BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, April 24 (Reuters) – Obstacles to
Hungary’s financial aid talks with the IMF have been
“practically removed”, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on
Tuesday, but the European Commission’s top official insisted
after a meeting between the two that more discussion was needed.

The EU’s executive Commission, at odds with Orban over his
overhaul of the Hungarian constitution and hundreds of laws,
halted talks on an IMF loan last December, citing legislation
the Commission believes undermines the independence of Hungary’s
central bank.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Spain’s budget deficit was confirmed at 8.5 percent of economic output in 2011 by the EU’s statistics office Eurostat on Monday, dispelling doubts about the new Spanish government’s reading of its national accounts.

The latest flare-up in the euro zone’s debt crisis was partly sparked Madrid announcing it had inherited a worse-than-expected deficit from its predecessor.

BRUSSELS, April 23 (Reuters) – Hungary appears no closer to
convincing European officials it can restart talks over
financial aid ahead of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to
Brussels this week and behind the scenes that may suit the
maverick leader.

The European Commission, already at odds with Orban over his
aggressive, centralising style, halted talks on an International
Monetary Fund loan last December, citing legislation it said
undermined the independence of Hungary’s central bank.

BRUSSELS, April 17 (Reuters) – The European Union is seeking
the power to punish governments who massage their economic
statistics, aiming to stamp out political meddling that allowed
Greece to lie about its borrowings and trigger a debt crisis
across the euro zone.

New rules proposed by the European Commission on Tuesday
would allow the EU to apply sanctions on countries who fail to
safeguard the independence of national statistics institutes or
make politically-motivated appointments, saying statistics
chiefs should be “entirely autonomous in their work.”

BRUSSELS, April 17 (Reuters) – The EU’s statistics agency
revised upwards its March inflation reading for the euro zone on
Tuesday, adding to the case for the European Central Bank to
hold back from further monetary stimulus.

Costlier oil pushed consumer prices higher.

Prices in the 17 nations sharing the euro were up 2.7
percent in March from a year ago, Eurostat said on Tuesday, the
same level as in February but up from a first estimate for March
of 2.6 percent.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Shoppers in the euro zone cut back on their spending in February as households faced stubborn inflation, growing unemployment lines and pay freezes across the public and private sector.

Retail sales in the 17 countries using the euro fell 0.1 percent month on month, Eurostat said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales volumes to be unchanged.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Unemployment in the euro zone reached its highest level in almost 15 years in February, with more than 17 million people out of work, and economists said they expected job office queues to grow even longer later this year.

Joblessness in the 17-nation currency zone rose to 10.8 percent – in line with a Reuters poll of economists – and 0.1 points worse than in January, Eurostat said on Monday.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – It is a club that is open to all of Europe, but not all members are equal.

As the euro zone debt crisis forces the currency area to integrate more closely to survive, those outside the bloc but in the European Union are worried that they will be left as junior partners without a say.