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In May 2009, compared with April 2009, the volume of retail trade fell by 0.4% in the euro area (EA16) and by 0.5% in the EU27. In April retail trade rose by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.

So far, Austria has weathered the global financial crisis better than other OECD countries. Even so, it is entering its worst recession in half a century. Moreover, its strong economic links with Central and Eastern Europe involve risks to GDP growth and financial stability.

The European Commission has proposed to set up a new microfinance facility providing microcredit to small businesses and to people who have lost their jobs and want to start their own small businesses. It will have an initial budget of €100 million, which could leverage more than €500 million in a joint initiative with international financial institutions, in particular the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group.

In May 2009 compared with April 2009, the industrial producer price index fell by 0.2% in the euro area (EA16) and by 0.4% in the EU27. In April, prices decreased by 0.9% and 1.0% respectively.

The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5% in May 2009, compared with 9.3% in April. It was 7.4% in May 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 8.9% in May 2009, compared with 8.7% in April. It was 6.8% in May 2008. For the euro area this is the highest rate since May 1999 and for the EU27 since June 2005.

Some five percent of workers in the 27 EU Member States and Norway carry out undeclared work, seriously affecting public finances by tax and social contributions, according to a new report from Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU Agency.

Slovenia has achieved a significant economic catch-up toward the OECD average GDP per capita without creating any major imbalances. This catch up has been set back by the financial turmoil, which poses immediate challenges to economic policy to support the financial sector and economic activity in general. Beyond the crisis, the main goal for policymakers must be to restore sustainable growth within the euro area.

As of today, sending a text message from abroad in the EU costs a maximum €0.11, almost three times cheaper than the previous EU average of €0.28 (excl. VAT). To make a roamed call in another EU country must not cost more than €0.43 per minute, and no more than €0.19 to receive a call. From today, outgoing roaming calls will be charged by the second, after the first 30 seconds, rather than by the minute, and incoming calls will be charged by the second from the first second. Holidaymakers and business travellers can also surf the web, download movies or send photos with their mobile without fear of ‘bill shocks’ while roaming thanks to a wholesale cap of € 1 per megabyte (MB) downloaded. All these measures are expected to cut roaming charges for EU consumers by a further 60% and increase mobile phone use. The EU first acted on roaming in 2007 reducing the cost of voice roaming calls by 70%.

The European Commission adopted, after extensive consultation, a proposal for a Council Recommendation calling on all Member States to bring in laws to protect their citizens from exposure to tobacco smoke by 2012. Tobacco remains the largest single cause of premature death and disease in the European Union. According to conservative estimates, 79,000 adults, including 19,000 non-smokers, died in the EU-25 in 2002 due to exposure to tobacco smoke at home (72,000) and in their workplace (7,300).

The annual rate of growth of M3 decreased to 3.7% in May 2009, from 4.9% in April 2009. The threemonth average of the annual growth rates of M3 over the period March 2009 - May 2009 decreased to 4.5%, from 5.2% in the period February 2009 - April 2009.