"It's a supervision of the ECB without in any way undermining the ECB's independence or endangering a level of banking secrecy require to protect the markets from unnecessary shocks,"
- Martin Schulz, EU Parliament President
A bunch of positive data from Europe came out on Thursday as the European Parliament has voted in favour of centralized oversight for Europe's banking sector. During a full meeting of the parliament, European authorities approved the plan on bringing around 150 Europe's largest banks under the direct supervision of the European Central Bank. Only 62 out of 559 members voted against the plan, while 19 abstained. Earlier this year, the vote has been postponed due to differences about the accountability of the ECB to the European Parliament. The supervision will take effect in the second half of 2014. Also Thursday, during the Euro Conference in Riga, Latvia, ECB President Mario Draghi once again reiterated the necessity of a common currency and pointed out all economies that join the Euro can be confident about the future prospects. Latvia will adopt the single currency on January 1, becoming the 18th country to do so. However, according to latest polls, 53% of Latvians do not support the adoption of Euro, while only 22% are in favour of it.
Despite important steps in the creation of a closer integrity between European countries with some economies expressing willingness to join the Eurozone, region's industrial production is still suffering. The Eurostat said factory output shrank 1.5% from June, when it rose 0.6%, and well below of the analysts' estimates of a 0.3% gain.
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