BRUSSELS, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Popular support for European
Union membership has fallen to a nine-year low within the 27
countries in the bloc, a poll showed on Thursday.

The yearly Eurobarometer survey was carried out in May when
the EU was hit by sovereign-debt problems and when some member
states were in recession.

BRUSSELS, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Euro zone industrial new orders
rose slightly more than expected during the month of June, data
showed on Monday, boding well for economic growth in the third
quarter of 2010.

Industrial orders in the 16-nation currency zone increased
2.5 percent month-on-month for a 22.6 percent annual gain,
European Union statistics office Eurostat said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators launched two anti-trust investigations against International Business Machines Corp, suspecting it of abusing its dominant position in the mainframe computer market.

One investigation followed complaints by emulator software vendors T3 Technologies Inc and TurboHercules against IBM’s practices, and focuses on the U.S. computer group’s alleged tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system.

BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) – European Union competition
regulators launched two anti-trust investigations against
International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), suspecting it of
abusing its dominant position in the mainframe computer
market.

One investigation followed complaints by emulator software
vendors T3 Technologies Inc and TurboHercules against IBM’s
practices, and focuses on the U.S. computer group’s alleged
tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone economic sentiment rose strongly in July, buoyed by figures from Germany that point to a recovery as the currency area overcomes the sovereign debt crisis, but the outlook remains uncertain.

The European Commission said its economic sentiment indicator for the 16-nation currency area rose to 101.3 in July, a 28-month high, from an upwardly revised 99.0 in June. Economists polled by Reuters expected the index to stay at 99.0.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union competition regulators launched two anti-trust investigations against International Business Machines Corp, suspecting it of abusing its dominant position in the mainframe computer market.

One investigation followed complaints by emulator software vendors T3 and TurboHercules against IBM’s practices, and focuses on the U.S. computer group’s alleged tying of mainframe hardware to its mainframe operating system.

BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) – The European Union is expected to clinch a deal on a sweeping reform of how banks, insurers and markets are supervised by September at the latest, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday.

The reform is deadlocked due to disagreement between EU governments and the European Parliament over how much power the three new pan-EU authorities will have to intervene in a country that is not following European financial rules properly.

BRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) – The euro zone’s emergency loan
facility should be operational this month, finance ministers
said on Monday, expressing hope Slovakia would cease to block
the activation of the 440 billion euro ($554 billion) fund.

The special-purpose vehicle, called the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF), is being set up to provide temporary
financing to euro zone countries in trouble and its activation
needs the signatures of all 16 countries in the currency area.

BRUSSELS, July 12 (Reuters) – The euro zone’s emergency loan
facility should be operational this month, finance ministers
said on Monday, expressing hope Slovakia would cease to block
the activation of the 440 billion euro ($554 billion) fund.

The special-purpose vehicle, called the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF), is being set up to provide temporary
financing to euro zone countries in trouble but its activation
needs the signatures of all 16 countries in the currency area.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union finance ministers will try to agree the fine points of bank stress tests when they meet next week and break a deadlock in talks on new financial supervisors, EU diplomats and officials said.

Meeting on Monday and Tuesday, they will also press Slovakia to stop balking at signing an accord needed to launch a 440 billion euro ($554 billion) support mechanism for euro zone countries in financial trouble.