'Definitive and effective immediately' says Buttiglione

(ANSA) - Rome, January 30 - The House approved a salary cut for deputies on Monday.

"The decision is definitive and effective immediately," said Rocco Buttiglione, deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house).

The extent of the cuts has yet to be outlined, though it was indicated that the highest earners would be affected the most.

The average Italian lawmaker's gross pay is higher than anywhere else in Europe.

Operations in submerged part of vessel not safe

(ANSA) - Rome, January 31 - Italian officials on Tuesday decided to definitively stop searching for the 15 people missing following the wreck of the Costa Concordia in the parts of the cruise ship that are under water.

Officials said it was not safe to continue operations in these areas of the ship, which has been lying semi-submerged off the Tuscan island of Giglio since the January 13 disaster.

The decision is pending confirmation by an expert committee.

Rescuers have found the bodies of 17 people killed in the disaster.

The search for the missing people will continue in the parts of the ship that are not under water and in the open waters in the area of the wreck.

The priority now is for salvage teams to avert an environmental disaster in the marine reserve the ship is lying in by extracting its fuel before it starts leaking.

It has not been possible to start removing the fuel so far because of bad weather.

Officials have said it will take up to 10 months to remove the ship, an estimate that has sparked alarm among islanders on Giglio, who are worried about the impact on tourism.

Cyprus News Agency: 12-01-31

Unemployment rate in Cyprus reached 9.3% in December 2011, marking the second highest increase in a year across the EU.

According to figures released by the statistical office of the European Union (Eurostat), the highest yearly increases were registered in Greece (13.9% to 19.2% between October 2010 and October 2011), Cyprus (6.1% to 9.3%) and Spain (20.4% to 22.9%).

The euro area unemployment rate was 10.4% in December 2011, unchanged compared with November of the same year. It was 10.0% in December 2010. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.9% in December 2011, also unchanged compared with November. It was 9.5% in December 2010.

Source:Athens News Agency: 12-01-30

AMNA / "Greek consumers have made a turn towards their homes, family and friends, boosting household consumption, searching for better prices and products. In this environment, the current economic crisis offers opportunities to those enterprises that will react by timely strengthening their position in the market," a report by Boston Consulting Group stated on Monday.

The report, on Greek consumers’ sentiment, showed that 85 pct of consumers said they would lower their spending in the coming months, up 32 percentage points compared with the same report published seven months ago.

The report also showed that 18 pct of consumers have transferred their savings abroad, while only 24 pct consumers said they would buy Greek products, saying they could afford to pay for their higher prices. Some 65 pct of consumers said they faced a financial problem, while 56 pct said they felt insecure, whereas the percentage of respondents worried over losing their jobs doubled compared with the previous report.

However, the crisis offers opportunities, Vasilis Antoniadis, head of BCG in Greece and Camille Egloff, BCG managing director, said. They stressed that Greek companies willing to act decisively by reviewing prices, adopting new technology, new trends and a more efficient promotion policy, would gain a large share of the market.

Source: MaltaStar | 25 January 2012

The European Commission said it has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether a €130 million restructuring aid for the Maltese state-owned airline Air Malta is in line with EU state aid rules.

The European Commission today expressed doubts whether the notified restructuring plan of Air Malta complies with the requirements of the 2004 EU Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines.

The European Commission is concerned that the forecasts on long-term viability may not be realistic enough and that the proposed capacity reduction may not be appropriate to compensate for the distortions of competition created by the state support.

The European Commission also has doubts whether Air Malta's own contribution to the restructuring cost is sufficient.

Finally, the Commission needs more information to determine whether Air Malta is eligible for restructuring aid in view of a capital injection carried out by Malta in 2004.

The Commission will examine in particular whether the planned measures are appropriate to restore the company's long-term viability and whether they ensure sufficient compensation for the distortions of competition triggered by the state support. The opening of an in-depth investigation allows interested third parties to comment on the measures under investigation. It does not prejudge the final outcome.

In November 2010, the Commission authorised a loan facility of €52 million for Air Malta as rescue aid. The Maltese authorities committed themselves to notify a restructuring plan within 6 months after the rescue aid decision.

In May 2011, Malta notified the Commission a €130 million capital increase. This is to help restructure the company, which has experienced financial difficulties for several years. The underlying restructuring plan covers a five year restructuring period from 2011 to 2016.

The European Commission believes that rescue and restructuring aid is highly distortive of competition as it artificially keeps a company in the market that would otherwise have exited it. The Rescue and Restructuring Guidelines require that the restructuring plan enables the company to become viable in the long-term on the basis of realistic assumptions. This is to avoid that a company keeps asking for public support. The plan must foresee measures to reduce the distortions of competition induced by the state support, such as the reduction of capacity or market share. Furthermore, the beneficiary needs to make a significant own contribution to the costs of restructuring. Finally, restructuring aid may be granted only once over a period of ten years ('one time, last time' principle).