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European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, in charge of Industry and Entrepreneurship, met with ministers in charge of the automotive industry. They discussed the economic challenges facing the European car industry, what short-term measures could be made available, as well as the medium term strategy ensuring a sustainable recovery from the crisis.

In 2007, GDP per inhabitant, expressed in terms of purchasing power standards, in the EU27's 271 NUTS-2 regions ranged from 26% of the EU27 average in the region of Severozapaden in Bulgaria, to 334% of the average in Inner London in the United Kingdom.

The first estimate for the euro area (EA16) trade balance with the rest of the world in December 2009 gave a 4.4 bn euro surplus, compared with -1.8 bn in December 2008. The November 2009 balance was +4.0 bn, compared with -6.9 bn in November 2008. In December 2009 compared with November 2009, seasonally adjusted exports rose by 3.1% and imports by 1.7%.

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production increased by 0.5% in both the euro area (EA16) and the EU27 in December 2009, compared with the previous month. In November, production fell by 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for Spain increased 0.3 percent and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) remained unchanged in December.

GDP increased by 0.1% in both the euro area (EA16) and the EU27 during the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the third quarter of 2009, growth rates were +0.4% and +0.3% respectively.

In the EU27, money sent by migrants to their former country of residence, usually referred to as workers' remittances, amounted to 31.8 bn euro in 2008, compared with 31.3 bn in 2007 and 19.4 bn in 2004. These figures include both intra-EU27 and extra-EU27 flows.

In December 2009 compared with November 2009, seasonally adjusted industrial production fell by 1.7% in the euro area (EA16) and by 1.9% in the EU27. In November production grew by 1.4% and 0.9% respectively.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index™ (LEI) for the U.K. increased 0.4 percent, and The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index™ (CEI) increased 0.1 percent in December.

The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) recorded a total of 285 cases of restructuring in the European Union between 1 October and 31 December 2009, involving some 100,000 announced job losses and 20,000 announced job gains. Restructuring activity as captured by the ERM has continued to reflect more normal levels of activity in the recent quarter. Levels of restructuring job loss continue to decline from the peak levels of the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009. So too did levels of job creation, which fell to their lowest level since the ERM started systematically recording such cases in 2004.