BRUSSELS, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Europeans’ reluctance to spend
on travel and eating out slowed increases in the cost of living
in the euro zone in November, abbetted by a deteriorating
ability of the economy to generate jobs.

Business surveys, meanwhile, pointed to a continued
contraction in the economy.

Annual inflation in the 17 countries sharing the euro was
2.2 percent in November, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat
said on Friday, falling to just above the European Central
Bank’s target and ending months of sharp price rises.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union reached a landmark deal on Thursday to make the European Central Bank the bloc’s top banking supervisor, giving EU leaders greater confidence that they are gaining the upper hand over the euro zone’s debt crisis.

EU finance ministers forged a deal on the single supervisor in the early hours of Thursday after marathon talks. Leaders will give their stamp of approval at a summit starting later in the day, their last of 2012, and also discuss closer fiscal ties for their troubled currency area. {id:nL5E8ND057]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe clinched a deal on Thursday to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise euro zone banks, embarking on the first step in a new phase of closer integration to help underpin the euro.

After more than 14 hours of talks and following months of tortuous negotiations, finance ministers from the European Union’s 27 countries agreed to hand the ECB the authority to directly police the euro zone’s biggest banks and intervene in smaller banks at the first sign of trouble.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European governments neared a deal on Wednesday to give the European Central Bank new powers to supervise banks across the bloc after Germany signaled a readiness to compromise on the scope of the ambitious financial reform.

Last week German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had clashed openly with his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici over key elements of the plan, but with time running out to meet a year-end deadline, they narrowed their differences, raising hopes of a breakthrough.

BRUSSELS, Dec 12 (Reuters) – European governments neared a
deal on Wednesday to give the European Central Bank new powers
to supervise banks across the bloc after Germany signalled a
readiness to compromise on the scope of the ambitious financial
reform.

Last week German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had
clashed openly with his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici over
key elements of the plan, but with time running out to meet a
year-end deadline, they narrowed their differences, raising
hopes of a breakthrough.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone factory output continued its steep fall in autumn this year, underscoring the feeble domestic demand that risks prolonging the bloc’s recession.

Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell 1.4 percent in October after falling sharply percent in September, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday. That was much worse than the modest growth expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU lawmakers approved free-trade accords with Colombia, Peru and six Central American nations on Tuesday, giving them permanent access to the EU’s 500 million consumers and offering the EU’s stagnant economy new markets for its cars and luxury goods.

Setting aside doubts about Colombia’s human rights record, the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted to allow the deals to come into force next year, building on the eight countries’ separate free trade agreements with the United States.

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Can Europeans, who
have balked for years at many U.S. food imports, accept a free
trade agreement with the United States that opens the door for
imports of genetically modified crops and chickens cleaned with
chlorine?

That’s one of the big questions facing policymakers as the
transatlantic trading partners, both hoping to boost exports to
help their struggling economies, consider launching talks in
2013 on a free trade pact.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A system that made patent registration up to 600 times more expensive in Europe than in China is being scrapped in favor of a one-size-fits-all pan-European process, EU officials said on Monday.

Signing off on a plan first considered in 1973, 25 of the EU’s 27 industry ministers – apart from Spain and Italy – agreed to allow inventors to register their idea with one EU agency.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Union and the United States stepped up their fight against Argentine trade practices on Thursday, formally requesting the World Trade Organization rule on whether the South American country’s import restrictions are illegal.

The move followed similar challenges from Japan and Mexico, meaning Buenos Aires is now embroiled in disputes with four major trade partners, who say its rules discriminate against foreign goods at a time when trade is central to their hopes of an economic recovery.