Business life: My finance news blog

U.K. Business Secretary Peter Mandelson called for greater efforts to boost employment and the economy in the European Union, including a proposal for 50 billion euros ($70 billion) of loans to help companies.

Mandelson urged the 27-nation bloc to implement up to 1,600 rules aimed at cementing a single market and to fight pressure from national governments to protect their economies. He will outline Britain’s priorities as the EU prepares to appoint a new European Commission this month.

“No matter how badly a downturn might tempt us to think and act in national silos, the next five years will in fact demand an even greater Europeanism from us,” Mandelson said in Berlin today, according to his office.

Later today, Mandelson will meet with German Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who helped broker the sale of General Motors Corp.’s Opel unit in Germany to Magna International Inc.

The British government is working to protect 5,500 jobs at GM’s Vauxhall factories in Luton and Ellesmere Port and has kept open the possibility of granting state aid. Mandelson made no comment about the issue in his prepared remarks.

The U.K. backs Commission President Jose Barroso and his pro-business stance for a second five-year term at the helm of the EU’s executive arm cash till payday advance. Barroso has pledged “ambitious” European action to halt the recession and fight global warming.

“Europe must not retreat in on itself, but instead improve its competitiveness through an integrated approach to Single Market and industrial policy,” U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a letter released by his office to Barroso.

EIB Lending

Mandelson said the European Investment Bank should lend 50 billion euros over the next two years to help companies and fund infrastructure projects. He also called for renewed efforts to slash red tape costs for small companies by 10 billion euros.

The EU should also map out clear strategies for services industries, renewable energy and digital industries, Mandelson will say.

Barroso’s bid for a second term got a lift in weekend elections that made his center-right allies the largest party in the EU Parliament, which has to approve the appointment.

The center-right group known as the European People’s Party got 263 out of the total 736 seats in the European Parliament. The Socialists won 161 seats, the Liberal Democrats 80 and the Greens 52.

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