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Reporter: How are you affected by the state of Romania"s economy and the context of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe?

All of the leaders of the EU say wacky things at times, but French president Nicolas Sarkozy sure takes the grand prize:

South African investment fund New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) intends to perform an underwritten rights offering which targets all the shareholders of the company, who are looking to raise approximately 40 million Euros.

The airline industry is vital for the economy, and has a high potential for growth, Joaquin Almunia, vice-president of the European Commission and Competition Commissioner said on Friday.

There are suspicions that banks have been manipulating the index of the money market, and investigations on the matter have been launched on a national and European level, Bogdan Chiriţoiu, the president of the Competition Council said on Friday.

The European Commission is reviewing the contracts which "Hidroelectrica" concluded with "Arcelor Mittal" Galaţi and "Alro" Slatina, as well as with some of the retail energy distributors, claiming that they were concluded...

Major excitement in Libya after the capture of former leader Muammar Gadhafi was announced. The announcement was made by a commander of the troops of the National Transition Council, and the information was disseminated by the press in Tripoli.

Violent protests continued yesterday in Greece, a country which has been paralyzed by the second day of the strike which began in protest against the government"s austerity measures, due to pressure from its international creditors.

Negotiations between the European leaders - France and Germany - concerning the solutions to the sovereign debt crisis, and the plan which is set to be adopted at the summit of October 23rd, in Brussels, seem tense.

On November 24th, the shareholders of Prefab Bucureşti will review the proposal of the Board of Directors to take on bank loans of up to 20 million Euros to support its output this year, as well as its investment program for the 2011-2012 period.

The Romanian authorities should streamline the tax collection process, lower the Social Security contributions and the VAT rate, according to the suggestions included in the current edition of the White Book, which was launched yesterday, by the...

Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday, the day after tomorrow is Saturday, and on Sunday, the leaders of the European Union, in their reunion in Brussels, are supposed to find the miraculous solution which would end the sovereign debt crisis -...

Bonds issuers in the region are far healthier than those in Western Europe, says Dan Popovici, investment director of OTP Asset Management.

The negative outlook of a potential downgrade of France, which was announced on Monday by Moody"s, seems to be something which the Hexagon has been heading towards, despite any warnings from foreign experts and despite the strong promises of...

The hope that the sovereign debt crisis would be solved at the reunion of the heads of the EU states, one week from now, was shot down by Angela Merkel, German chancellor, whose spokesperson, (Steffen Seibert) said yesterday, in a press...

The profitability of the banking system will continue to fall this year due to increasingly high operating costs, and certain small banks, which aren"t specialized, might exit the market, Răsvan Radu, the CEO of UniCredit Ţiriac Bank considers.

"Microsoft" Corp., the world"s largest maker of software, has completed the acquisition of internet telephony company "Skype Technologies" SA, for 8.5 billion dollars, making it the biggest acquisition ever made by the...

"Suzuki Motor" Corp. of Japan is accusing its German partner "Volkswagen" AG of violating their partnership agreement, by withholding certain technologies it promised sharing, which is why, if the situation isn"t remedied,...

The share capital of Concefa Sibiu, specializing in construction, will only be increased by 6.1 million lei, less than half the initially proposed amount of 14.2 million lei.

• Petre Pavel Szel: SIF "Muntenia" is in the process of a divorce with "Erste", but it is a civilized one 

Man, this crisis is really something, the Greeks want the bailout, the Slovakians don"t, American cities are filing for bankruptcy, European banks as well, this commissioner is making statements, the EU is making statements, the ECB is making...

Dan Şucu, the president of the Association of the Major Commercial Networks in Romania (AMRCR) and owner of Mobexpert, yesterday said that the thing that frightens him the most is the idea that the state could become the largest investor in the...

German company "Marbach", which is a leading tool manufacturer for the packaging industry, has begun production in the production facility located in the town of Nădlac, county of Arad.

• "Credit Suisse": At least 66 European banks would not pass new stress tests 

After three years of waiting and knocking on the Government"s door requesting a stable legislative environment, renewable energy investors have been given the green light by the Government for drafting their business plans.

• EU banks aren't ready 

Shares of Austrian bank "Erste" fell almost 16% in Bucharest yesterday, after the bank announced it would take "extraordinary measures", booking net losses of about 800 million Euros for this year.

The departure of Finnish group Nokia from Romania and the layoff of 2,200 employees represented a true breath of fresh air for the Romanian government, by providing it with an opportunity to release a wave of announcements about the investments...

• EU banks aren't ready 

In the coming years, audit firm "Grant Thornton" wants to reach a market share of 5% of the Romanian audit market, which it says it is valued at 150-200 million Euros a year, which would place it in the 6th-7th position, according to...

Volksbank Romania has relaunched its banking operations products. The bank has simplified its offer, which will now only include three types of current accounts, as opposed to the six types of current accounts included in the previous offer,...

Romania"s 5-year CDS rate (ed. note: Credit Default Swaps) nearly doubled, in Q3, rising to 420 basis points, according to a report published yesterday by "CMA Data Vision".

• State aid of 8 million Euros for the hiring of 100 workers 

The NBR governor recently criticized the lack of professionalism in the financial media, and his rant included the organizers of the "Romania Financial Forum 2011".

The regulation concerning consumer lending will push the Romanian society towards "civilized lending", which represents an act of normalcy, Mugur Isărescu, the governor of the NBR explained yesterday.