A 1.1% rise in November industrial production, reported this week in France, was attributed to car production supported by a government scrappage scheme.

The European Union's new permanent president Herman Van Rompuy on Wednesday said the fight against climate change and the economic crisis were his top priorities in the months ahead.

Speaking ahead of a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel on his first official visit to Germany, Van Rompuy said that the EU27 must strive for 2% average annual growth.

"One thing is clear now. We need economic growth which is sustainable and which is at least 2%, instead of the projected structural growth of 1%... in order to keep up with the other major economies in the world,"Van Rompuy said.

The president has arranged a special EU economic policy summit for next month.

He has said that Europe’s “social model” and “way of life” - -  its combination of vigorous free enterprise and a generously funded welfare state - - will be unsustainable unless the EU doubles its economic growth rate to at least 2% a year.

Van Rompuy calls this target “a matter of survival,” believing that Europe is coming out of the financial crisis well in the short term, having rejected protectionism, deflationary budgets and over-tight monetary policies. However, the EU has avoided the worst by allowing an increase in its budget deficits - -“shifting the financial pain forward into the future.”

The ECB president will hold a press conference from 1:30 pm Irish time.

Watch the webcast from this link.

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