Mediaboss Marketing

The European Union sought ways on Saturday to marshal billions of euros into its sluggish economy without getting deeper into debt, considering options from a pan-European capital market to a huge investment fund.

With Europe's economy struggling to recover from the worst financial crisis in a generation, EU finance ministers tasked the European Commission, the EU executive, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) to draw up a list of projects that would create growth and decide how to finance them.

"We have given a mandate to the Commission and the EIB to swiftly present an initial report on practical measures that can be taken, on profitable investment projects that are justifiable," Italy's economy minister, Pier Carlo Padoan, told a news conference.

Ministers are expected to discuss the projects and investment tools at their next meeting in Luxembourg in October.

There were no details of what those projects might be.

To finance them, the ministers discussed four ideas: an Italian paper on new financing tools for companies, a Franco-German proposal on how to boost private investments, a Polish proposal on creating a joint EU fund worth 700 billion euros ($907 billion) and a call from incoming European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for a 300-billion euro investment program to revive the European economy.

The European Central Bank's plan to resurrect a market for asset-backed securities would be another financing tool.

"We don't have a magic wand but we need growth, we need to stimulate demand without taking on debt," France's finance minister, Michel Sapin, told reporters after the gathering in Milan. "We need the right mix of public and private money."

The European Union's economy, which generates about a quarter of global output, grew by just 0.1 percent last year and its jobless rate is almost double that of the United States, with around 25 million people unemployed.

Investment is the new buzz word among ministers, overriding the German mantra of budget cuts. Germany is under pressure from France and Italy to loosen the fiscal reins and use its overflowing government coffers to ramp up public investment.

Original post:
EU Seeks Billions Of Euros To Revive Economy, Plans To Spur Growth

BERLIN: The European Union's new economic sanctions against Russia are a "mistake" because they were imposed just as a week-old ceasefire was bringing calm to the embattled east of Ukraine, the leader of a German business lobby group was quoted saying on Sunday.

Eckard Cordes, chairman of Germany's Committee on Eastern European Economic relations, said his group, which represents the interests of about 200 companies with investments in Russia, had wanted sanctions to be delayed to help bolster the ceasefire.

"We had hoped that the ceasefire could be strengthened by delaying the sanctions," Cordes told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, calling them a "mistake."

"The new sanctions will not help to relieve tensions. We're probably at the start of a perilous spiral of sanctions."

The United States and European Union imposed new sanctions against Russia on Friday, tightening financial measures against Moscow over its intervention in Ukraine.

Sanctions from the EU would limit access by Russian oil companies to funds. Sanctions from the United States hit Russia's biggest bank and an arms maker, and bar US firms from helping five Russian oil firms explore hard to reach deposits.

Cordes' group has said German exports to Russia could fall as much as 20-25 per cent this year due to the effect of sanctions.

Germany Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said, however, he believed the sanctions would have an effect on Putin.

"I very much hope so," Gabriel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "Russia's economic situation is already far from good. But at the same time everything must be done to get all parties involved back to the negotiating table."

Germany is Russia's biggest trading partner in the European Union and sold about 36 billion euros of goods there last year - almost a third of the EU's total.

See the article here:
German business lobby group calls European Union sanctions a mistake

Combatting Ebola in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is among the countries recording the largest number of cases and deaths from Ebola. Watch how a medical treatment centre operated by Medecines Sans Frontiers (MSF) in Kailahun,...

By: European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

See the article here:
Combatting Ebola in Sierra Leone - Video

Obama Says U.S. To Outline New Russia Sanctions On Friday
President Barack Obama said on Thursday the United States will join the European Union in imposing tougher sanctions on Russia #39;s financial, energy and defense sectors after Moscow sent troops...

By: Nirvana News

Excerpt from:
Obama Says U.S. To Outline New Russia Sanctions On Friday - Video

Doing business in Russia, despite the economic sanctions - economy
Economic sanctions are one way that the European Union and the United States hope to get the Kremlin to stop backing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. But they are double-edged:...

By: euronews (in English)

View original post here:
Doing business in Russia, despite the economic sanctions - economy - Video