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The European Union's unanimous resolve to punish Russia for its aggression in Ukraine appeared to be cracking as French, German, Austrian and Italian leaders voiced concern at an alliance summit of inflicting too much pain on Moscow as its economy tumbles.

French President Francois Hollande was the first to step out of the 28-nation bloc's collective drive for further sanctions on Russia when they were discussed at a summit in Brussels on Thursday night.

"There were no new sanctions [adopted], because there should not be," Hollande told reporters after the session. He said the leaders had agreed to maintain the status quo in hopes of seeing the Kremlin follow through on recent hints that it is pressing pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine to honor a shaky cease-fire.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers on his recent calls for peace in embattled eastern Ukraine "then there is no need for new sanctions -- on the contrary, in that case we should think about how we too could begin to de-escalate," Hollande said, according to the Deutsche Welle news agency.

France is one of the countries whose own economies have been hit by the sanctions against Russia. Delivery of two Mistral aircraft carriers built under contract for Russia has been canceled by Paris in conformance with a European Union and U.S. ban on sales of weapons and military assets to Russia.

Hollande's appeal for the European allies to keep sanctions relief on the table as a carrot to reward any positive changes in Russia's behavior toward Ukraine struck a chord with others in the alliance.

The European Union's new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, warned that pushing Russia into a deeper economic crisis was in nobody's interest.

"The fact that Russia is in a difficult situation from a financial point of view is not good news, not for the Russian citizens, not for Ukraine and not for Europe and the rest of the world," she said after the Thursday night meeting.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Italian Prime MinisterMatteo Renzi also expressed their opposition to any further economic pressures on Russia, which has seen its currency, the ruble, battered by the sharp fall in global oil prices and withering capital flight as foreign investors scuttle their Russian operations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been heading the camp of EU leaders committed to keeping the economic pressure on the Kremlin until Putin reverses his illegal seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region and makes visible efforts to keep Russian arms and fighters out of eastern Ukraine.

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European leaders warn against too much economic pain on Russia

Opening up of goods and services sector will be the key: European Parliament Member

London, December 19:

India and the European Union should set themselves realistic goals for a future trade agreement, Geoffrey Van Orden, head of the European Parliaments delegation on relations with India, said.

In an interview with BusinessLine, Van Orden, said he remained optimistic that a trade accord which has been on the cards for nearly a decade could move forward, if both sides were willing to give each other a clear signal. Each side seems to be holding back India has had elections and a change of government and at the EU weve had a new Commission and new Parliament but now there is no excuse not to get moving forward on this, Orden said.

Orden, a member of the European Parliament representing Britains Conservative Party, took over as chair of the delegation in October, and set economic relations and trade agreement as the priority for his group over the parliamentary term. I have a great deal of admiration of respect for [Prime Minister] Modi. It seems to me he is a man we can do business with and weve got to seize that opportunity. I hope that we can do our bit to move the relationship forward. He hopes an EU-India summit could be held early next year which he believes will be crucial to breaking the impasse.

I would prefer that we set realistic goals that we can achieve if we set the bar too high we will all be disappointed so let us try and find areas which will be to the mutual benefit and targets that are achievable.

Among the realistic goals would be opening up of the service sector in India, Orden said. There will have to be a bit of a dis-equilibrium in favour of India but not to the extent that it is there now. He added that opening up of goods and services, such as the auto sector, would also be the key. There is an enormous disparity where India benefits colossally, he said.

There is a lot to be done to the mutual benefit Its not the question of slicing up a small pie. Its a growing pie and there is an opportunity for everybody to the benefit of all Indian people.

While the new government is yet to set out its policy on a trade agreement with Europe, the EU has been pushing forward with a trans-Atlantic trade and investment partnership with the US, though European Commission officials have insisted they remain equally committed to reaching a deal with India.

(This article was published on December 19, 2014)

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India, European Union should set realistic goals for trade

The European Union threatened to raise tariffs on solar glass from China, saying EU producers may need extra protection from Chinese competitors.

The EU began a review of duties already as high as 36.1 percent that are meant to punish Chinese solar-glass exporters such as Xinyi PV Products (Anhui) Holdings Ltd. for allegedly selling the renewable-energy technology in Europe below cost, a practice known as dumping.

The bloc imposed the anti-dumping levies in May for five years in a bid to aid European solar-glass producers such as GMB Glasmanufaktur Brandenburg GmbH. EU ProSun Glass, a group representing such manufacturers, now says the duty rates arent high enough, according to the bloc.

EU ProSun Glass has provided sufficient evidence that export prices have decreased and there has been insufficient movement in resale prices or subsequent selling prices in the union since the duties were imposed, the European Commission, the 28-nation blocs trade authority in Brussels, said today in the Official Journal. The review, known as an absorption reinvestigation, will last nine months.

The five-year anti-dumping duties range from 0.4 percent to 36.1 percent, depending on the Chinese exporter. When imposing these measures, the EU also hit Chinese solar-glass exporters with a parallel set of five-year levies to counter alleged subsidies by China. The anti-subsidy duties range from 3.2 percent to 17.1 percent.

Solar glass is used in solar panels, which are themselves the target of European anti-dumping and anti-subsidy levies against China.

The EU solar-glass market is valued at less than 200 million euros ($245 million), the commission said when it opened a dumping inquiry in February 2013 that led to the five-year anti-dumping levies against China.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net Jones Hayden, Andrew Clapham

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China Solar-Glass Exports May Face Increase in EU Duties

The 2016 Presidential Election and the European Union
Full show here: http://goo.gl/w5UKfy. Jan Markell talks with White House News Correspondent Bill Koenig about his insights into the 2016 Presidential election. Then Eric Barger joins Jan...

By: Jan Markell

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The 2016 Presidential Election and the European Union - Video

The Ghost of Xmas Future: Christmas in the EU
Steven Woolfe MEP explains what the European Union has done to Christmas F: http://www.facebook.com/theukip T: http://www.twitter.com/ukip W: http://www.ukip.org/join.

By: UKIP Official Channel

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The Ghost of Xmas Future: Christmas in the EU - Video