Massive monetary expansion defers vital structural reforms in the advanced world, writes Dan Steinbock.

Related Stories

• Overhaul football transfer system, commission says
• Germany shoots down Hollande's exchange rate plea
• EU edges toward Canada free trade deal

Cyprus is offering visa-free travel throughout Europe for any Chinese person with enough money to buy into a permanent residency scheme, reports the Guardian. Most are attracted to Pafos where some 90 percent of the 600 properties sold from August to October were from Chinese buyers.

EU officials are expected to set up a €5 billion fund to tackle the youth unemployment crisis, reports Reuters. The plans are to be discussed during Thursday's summit of EU leaders in Brussels. More than 50 percent of young people are without jobs in Greece and Spain.

Police have cracked down on migrant smuggling gangs throughout Europe, reports the Guardian. Raids in England, Scotland, France and Belgium were carried out in some 70 individual addresses. The gangs were charging mostly Afghan, Pakistani, and Iraqi nationals up to €7,000 a head to get into the UK.

A report by the New York-based Open Society Foundation on Tuesday says it identified a total of 136 named victims and describes the complicity of 54 foreign governments. “The time has come for the US and its partner governments to own up to the truth," said a foundation spokesperson.

EU leaders are gathering in Brussels for more horse-trading on the Union's budget, with any agreement having to satisfy penny-counting member states without alienating MEPs.

Related Stories

• Hollande ready to compromise on EU budget
• EU summit starts six hours late, as Germany piles on pressure
• EU parliament chief fires warning shot at budget hawks

The German government has moved quickly to shoot down a plea by French President Francois Hollande for the EU to agree measures to control the euro's exchange rate.

Related Stories

• Overhaul football transfer system, commission says
• Overhaul football transfer system, commission says
• Hollande ready to compromise on EU budget

The German government has moved quickly to shoot down a plea by French President Francois Hollande for the EU to agree measures to control the euro's exchange rate.

Related Stories

• Overhaul football transfer system, commission says
• Germany shoots down Hollande's exchange rate plea
• Hollande ready to compromise on EU budget

The leader of Tunisia's secular opposition Chokri Belaid was shot dead outside his home in Tunis on Wednesday, reports the BBC. News of the assassination reportedly prompted immediate protest. "There are many enemies of our peaceful revolution. And they're determined to ensure it fails," said President Moncef Marzouki.

Deputies at the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday voted to support measures to reduce overfishing by 2015 and allow fish stocks to recover to sustainable levels. EU fleets can no longer overfish in foreign waters. The measures also promote small-scale fishing to help reduce discard and waste.

Kosovo's foreign minister has said that a meeting between the Presidents of Kosovo and Serbia is "de facto recognition" by Serbia of Kosovo's independence.

Germany still defends the position that the 2014-2020 EU budget should not be higher than one trillion euro, including the 2% yearly inflation adjustments, a German official has said. "There is still room for considerable cuts" in the administrative envelope including EU officials' salaries, the source added.

"We are convinced that exchange rates reflect the economic fundamentals, especially flexible ones. We are open to a discussion with France about it, but the German government doesn't think that an exchange rate policy is an appropriate instrument to boost competitiveness," Steffen Seibert, spokesman of the German government said Wednesday.

The euro's exchange rate "reflects the fundamental data of the European economy," Luxembourg finance minister Luc Frieden told Bloomberg. French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday said the euro exchange rate is too strong and hampers economic recovery. Frieden also pointed out that last year the euro was considered "incredibly weak."

The German government has decided to organise the country's general elections on 22 September, a government spokesman said Wednesday. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats are leading in the polls, but the Socialist-Green opposition has chances to form a government if the Liberals don't score enough to remake Merkel's current coalition.

The French assault force is to start pulling out of Mali next month, as EU military advisors and African soldiers move in, with talk of UN peacekeepers down the line.

Related Stories

• EU ministers raise alarm on Mali executions
• Nato chief: Mali shows holes in EU defence
• [Interview] Mali miracle: EU states in agreement

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will meet Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as the EU executive steps up its bid to secure the latest in a series of lucrative free trade agreements.

Related Stories

• [Opinion] The monetary masquerade

British Prime Minister David Cameron is prepared to leave EU budget negotiations without a deal on Thursday and Friday, if other EU leaders do not accept a freeze or more cuts to the bloc's budget for 2014-2020, his spokesman said. A first attempt to reach a deal failed in November.

The University of Duesseldorf has decided to strip education minister Annette Schavan of her doctorate after it found that the thesis was plagiarised. Schavan said she would sue the panel. The Social-Democratic opposition is calling for her resignation. Several other ministers from Merkel's coalition have earlier quit over plagiarism.

EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy warned member states not to lose sight of the "bigger picture" in what he expects to be "difficult, lengthy and messy" talks on the EU budget for 2014-2020 on Thursday. Van Rompuy said he will propose a multi-billion youth employment initiative.