers in Europe are working on a three-pronged plan to ringfence the euro crisis around Greece. Under the proposal, banks across the continent would be recapitalised with tens of billions of euros, the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) would be "leveraged up" through the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide €2 trillion of firepower, and Greece would be subjected to a managed default on 50pc of its debt but stay in the euro. Officials hope the move would restore confidence in Spain and Italy and calm nervous bond markets.
So far, Rusia took over the eurozone energy fields via the euro, that was implemented for this reason only, otherwise making no sense ...ca you imagine how hard would have been to take over the european economies one by one through their individual currencies ?

European finance ministers on Friday heaped pressure on the Greek government to accelerate its privatisation programme and implement deeper spending cuts, after they told Athens a crucial €8bn (£6.9bn) bailout payment would be delayed until next month. Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chaired a meeting of the eurogroup of single currency finance ministers in Poland on Friday, said officials recognised the renewed efforts by Greece to meet its fiscal targets, but a decision on releasing the next tranche of cash would not be taken until October. The move was met with incredulity by Greek officials. They have already warned they will be out of money by mid-October and are reported to be making contingency plans to lay off public sector workers. Inspectors from the ECB, EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are currently in Athens and should report back on progress in early October, European commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn said – meaning that the next disbursement of aid to Greece from its first bailout could be paid by mid-October. Concerns that statistics from Athens failed to present an accurate picture of its finances were given weight after two members of the government's statistics board resigned and another was quoted as alleging that 2009 deficit data had been artificially inflated in order to ensure bailout funds would be forthcoming.

Why do they always say that ? - if the eurozone breaks up, the EU will not survive? The EU did just fine before the euro hit the scene.
And check this out: "Without the EU,...Mr Rostowski predicted there could be a new war within a generation." So they give the EU all the credit for avoiding war on the European continent over the last 70 years. But correlation does not imply causation, does it? 70 years is really not a very long time, is it? The European peace of the last 70 years could more plausibly be attributed to the vibrant postwar economic environment, to the presence of a large, dangerous and nearby enemy (USSR) and to many other factors, rather than the Brussels bureaucracy. In a continent of free speech, one might be allowed to allege that Eurokrats would rather see half the Greek population destitute before they themselves might be forced to work to retirement rather than cash in on the pig trough stuffed with European sinecures. Let us please hope that this madness ends soon and that the populations of Europe begin to realize that it is just not sustainable.

About the E.U. ? I'm afraid that the only way we will see the end of the euro & the final flourish of the eu is through market forces! The members of that corrupt organisation will fight tooth & nail to protect their ivory towers. We will never see any united statement that they have failed only a continuing, pathetic stream of comments on european unity both politically & economically! Put this stinking corrupt organisation out of its misery & kill it dead!

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Saturday that reports of a draft IMF document showing a 200 billion euro (172 billion pound) shortfall in European banks' capital were misleading and the lender was still finalising its study. "There has been misreporting about the 200 billion euros, this number is tentative," Lagarde told a news conference after G7 and G8 finance talks in the southern French city of Marseille. "This is not a stress test that the IMF conducts nor is it the global capital need for European banking institutions, that it is not, and we are currently in discussions with our European partners to assess the global methodology until we reach a tentative draft. It will be published before the end of September."

Renewed worries about the Eurozone's finances and the state of its banks - particularly the French ones - have sent shares sharply lower again, all but wiping out Tuesday's Bernanke bounce on Wall Street. The US market, which invoked a rule to help prevent turbulence at the open, is down more than 242 points, having started down 75 points and fallen by more than 300 points at its worst so far. Last night the US market mounted a more than 400 rise after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke vowed to keep interest rates low until 2013, but it seems investors are now nervous about what that means for the state of the US economy, and how bad it could get. But attention also moved back to Europe, with news that President Sarkozy was locked in emergency talks with his ministers seeking ways to cut the country's deficit. That prompted rumours that the country was likely to be next to lose its Triple A rating, and also talk that one of its banks could be in trouble in the current financial turmoil, leading to hefty double digit share price falls at the likes of Societe Generale and BNP Paribas. In a note on the rating this week Citigroup said: We expect that France, with its high public debt and deficit, and popular resistance to cutbacks in its even by euro area standards extremely large welfare state is now likely to be the G7 country at the highest risk of losing its AAA rating. The markets appear to share this sentiment with French 10-year spreads over German Bunds reaching 16-years highs on Friday.

IMF: New Agreement Aims Keeping Romania On The Right Track "I know that we have an ambitious agenda with the government in the new program, and I realize that not everything in that program is going to happen. But it's not a question whether you get everything you want, is a question whether you're moving the country in the right direction," Franks said in an interview for Romanian public television channel TVR.

"We're hoping we're helping Romania to move in the right direction," he added

Romania's Government announced a few days ago that the country decided to sign a follow-up agreement, worth EUR5 billion, with the IMF and the European Union to be enforced after a two-year EUR20 billion stand-by deal ends in May. The new agreement will be signed for two years and will be a precautionary deal. Joint teams from the IMF and the EU visited Romania between January 25 and February 8 to review the country's progress under the standby agreement and discuss the terms of a follow-up deal.

There are fears that a mass repatriation of the Japanese yen could destablise the global economy. The world's richest nations have rallied behind Japan in a bid to calm markets over the devastating earthquake and its aftermath. The G7 group, whose members include the United States and the UK, joined the Bank of Japan in stepping into the currency markets to curb the soaring yen. Recognising the damage that a rising national currency could do to an export-dependent economy, the Bank of England, Germany's Bundesbank, the Bank of France and the European Central Bank joined the BoJ on Friday morning in the first co-ordinated intervention by the G7 since the launch of the euro a decade ago. The US Federal Reserve is also expected to participate. The Japanese authorities blamed speculators for the dramatic surge in the yen since the earthquake struck a week ago. Dubbing them "sneaky thieves", Japanese deputy finance minister Fumihiko Igarashi said in an interview with Reuters: "G7 countries agreed that if we caved in to such speculators that took advantage of people's misfortunes, the Japanese economy would be ruined and the whole world economy would be harmed.

Japanese companies lost around 626 billion dollars of their value.
In Europe, the most affected was the German stock exchange, with the DAX index down by around 3.5%, followed by the French one, down more than 2.1% and the British stock exchange, which fell 1.5%. The Bank of Japan flooded the market with 245 billion dollars in cash to make sure there was enough money on the market in case massive amounts left the market.

In Tokyo panic struck when rumours appeared that the level of radiation had risen to 23 times the normal value. The situation stabilised subsequently. However, the level of radiation is still a big concern for the authorities, with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeaki Matsumoto saying its level after the fire at reactor 4 of the Fukushima nuclear plant "could have negative effects on the health" of the population. "At reactor no. 4 there was a fire, there is radiation that could have negative effects on people's health," Matsumoto said. In addition, a strong, magnitude six earthquake struck on Tuesday evening around 120 kilometres South-West of Tokyo

The EU environment ministers, gathered yesterday (14 March) in Brussels for a regular meeting, expressed support for a proposal from Austria to check the security of all the operating nuclear plants in Europe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the three-month suspension of a law aimed at prolonging the activity of old nuclear plants. Two of the 17 operating reactors in Germany are expected to be temporary shut down. During the moratorium "the security of the situation will be assessed in view of what happened in Japan," Merkel said during a press conference in Berlin. The two main parties in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP) and the Social Democrats (S&D), called for security checks to be carried out at all nuclear plants in Europe. Spanish and Portuguese environment representatives (both from socialist governments) went further and called for the gradual phase-out of nuclear energy, echoing the position of the Greens. Britain, France and Italy asked for "calm". France and the UK are the EU countries with the highest number of nuclear reactors, 58 and 19 respectively. Italy has no nuclear plants but has embarked on an ambitious nuclear programme to reduce its dependency on external energy sources. EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard gave assurances that "all necessary measures will be taken," but added that with 143 operating reactors, "nuclear power will be there for quite some time, whatever happens".

Brokers say that, although Romanian entrepreneurs would like to attract money through the Stock Exchange, when they hear about transparency requirements, many change their minds. "There are so many listed companies in the world that are doing very well. I think we are over-secretive and people exaggerate a bit. I don't know of any concrete cases where information published on the Stock Exchange affects a company's activity. The only difference is there are more reports to draw up," says Emanoil Viciu, chairman of Teraplast Bistri]a (TRP), the last company to get listed on the Stock Exchange in 2008 through an initial public offering which helped it raise around 50 million lei (15.6 million euros).
The managers also say the requirements of the capital market as far as transparency and Stock Exchange investors' needs are concerned, only have to do with general information about the company, not detailed information that can, indeed, be more sensitive.

European interest rate setters piled pressure on the continent's most indebted nations after the European Central Bank warned of a rate increase next month that could send Portugal and Ireland closer to bankruptcy. Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB president, said it was possible base rates on the continent could be raised in April to calm inflation, which he said was causing concern and could move further above the central bank's target. Trichet said the ECB was prepared to act "in a firm and timely manner" to prevent inflation from racing out of control. "Strong vigilance is warranted with a view to containing upside risks to price stability," he said. His remarks stunned currency traders, who said his previously careful remarks had been ditched in favour of a harder line. The euro strengthened on Trichet's comments to just below $1.40. However, the prospect of a rise in rates and a stronger currency put the spotlight on countries already paying high interest rates on their debts and would face a jump in costs should base rates go up. Irish political leaders are trying to persuade the EU that the costs of its bailout are punishing and will prevent it from recovering.

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell after U.S. wages failed to keep pace with a surge in energy costs and oil climbed as investors speculated that pro-democracy protests in North Africa will spread to the Arabian peninsula. Carrefour SA, the world’s second-largest retailer, slid 4.4 percent after Citigroup Inc. advised investors to sell the shares. WPP Plc declined 2.6 percent after posting sales growth that failed to match its competitors. SBM Offshore NV, the world’s biggest producer of floating oil rigs, jumped 6.3 percent after earnings beat analysts’ projections. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.6 percent to 281.87 at the 4:30 p.m. close in London. The measure lost 0.8 percent this week as concern that popular protests will spread to Saudi Arabia offset better-than-estimated corporate earnings and signs that the global economy is strengthening. Stocks erased earlier gains today after a U.S. Labor Department report said average hourly earnings failed to grow in February. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had forecast 0.2 percent growth.

Equity funds were the most profitable in the first two months of the year, with yields of up to 8.5%, but since investors lacked fresh money, the funds' performance is below that of the main stock exchange indexes. BCR Expert, an equity fund managed by Erste Asset Management, is the top performer in the first two months of the year, with an 8.53% yield, followed closely by OTP Balansis and Avantis funds, with above 7.6% yields. During the same period, the main stock exchange index BET of the ten most liquid shares, rose 11.3%, while the BET-FI index of the five SIFs (financial investment companies) gained 8.2%. "The yields of equity funds are obtained based on the same volume of assets, considering that some shares in which the funds invested saw declines last month. In order to beat the market, equity fund managers need capital inflows that allow them to adjust their portfolio," said Dragos Neacsu, chairman of management company Erste Asset Management. (Z.F.)house for sale,bucharest,imobiliare,imob,travel,supermarket,

Penny Market, the biggest discount chain in Romania, held by German group Rewe, posted a 4.3% sales rise last year, to over 380 million euros, according to ZF calculations based on data in the annual report of the German group. Penny Market's results round up the list of trade market leaders (Metro Cash&Carry, Carrefour - hypermarkets and Mega Image - supermarkets), which mentioned the performance of the Romanian market in their reports. France's Carrefour, the biggest player in modern retail, saw its Romanian business slip 0.44% last year, while the sales performance of Metro Cash&Carry, the biggest player in modern trade, "was markedly weaker," according to data in the group's report. On the other hand, Penny Market and Mega Image (the most extensive supermarket chain) reported sales increases, though with the help of new stores.
Romanian sales of Penny Market fared the best in the region, considering that the German discount division fell 1.2% last year and the Czech division went up 3.8%. (Z.F.)

Bucharest is in the middle of a ranking of Eastern European cities based on the area of vacant offices, with Budapest, for instance, having nearly twice as many empty buildings, according to ZF calculations, based on data supplied by real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.
Vienna and Prague also have more empty offices than Bucharest, while Warsaw has withstood the crisis better, with a lower stock of unoccupied offices than Bucharest.
Of the 2 million square metres of offices in Bucharest, around 340,000 square metres are unoccupied, with the vacancy rate seeing a major rise over the last two years, from 6.2% to 17%.
Consultants are hoping to see the vacancy rate down towards 14-15% this year, but for now around 80% of the spaces scheduled for completion this year have no tenants. (Z.F)

" Murphy-boy" - My opinion about debt - there!

Debt's awful. I hope this thread doesn't become full of finger wagging and baby boomers who benefited from free education and affordable homes throwing rocks at 22 year olds who've put too much on their credit card.
I've got debt (credit card, graduate loan etc) and I hate it. I have a decent job and I can generally make all my payments but it eats way too much of my disposable income. I'd like to be able to go on holiday every year, and currently I can't. I'm managing too well to be helped by any charities or for IVA to be an option - but it still isn't fun. The CCCS web app just says: reduce your spending on meals at work. Basically I'm doing everything I can, and just about managing (although having to put at least one supermarket shop and travelcard payment a month on Visa does not seem like managing to me). No one ever mentions "increase your income" as a debt solution. You only ever hear "reduce your outgoings". But for me I think the only solution that remains is to find a better paid job.
I am anticipating a redundancy payment next March which, assuming I can find a new job and I don't have to live off it, will help me clear more than half of it (it's a funny thing to be looking forward to), then I think I'm going to have to leave the charity sector and move to something more lucrative. Which is not really what I want to do but I can't see any other option. Hey ho. Wish me luck.traian basescu,emil boc.vadim.radu tudor,imobiliare,restaurante,auto.ro,ziare.ro

Romania and it's billionaires

The nine richest Romanian businessmen on the Stock Exchange have a fortune put at over half a billion euros on the Romanian market in more than 60 listed companies. Their fortune accounts for just 4,2% of the Stock Exchange capitalisation, which stands at 13 billion euros. However, none of them came to the Stock Exchange willingly, but took over companies that had already been listed, especially on the RASDAQ market, where companies were privatised via MEBO (Management and Employee Buyouts) over 10 years ago.

The nine billionaires are as follows: Cătălin Chelu (14 companies - 126 million RON), Cristescu brothers (8 companies - 648 million RON), Ştefan Vuza (7 companies - 281 million RON), Ilie Carabulea (6 companies - 267 million RON), Gheorghe Călburean (5 companies - 337 million RON), Ovidiu Tender (5 companies - 228 million RON), Constantin Boromiz (5 companies - 110 million RON), Cristian Burci (4 companies worth 80.4 million RON), Dan Adamescu (2 companies worth 295 million RON).

NOTE: 1 RON = 4.2 EURO