IRELAND has double the number of pensioners at work as other EU countries, and most favour people being allowed to work for as long as they wish after they reach the official retirement age.

BEING young is not as much a matter of age, how you look or how you feel as much as where you live, according to a Eurobarometer survey.

THE trade in counterfeit pesticides is booming and is expected to reach an all-time high worth billions of euro over the coming weeks as farmers prepare to plant crops, Europol has warned.

TWO of the eurozone’s six triple A-rated countries, France and Austria, were downgraded from AAA to AA last night by credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s.

SPAIN and Italy exceeded expectations in raising short-term money in abundance and at much reduced rates on the markets.

THE battle to devise an EU treaty governing member states’ finances faces a new hurdle with both the European Commission and the European Parliament threatening to reject it unless they have a role.

TALK about a second programme or bailout for Ireland is not helpful, the European Commission has said following media speculation about the issue.

MEMBERS of theEuropean Parliament are pushing for a commitment to create eurobonds, joint debt issuance and a financial transaction tax, as part of the price for the proposed EU treaty enforcing strict government budgets.

ONE-IN-FIVE young Irish people aged 15 to 25 years are not in work, education or training, the third highest proportion in the EU.

IRELAND had the third highest trade surplus in the EU for the first nine months of the year at €32.4 billion — worth a third of the value of the Germany surplus.