Tag: euro zone crisis

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was due to Paris on Thursday (30 May) for talks with President François Hollande aimed at coming up with new ideas to strengthen management of the 17-country eurozone and boost European industry.

Even if Germany had to write off the loans it extended to Southern European countries as part of the eurozone’s emergency rescue measures, the economic advantages of its membership would still be overwhelming, according to a recent study by the Bertelsmann Stiftung.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indirectly clashed with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem, stating yesterday (4 April) that the Cyprus bailout was "no template" for possible future solutions and pledged that taxing depositors would not become normal procedure. He also slammed the Cyprus' negotiators for their initial proposal.

Brussels has called on member states to honour their aid commitments as their contributions to the world’s poorest countries fell by €2.3 billion in 2012, according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report published yesterday (3 April).

While Britain is trying to contain the influx of immigrants, Germany is making efforts to attract skilled workers from crisis-hit Southern Europe, various European media report.

The president of Cyprus said today (29 March) the risk of bankruptcy had been contained and the country had no intention of leaving the euro, in a speech laden with criticism of Europe's currency union for "experimenting" with the island's fate.

Thousands of small companies struggling to repay loans in Italy and Spain signal bigger problems on the horizon for the eurozone after the dust has settled on Cyprus' bank bailout this week.

Participants in a public event of the federalist Spinelli Group overwhelmingly supported the introduction of minimal social standards at the EU level and the establishment of a common European industrial and energy policy. But the discussions failed to answer how such goals could be achieved.

Cyprus clinched a last-ditch deal with international lenders early today (25 March) to shut down its second largest bank and inflict heavy losses on uninsured depositors, including wealthy Russians, in return for a €10-billion bailout.

EU and IMF officials worked overnight on a rescue package for Cyprus with the aim of presenting the outline of a bailout programme to eurozone finance experts on Friday (15 March) in Brussels, sources said.

Nicos Anastasiades, who won a resounding victory in the run-off of the elections held yesterday (24 February), promised to “restore the credibility of Cyprus”. He faces weeks of difficult talks with foreign lenders on a financial rescue for the nation. 

The British and the Americans used the press to attack the euro , but the strategy failed and it's now the dollar that is in trouble, contends Marc Luyckx Ghisi, a researcher close to former European Commission President Jacques Delors. 

After five years of economic crisis and the return of a recession in 2012, unemployment is hitting peaks not seen for almost 20 years, according to a report by the European Commission published yesterday (8 January), which showed growing disparity between North and South Europe.

French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel made only brief references to the European Union in their New Year messages, with differing assessments of how successful attempts to overcome the eurozone crisis have been.

Greece could generate budget revenues amounting to 5% of national output annually if it reforms tax collection and clamps down on tax cheats, the European Union's tax chief, Algirdas Šemeta, told a Greek newspaper.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem played down but did not deny speculation that he is a serious candidate to take over as head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers from Jean-Claude Juncker.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti won praise and political backing from other EU heads of states, including Germany's Angela Merkel, at a two-day summit meeting which opened in Brussels yesterday (13 December). Some of Monti's economic ideas also gained traction, with large infrastructure investments set to be taken out of public deficit calculations.

The last four months created an illusion that the worst is over in the eurozone crisis and more attention can be devoted to the project's future, writes Paweł Świeboda. However, much remains to be done and the golden rule of the new European Union will be to "Trust and verify", he says.

European partners urged the next Italian government on Monday (10 December) to stick to Prime Minister Mario Monti's reform agenda, after his decision to resign early and Silvio Berlusconi's return to frontline politics rattled financial markets.

Politicians from the European centre-left opposed changing the EU treaty, advocated by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Brussels yesterday (29 November).

José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, has tabled a blueprint for deeper economic and monetary union in the eurozone, saying a more federal Europe is the only way to address the root causes of the sovereign debt crisis.

Pier Luigi Bersani, head of Italy's Democratic Party, will face his main rival Matteo Renzi in a runoff next week to pick the centre-left's candidate to succeed Mario Monti as prime minister, following the first round of a primary vote held yesterday (25 November).