Ukraine has banned all Russian planes from using its airspace and exports of Russian gas to Ukraine have been halted by state-controlled giant Gazprom.  The decision was announced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a televised government meeting.  Gazprom said it had halted gas deliveries to Ukraine because it had used up all the gas it had paid for.  But Ukraine said it had stopped buying from Gazprom because it could get cheaper gas from Europe.  The airspace ban applies to military planes as well as civil airliners.  "The Ukrainian government has decided to ban all transit flights for all Russian airlines in Ukraine's airspace," said Mr Yatsenyuk.  "The government is instructing [aviation authority] Ukraerorukh, in line with the norms of international law, to inform the Russian Federation that Russian airlines and Russian aircraft do not have the right to use Ukraine's airspace any longer." Following previous clashes over gas supplies, the two countries had agreed that Ukraine would pay for its gas in advance.  But Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said on Wednesday that Ukraine had already used up all the gas it had paid for. In a statement, Mr Miller said that "deliveries have been stopped until the receipt of new payments from the Ukrainian company. "The refusal to buy Russian gas will create serious risks for the reliable transit of gas to Europe through Ukraine and for the supply of gas to Ukrainian consumers during the upcoming winter," he added.

Comisia Europeană a aprobat ajutorul suplimentar pe care Guvernul de la Atena îl va acorda celui mai mare grup bancare elen, Piraeus, pe baza planului de restructurare modificat, realizat după publicarea rezultatelor testelor de stres derulate de Banca Centrală Europeană, transmite Reuters, citată de Agerpres.  BCE a estimat că necesitățile de capital ale Piraeus Bank se ridică la 4,93 miliarde de euro. Din această sumă, banca a obținut 1,94 miliarde de euro de la investitorii privați iar autoritățile de supervizare au aprobat noi acțiuni de majorare a capitalului, în valoare de 271 milioane de euro. Restul de 2,72 miliarde de euro va fi acoperit de Guvernul elen, care va primi în acest scop bani de la fondul de salvare al zonei euro (ESM).  „Comisia Europeană a aprobat ajutorul suplimentar de stat de 2,72 miliarde de euro către Piraeus Bank, în conformitate cu legislația UE privind ajutorul de stat, pe baza planului de restructurare modificat”, se arată în comunicatul instituției.  Necesarul de capital al băncilor din Grecia se ridică la 14,4 miliarde de euro (15,9 miliarde de dolari), potrivit scenariului negativ al testelor de stres anunțat recent de Banca Centrală Europeană, și la 4,4 miliarde de euro, conform scenariului de bază. Multe dintre băncile grecești sunt deținute de stat și mai au doar puțini acționari privați.  Cele patru mari bănci grecești - National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank și Eurobank –au o prezență importantă și pe piața bancară din România.

The worst effects of the European recession risk becoming permanent in places, according to a left-leaning think tank.  The IPPR's latest report pointed to the high level of unemployment and underemployment across Europe and said the chances of these becoming entrenched is "deeply alarming".  It said there was 10% unemployment and a 5% underemployment rate in Europe.

The UK's main problem was low productivity, the IPPR said.  The official unemployment rate for the 28 countries in the EU was 9.3% in September, down from 9.4% the previous month. The rate in the 19 countries that use the euro stood at 10.8%, down from 10.9% in August....The IPPR said that unemployed workers risked being left behind as globalisation and technological progress lead to changes in the skills that employers require. The report suggested that European countries look to Germany as a good example of maintaining workplace skills and high productivity rates.

Germany - Europe's largest economy - invests 50% more on average than other countries in research and development.  The report also found that the UK's in-work training had fallen by 4 percentage points since 2008 - the largest decline for any EU country.  The IPPR said it welcomed the apprenticeship levy and the target for creating three million apprenticeships.

Europe's single currency would come under threat if the Schengen visa-free travel zone fails, EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday, in his first speech to the European Parliament since the attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.  Juncker warned that the euro is pointless if people can't move around freely to use it.  “If the spirit of Schengen leaves us ... we’ll lose more than the Schengen agreement. A single currency doesn’t make sense if Schengen fails,” Juncker told the parliamentarians. “Schengen is one of the main pillars of the construction of Europe,” he added. The Schengen system of open borders has come under pressure as EU member states struggle to stop the influx of refugees - a level of displaced not seen since the end of World War II.  Schengen has 26 members, though a few are not EU states.  It is one of the major achievements of the European Union, allowing for free flow of people and goods. “We have to safeguard the spirit behind the Schengen agreement,” Junkcer said, admitting: “The Schengen system is partly comatose.”ose who believe in Europe, those who believe in its values and principles, freedoms, must breathe new life into the spirit behind Schengen,” he noted. “A single currency doesn’t make sense if Schengen fails,” he repeated. He again warned against equating terrorists with refugees, saying politicians should not exploit the tragic Paris attacks.  “Those who carried out these attacks in Paris, those who incited these attacks, are the same people who are forcing the unlucky of this planet to flee, please dot get things mixed up,” Juncker said. Speaking at the parliament, where legislation on sharing airline passengers’ data has stalled, Junkcer called on MEPs to cover people flying within the EU in the law.  He also confirmed the EU commission willi come forward with proposals on an EU-wide border guard and coast guard system in December, and called for more effective cooperation between European intelligence services.

The worst effects of the European recession risk becoming permanent in places, according to a left-leaning think tank.  The IPPR's latest report pointed to the high level of unemployment and underemployment across Europe and said the chances of these becoming entrenched is "deeply alarming".  It said there was 10% unemployment and a 5% underemployment rate in Europe.  The UK's main problem was low productivity, the IPPR said.  The official unemployment rate for the 28 countries in the EU was 9.3% in September, down from 9.4% the previous month. The rate in the 19 countries that use the euro stood at 10.8%, down from 10.9% in August.  The IPPR said that unemployed workers risked being left behind as globalisation and technological progress lead to changes in the skills that employers require. The report suggested that European countries look to Germany as a good example of maintaining workplace skills and high productivity rates. Germany - Europe's largest economy - invests 50% more on average than other countries in research and development.  The report also found that the UK's in-work training had fallen by 4 percentage points since 2008 - the largest decline for any EU country. The IPPR said it welcomed the apprenticeship levy and the target for creating three million apprenticeships. However, it called on the Chancellor, George Osborne, to hold off making any further cuts to the education and adult skills budget in Wednesday's Spending Review.

"Eurozone economy 'sizzles'"....hahahaha...That's what fat or wet things do when they're dropped into the frying-pan (or the fire).The action is elsewhere...The Italian government has permitted other healthy note banks to bail out 4 minor banks from foul hanging debt, and interestingly their taxpayers won't foot the bill. Believe it ? I wonder how many other fledging sparkasse banks elsewhere in the EU would dream of that alliance ? Things aren't so sound, as the author portrays otherwise....Since a couple of months Draghi has been mouthing QE, even more negative deposit rates. Thus I would expect a group of business people whose focus and whose businesses evaluate their performance upon short and early middle-term - purchasing managers - to come in with this informed predictions.  Predictions they are and generally the actuals cause them to be recast (sorry readjusted) down by a meaningful portion. Also PMI for Germany is largely meaningless: IFO does it better and normally somewhat blacker than PMI.  These PMI numbers have been contrived better by Draghi's remarks. One can't help wondering if his oratory had been so good as to have pumped them even higher if his move to QE+ would have been questioned. Maybe Draghi wants QE+ questioned...Central bank watchers believe that Mario Draghi, the ECB president, could unveil both interest rate cuts and an expansion of an existing eurozone quantitative easing programme next week.  “With recent comments highlighting how the central bank remains disappointed with the strength of the upturn at this stage of the recovery, November’s slightly improved PMI reading will no doubt do little to dissuade policymakers that more needs to be done,” said Mr Williamson. The Markit survey showed signs of "ongoing deflationary pressures", linked to a fall in commodity prices. The French economy could stand to benefit from looser ECB policy after the November PMI showed that business activity rose at the slowest pace in three months.

Today's BS from the press...EU is in fact on the brink of bankruptcy !

The eurozone economy started to “sizzle” in November, as leading surveys showed that the currency bloc is growing at its fastest rate since early 2011. The euro area purchasing managers’ index (PMI) climbed 0.5 points to 54.4, beating the 53.9 expected by analysts. Any number above 50 would suggest that private sector companies are expanding. Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, which compiles the PMI data, said that the figures showed “a welcome acceleration of eurozone growth”. The report signalled that the eurozone GDP would grow by 0.4pc in the final quarter of the year. Growth of 0.5pc could be achieved “if we get even a modest uptick in December”, Mr Williamson said...Central bank watchers believe that Mario Draghi, the ECB president, could unveil both interest rate cuts and an expansion of an existing eurozone quantitative easing programme next week. “With recent comments highlighting how the central bank remains disappointed with the strength of the upturn at this stage of the recovery, November’s slightly improved PMI reading will no doubt do little to dissuade policymakers that more needs to be done,” said Mr Williamson. The Markit survey showed signs of "ongoing deflationary pressures", linked to a fall in commodity prices. The French economy could stand to benefit from looser ECB policy after the November PMI showed that business activity rose at the slowest pace in three months. ... Wowwwww...what a bunch of crap !!!!!