The Commission has today adopted a communication on shadow banking and proposed new rules for money market funds (MMFs). The communication is a follow-up to last year's Green Paper on Shadow Banking (IP/12/253). It summarises the work undertaken so far by the Commission and sets out possible further actions in this important area. The first of these further actions - the proposed new rules for money market funds – is unveiled today and aims to ensure that MMFs can better...

Global efforts to battle trade protectionism need to be reinforced to help shield the fragile economic recovery across the world. In a report released today, the European Commission identified about 150 new trade restrictions introduced over the last year, whereas only 18 existing measures have been dismantled. A total of almost 700 new measures have been identified since October 2008, when the European Commission started monitoring global protectionist trends. Although the trend is slower than it was in 2011 and...

Recently released economic figures and survey data suggest that the EU's economy is beginning to gain momentum. GDP rose by 0.3% in the EU in the second quarter of 2013, signaling subtle signs of a recovery. EU Commission Vice-President Olli Rehn's blog explains. Read more.

European Commission - IP/13/790   23/08/2013 In August 2013, the DG ECFIN flash estimate of the consumer confidence indicator improved markedly in both the euro area (-15.6 after -17.4 in July 2013) and the EU (-12.8 after -14.8 in July 2013). Computation of Flash CCI To compute the flash consumer confidence indicator for the EU and euro area, DG ECFIN uses the data available on the cut-off date. The estimation procedure combines historical data with information from those Member States for which...

On 16 July 2013, the European Union (Alternative Investment Fund Managers) Regulations 2013 (No. 257 of 2013) (the “Regulations”) were signed into Irish law, giving effect to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the “AIFMD”) in Ireland. The transposition of the AIFMD into Irish law follows the announcement by the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) on 15 May 2013, that it was accepting applications under the AIFMD. In conjunction with this, the Central Bank published revised Application Forms,...

Euro area annual inflation stable at 1.6% - EU stable at 1.7% Euro area1 annual inflation was 1.6% in July 20132, stable compared with June. A year earlier the rate was 2.4%. Monthly inflation was -0.5% in July 2013. European Union3 annual inflation was 1.7% in July 2013, stable compared with June. A year earlier the rate was 2.5%. Monthly inflation was -0.4% in July 2013. These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In July 2013, the lowest...

Euro area international trade in goods surplus 17.3 bn euro - 9.9 bn euro surplus for EU27 The first estimate for the euro area/1 (EA17) trade in goods balance with the rest of the world in June 2013 gave a 17.3 billion euro surplus, compared with +12.8 bn in June 2012. The May 2013/2 balance was +14.5 bn, compared with +6.2 bn in May 2012. In June 2013 compared with May 2013, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 3.0% and imports...

The GDP flash estimates for the second quarter of 2013 for the euro area and the EU27 have just been released by Eurostat (STAT/13/122). Euro area and EU27 GDP are both up by 0.3% this quarter. In light of these and other recent indicators, Vice-President Rehn has made the following comments: "Today's figures, when combined with other recent positive survey data are encouraging and suggest the European economy is gradually gaining momentum. They support the European Commission’s 2013 spring forecast and its projections for a subdued, mild recovery in the second half of...