Click to enlarge photo The aim is to get the public deficit -- the shortfall in the annual accounts -- back to 2.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product by 2013, under the European Union's three percent limit. Last year's deficit soared to 9.3 percent of GDP from 2.8

The CHART OF THE DAY shows Italy’s real unemployment rate in red, calculated by adding laborers paid by the fund known as cassa integrazione, or CIG, to the official rate, in green. The euro-area average is in blue. The CIG pays laid off employees about 80 percent of their salaries for as lo

The European Commission on Tuesday predicted that the EU and eurozone will grow in 2010 at a modest rate of 0.7 per cent. In May, it forecast that the economies would likely shrink 0.1 per cent in 2010. The EU executive said a "better-than-expected" rebound in the second half of 2009...