eBay has told European lawmakers that more than three quarters of a million people have signed an online petition demanding changes to regulations that let luxury brand makers limit who can sell their products online.

The internet tat house is embroiled in a longstanding feud with luxury good firms like Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton, and Rolex, who say their brands are devalued by sales on ignoble auction websites like eBay.

On a wet and windy evening in early autumn, there must be better ways to spend your time than going to door-to-door in south-central Dublin.

But that is what 15 or so volunteers from Coir (which means “Right” in Irish) are doing, trying to persuade voters that the Lisbon Treaty should be given the boot a second time when the Irish vote again on 2 October.

The European Union will present proposals in September on reforming its immigration policy, Sweden said Monday, amid a rising wave of people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
The proposals concern a ‘relocation’ policy, whereby refugees who land on the shores of Europe’s Mediterranean countries would be transferred to other EU member states, as well as a more efficient asylum policy, Swedish Immigration Minister Tobias Billstroem told AFP.

The unemployment rate across the 16 countries using the euro rose to 9.5% in May from 9.3% in April, data from the Eurostat agency has shown.

It is the highest rate since May 1999. Fifteen million people were out of work, up by 273,000 from April.

In the 27-nation EU, the jobless rate was 8.9%, while the number unemployed rose by 385,000 to 21.5 million.

Industrial production in the 16 states that use the euro fell a record 21.6% in April, compared with the same month last year, according to Eurostat.

It was worse than had been expected and followed March’s figure of 19.3%. The month-on-month fall was 1.9%.

The figures contrast with the latest UK production data, which showed a monthly rise for the first time in more than a year during April.

But in the European election results declared on Sunday, the equivalent figure was under 44 per cent, down from 49 in 2004. Britain’s ‘two party system’ is ebbing away. Indeed, the share of the vote won by the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats together has slumped from almost 96 per cent in the 1987 general election to 57 per cent in this year’s Euro poll.

Spain’s opposition conservatives beat the ruling Socialists in European elections Sunday, seen as a test for the government amid the worst recession in 15 years and soaring unemployment.

With 99 percent of votes counted, the opposition Popular Party had garnered 42.25 percent and 23 of the 50 seats up for grabs, compared to 38.50 percent and 21 seats for the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Centre-right parties have gained ground in elections to the European Parliament, according to exit polls and initial results.

Results appeared immediately after voting ended in 19 EU countries at 2000 GMT. Eight other countries voted in the past few days.

All 736 parliament seats are up for grabs. Preliminary figures suggest the lowest-ever turnout, at 43.24%.

BBC correspondents say the figures will dent the EU’s credibility.

The European Union parliament has long had the image of being a gravy-train but an EU election is no picnic.

The voting system is as arcane as the 27-nation EU is widespread. The election for the 736 lawmakers takes four days and there will be weeks of bargaining afterwards to settle the assembly’s top jobs.

Voting starts on Thursday in Britain and the Netherlands. Ireland holds its election on the following day, the Czech Republic on June 5 and 6, and Slovakia Latvia, Malta and Cyprus vote on June 6.

Prices in the eurozone stopped rising in May – with the annual inflation rate at 0.0% – igniting concern that prices will fall in the months ahead.

This is the lowest inflation rate recorded since 1997. Inflation stood at 0.6% in April, after hitting 4% when energy prices hit record highs.

Many analysts now expect deflation to grip the 16-nation zone this summer.

Separately, official figures showed an unexpected rise in retail sales in Germany in April.

February’s fall in eurozone retail sales was unexpectedly severe amid shrinking consumer spending.

On an annual basis, retail sales fell by 4% in the 16-nation eurozone region during the month. They were down 0.6% from January’s figures.

It was confirmed in November 2008 that the eurozone was in a recession, after negative growth in the second and third quarters of the year.

Retail sales have been under pressure from rising European unemployment.

Unemployment across the eurozone rose to its highest level in almost three years in February as the economic downturn continues to tighten its grip.

The jobless rate across the 16 nations that share the euro rose to 8.5%, or 13.47 million, up from 8.3% in January, official figures show.

The rate across the wider European Union rose to 7.9% from 7.7%, which equates to 19.16 million unemployed.
Figures also show that eurozone inflation fell to 0.6% in March.

Most European countries favour a total ban on importing seal-related products, diplomatic sources said Saturday ahead of a key European Parliament vote on the issue next month.

At a meeting of ambassadors of the 27 European Union states Friday, most of the countries present came out in favour of such a ban, mainly because of Canada’s controversial slaughtering methods, an official said.

“One has the impression that the European states are ready now to choose this option,” the source added.

British holidaymakers are finding prices up to three times higher in cities in the Eurozone than in those outside it, research has shown.

In an analysis of the price of holiday essentials in a dozen European cities, the Post Office found that items ranging from drinks and postcards to airport transfers and hotel rooms in Budapest, Warsaw and Prague cost about a third of those in cities such as Athens.

Eurozone industrial output plunged by 3.5% in January compared with the previous month, the biggest decline since records began in 1990.

Compared with January 2008, the official Eurostat figures showed that industrial production across the 16 nations that share the euro fell 17.3%.

The drop came as factories cut output in light of a drop in demand for eurozone goods around the world.

Output from the 27 countries of the EU fell by 2.9% and 16.3% for the year.

Spain, which refuses to recognise Kosovo, abruptly announced Thursday that it will withdraw its 630 troops from the international peacekeeping force there, drawing criticism from NATO.

“Mission accomplished,” Defence Minister Carme Chacon told Spanish troops with the NATO-led KFOR force during a surprise visit to Kosovo. “It’s time to go home. We’re going home, congratulations.”

She told Spanish journalists accompanying her that the pullout would be carried out in stages by August and “in coordination with out allies”.

Poland and France were at odds Thursday over an EU Commission scheme to grant 600 million euros in aid to six ex-Soviet states, with Paris fearing it would lessen the pot for Mediterranean nations.

The commission has proposed the funding to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine under the European Union’s “Eastern Partnership” project, an initiative by Poland and Sweden to counterbalance the Mediterranean partnership scheme championed last year by France.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn urged Germany Tuesday not to threaten an “anchor of stability” in the Balkans by putting the brakes on European Union enlargement.

“We can’t take any sabbatical from our invaluable work for stability and societal progress in the Western Balkans, which is essentially provided by the European perspective,” Rehn told a press conference in Brussels.

“That is an essential driver of reforms and an anchor of stability in southeastern Europe,” he added.

Spain’s prime minister Monday gave support to Serbia telling the country’s leader that Madrid has no plans to recognise the independence of Kosovo and backs Belgrade’s bid to join the European Union.

“Spain’s position regarding the unilateral declaration of independence of the territory of Kosovo is the known position of non-recognition,” Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a joint news conference with visiting Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Equality is enshrined as a principle at the heart of the European Union, yet only about one-third of Euro MPs are women. Gender discrimination remains widespread in Europe.

Here European Commission Vice-President Margot Wallstrom explains why she is campaigning to get more women into senior EU positions. This is part of a viewpoint series ahead of the June European elections.

I am lucky to come from a country – Sweden – where gender equality is practically taken for granted.