Finance & Economics | WPN World People News

The OECD has set out a path for Latvia’s accession to the Organisation, reinforcing a commitment to extend its global membership.

Foreign affairs MEPs praised Commissioner Stefan Füle's approach of "fundamentals first" in assessing countries' readiness for EU membership, in a debate with him on Wednesday. They also backed the Commission's fifth recommendation to the Council to open accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM).

Anne Jensen

The OECD is to review its chemical hazard assessment programme with the aim of providing a more specialised service for member countries from 2015.

Consumer prices, all items, G20
August 2013, percentage change on the same month of the previous year

1. See remarks on Argentina and G20 in the technical note
2. Percentage change Q2 2012 to Q2 2013
3. July 2013

Companies, citizens and public authorities wanting to strike cross-border deals should have access to easy and trustworthy ways to sign and certify documents, said Parliament's Industry Committee on Monday. To this end, it endorsed a draft EU law that would require EU member states to recognise each other's electronic identification systems.

Countries must adopt new economic policies to adjust to structural changes in the world economy sparked by the onset of the global financial crisis five years ago, according to a new United Nations report.

A White House meeting with congressional leaders was postponed Monday afternoon to give negotiators more time to work out a plan to avert a default on the nation's debt and end the partial government shutdown. Analysts warn failure to resolve the budget and borrowing issues by Thursday could have serious ramifications for the US and global economy.

Rapporteur for rules on dealing with struggling banks Elisa Ferreira (S&D, PT) backed the key tenets of the Commission's proposal on Monday, including placing the EU executive at the heart of the system.