THE European Commission will not object to Ireland’s massive budget deficit this year, but will hold the country to reducing it dramatically over the next four years

THE EU is investigating a €53 million aid package the Polish government has promised Dell for the plant that is resulting in the loss of 1,900 jobs in its Limerick operation.

IT IS not certain that five foreign-owned banks operating here will be given protection under the Government’s guarantee scheme.

JUST hours after criticising Ireland’s bank bailout, Germany announced its own scheme but the European Commission insisted there was a big difference between the two and the Danish guarantee agreed over the weekend.

IRELAND’S move to guarantee all bank deposits will be one of the issues discussed at today’s talks in Paris among the leaders of the EU’s major economies.

The European Commission was still waiting today for the Government to submit for approval full details of its bank guarantee plan.

The European Competition Commissioner says she is examining the Irish Government's proposed banking guarantee as a matter of urgency.

THE European Commission was waiting last night for details of the Government’s €400 billion guarantee to Irish banks under competition rules.

It has been confirmed that Aer Lingus has asked the European Commission to consider ordering Ryanair to reduce its stake.

BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown last night pledged his government was doing everything in its power to maintain economic stability amid signs that the immediate crisis over the troubled Northern Rock bank appeared to be easing.

THE European Commission will announce its rejection of Ryanair’s proposed purchase of rival airline Aer Lingus in the next month, sources close to the deal suggested yesterday.

The European Union today escalated its trans-Atlantic fight with Microsoft today, threatening new multi-million-euro fines against the software maker over claims it fails to offer rivals a fair deal on licenses for helping servers work with Windows.

European Union regulators slapped their largest price-fixing fine ever – €992m – on five lift makers today.

The European Union and the US have failed to reach a deal on air passenger data, putting airlines at risk of huge fines or loss of landing rights.

THE IDA was cleared to give a €48.25 million grant to Johnson & Johnson’s new Cork plant, Centocor, by the European Commission yesterday.

THE EU is expected to ban all imports of pet and exotic birds today as another case of the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus was confirmed in Russia.

COMPUTER chip maker Intel Corp, computer makers and distributors were raided by European Commission and local authorities on Tuesday as part of an investigation into possible antitrust violations, a spokesperson for the European Union executive said.

European Union antitrust regulators today fined British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca €60m for keeping prices on its ulcer drug product artificially high.

Microsoft has met its midnight deadline to submit a compromise on its landmark anti-trust case with the European Union and EU regulators will likely assess the proposal for weeks before deciding whether to impose fines, officials said today.

The European Union said today it expects to make a decision on whether to impose new fines on Microsoft Corporation by the end of July.

The European Union said its anti-trust regulators might need several weeks to decide whether to slap Microsoft Corp. with huge fines once a midnight deadline on Tuesday for the software maker to comply with a landmark ruling expires.

The European Union’s head office has given Microsoft until the end of the month to come up with satisfactory proposals to settle the landmark case against the software producer or face punitive sanctions, an EU official said today.

MALCOLM GLAZER has been dealt a serious blow to his hopes of Manchester United securing its own TV deals after the European Commission said it would not support a legal challenge by the club’s new owner.

Malcolm Glazer has been dealt a serious blow to his hopes of Manchester United securing their own TV deals after the European Commission today said they would not support a legal challenge by the club’s new owner.

A meeting between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and the European Union’s anti-trust chief failed to settle the main outstanding differences over the EU’s landmark case against the software giant, the EU said today.

The European Commission today insisted it must approve the Government’s £6.5m (€9.5m) proposed bale out to keep Rover afloat for another week – before the money can be paid.

The EU struck at the commercial backbone of Microsoft’s global software empire today – forcing the company for the first time to strip its Windows platform of a popular feature to give competitors a better shot at success.

The EC is to take Germany to court to try to force changes in a law protecting car manufacturer Volkswagen from hostile takeovers.

PLANS by the French Finance Minister to force countries like Ireland to raise their company tax rates or forfeit EU funding have been rejected by the European Commission.

y Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

IRELAND is on course for a clash with France and Germany after Europe's two largest nations proposed harmonising tax rates across the economic bloc.

The European Commission has said it is disappointed by US regulators' reluctance to allow European stock exchanges to install their trading screens in the US

Jonathan Todd, the European Commision's spokesman for the internal market, has said that the commission is set to issue a last warning to Germany tomorrow, instructing the government to modify the law which protects Volkswagen AG from hostile bids.

IRELAND is among seven countries facing legal action by the EU for failing to introduce laws recognising the qualifications of a range of workers including "itinerant tradesmen".