EU Economy Latest

Economy — jobless rate to keep falling: That’s the official EU prediction in its spring economic forecasts. The Commission has been wrong before (the most recent economic growth forecasts from February have already been adjusted), but if they’re right, the jobless rate will drop to 8.5 percent in 2017, continuing down from 9.4 percent in 2015.

Economy — inflation to remain weak: It’s not clear how Eurozone inflation will reappear when more than a year of quantitative easing hasn’t had the desired effect, but the Commission says we’ll move from zero inflation now 1.4 percent next year.

Tax Havens - The U.N. says companies funnelled around €193 billion into countries with low tax rates last year. That’s down from 2014 levels, but still high, the organization says. The U.N. names the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the U.S., U.K., Switzerland and Ireland as the most popular tax havens.

Good news for the Disabled - Public sector bodies' websites and mobile applications will have to be made accessible to everyone, under a provisional deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators on Tuesday night. Over 167 million EU citizens have a disability (either medical or due to age) which prevents them accessing data and services on the Internet, e.g. to file a tax declaration, apply for an allowance, pay fees or register a child at school. New standards for building these digital services will mean, for example, that websites must be browsable without needing a mouse.