Germany expects Austria and Luxembourg to take part in an EU-wide effort to clamp down on tax evasion, even though the two countries last week blocked a key EU proposal on the topic. An EU summit devoted to tax evasion ...

German politicians from across the political spectrum have expressed their outrage after Hungary's Viktor Orban compared Angela Merkel's policies to the Nazi invasion ordered by Adolf Hitler. “The Germans already sent ...

French President Francois Hollande has called for the creation of a eurozone government as a solution to the wide-spread recession that threatens "the very identity" of Europe. Hollande spelled out his views on Europe ...

A giant Barbie doll house opened its gates in Berlin on Thursday (16 May) amid protests criticising the toy's "sexist" image. Inside the "Barbie Dreamhouse Experience" there are no windows. But there are touchscreens, ...

The eurozone economy continues to shrink as Germany's economy grew by a meagre 0.1 percent in the past three months, while France slid back into recession, according to data from the EU statistics office Eurostat ...

The European Commission on Tuesday (14 May) tabled several scenarios for the withdrawal of the 1 and 2 euro cent coins, with the cost of printing these coins greater than their use. "The production of 1 and 2 cent coins ...

France has seen the steepest confidence drop in the EU and in national politicians alike, with the same sour mood in Italy, Spain and Greece, according to a Pew Research Centre survey published on Monday (13 May). The ...

A summer day on the bank of the Neris river: children fly kites, the smell of barbecue is in the air, pop songs resound from a small stage. EU flags are being distributed and dozens of teenagers wear sweaters with the ...

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Thursday (9 May) was awarded the Charlemagne Prize for her "oustanding" merits in European politics, just as her country prepares to take over the rotating EU presidency on 1 ...

The eurozone's planned banking union is "urgent" and should be created within the current EU treaties, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday (7 May) after previously suggesting a treaty change was ...

A landmark trial against the only survivor of a neo-Nazi cell which killed 10 people and went undetected for years is starting in Munich on Monday (6 May). Thirty-eight year old Beate Zschaepe is accused of being ...

Chancellor Angela Merkel is not renowned for her humour and skills in smalltalk. And yet the people who filled the Maxim Gorki theatre in Berlin on Thursday (2 May) were surprised to discover a light-hearted self- ...

The European Central Bank on Thursday (2 May) lowered its key interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent and vowed to take more action "if necessary", in a move aimed at alleviating recession and unemployment in the ...

Slovenia is struggling to avoid a eurozone bailout after Moody's ratings agency downgraded its sovereign to "junk" status. The Slovenian finance ministry on Wednesday (1 May) said it will resume a bond sale that was ...

Italy's new Prime Minister Enrico Letta went to Berlin for political talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday (30 April) just hours after being confirmed by the Italian Senate. Speaking ahead of the meeting, the ...

EU social commissioner Laszlo Andor has asked Germany to raise its wages in order to boost consumption and help other countries in the eurozone to export more. A shift from budget cuts and austerity towards economic ...

Italian leader Enrico Letta's team of ministers is set to be approved by parliament on Monday (29 April), amid warnings that Rome may have to seek financial aid from the European Central Bank (ECB) The 46-year old Prime ...

With its record-low unemployment (5.4%), Germany stands out among fellow eurozone countries such as France or Spain, suffering from sky-high jobless rates. Part of Germany's success is due to a series of reforms pushed ...

Germany is known for being particularly sensitive on data privacy issues. Google Street View - a service combining maps with actual photographs of streets and buildings - had to put blurred houses in its German service ...

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is no German hegemony in Europe, but insisted that euro countries cede more sovereignty to overcome the crisis. "To me this hegemonial [concept] is completely foreign," she said ...

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Saturday (20 April) was re-elected by the parliament for another seven-year term, paving the way for a government coalition deal. The 87-year old politician, a respected mediator, ...

Countries with a poor public administration are absorbing less EU cohesion funds, meaning some of the poorest regions are getting the least out of the available money, the EU commission has said. "Results are sometimes ...

The German Parliament on Thursday (18 April) approved with a large majority a €10 billion EU and International Monetary Fund bailout for Cyprus. They also backed a request to give seven extra years for Ireland and ...

Germany's central bank chief Jens Weidmann has said the eurozone crisis may take ten years to overcome, just as top euro officials claimed their response to the crisis is working. "Overcoming the crisis and the crisis ...

The German government Wednesday (17 April) denied it is stalling on the eurozone's "banking union," but says the plans would require an EU treaty change which could take years. "We are not suddenly asking for a change ...

Europe is falling behind the US in emerging from the economic crisis, with sluggish growth in Germany and recession in France worsening the outlook for eurozone periphery countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ...

The EU commission is "aware" that a bailout agreed with the Spanish government means thousands of people will never get their savings back, but says it is up to courts to help the conned depositors. For almost a year ...

The German parliament is likely to approve Cyprus' bailout programme despite concerns over a widening funding gap and growth projections which may prove too optimistic. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on ...

Tax evasion has risen to prominence on the EU agenda following the money laundering discussions surrounding Cyprus' bailout and the recent revelations concerning Europeans hiding their wealth in complex offshore schemes ...

A new party calling for the dissolution of the eurozone held its founding congress in Berlin on Sunday (14 April), hoping to capitalise on disillusioned voters in the September elections. Around 1,500 delegates gathered ...

A family weekend at a castle near Berlin allowed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron to seek common ground on an EU-US trade agreement and the fight against tax evasion. The visit ...

British Prime Minister David Cameron is travelling to Germany for a family weekend at Angela Merkel's holiday retreat, where he will try to convince the Chancellor to back him on re-evaluating EU's powers. Cameron is ...

Cyprus' economy will shrink by 12.5 percent over the next two years and its government needs to sell part of its gold reserves in order to meet the conditions of an EU-IMF bailout, whose final details are to be agreed ...

France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK have agreed to more automatic exchanges of banking data to fight tax evasion, increasing pressure on Austria and Luxembourg to give up their veto on the equivalent EU bill. In a ...

US treasury secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday (9 April) hinted that Germany should boost its internal demand to help Europe get out of the crisis. But German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Berlin has no need for ...

All members of France's Socialist government are to publish their financial assets within days as President Francois Hollande struggles to overcome a tax fraud scandal involving his former budget minister. Prime ...

Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl - the architect of German reunification - admitted he would never have won a referendum on the adoption of the euro in his country and said he acted "like a dictator" to see the ...

On the night of 6 October 2008, Thorfinnur Omarsson got a phone call. He had just quit his job at an Icelandic TV station and was looking forward to a "quiet time" as he was about to go back to study. It did not turn ...

Fears of massive migration and exploitation of the British welfare system are overblown, says a report published on Friday (5 April) by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. "Survey evidence suggests ...

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Thursday (4 April) admitted that an initial plan to tax small savers in Cyprus was "not smart", but stressed that the island is "no template" for others. Looking back on the ...

The eurozone crisis and its latest Cyprus episode has led to a boost in the value of an Internet-based currency known as bitcoin, with Finns now the largest per capita users. One bitcoin was trading at over €100 on ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel - for many the incarnation of EU austerity and German rigour - has shown her softer side by visiting a waiter who lost his job. She paid the surprise visit to the home of Cristoforo ...

Twelve years ago, Roddy Damalis decided to leave South Africa where he was running two restaurants and return to his home country, Cyprus. The chef set up base in the southern Cypriot town of Limassol, where he opened ...

Marathon meetings in Brussels ended in the early hours of Monday (25 March) with eurozone finance ministers and international creditors agreeing a second bailout deal for Cyprus. Unlike the agreement last week, which ...

Be it the German finance minister, European Central Bank (ECB) officials or the head of the Eurogroup - they all agree on one thing: Cyprus must scrap its "unsustainable business model" based on low taxes and attracting ...

Cypriot officials are scrambling to find alternative money to put on the table for a €10 billion bailout by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a sign of the drastic situation on the island, the Cypriot ...

Germany has warned Cyprus that the European Central Bank (ECB) will pull the plug on its two largest banks in the absence of a bailout programme and said the terms of the rescue will not change. German finance minister ...

The Cyprus bailout fiasco is yet another example of Germany's clumsy leadership and image problem in Europe. It was only last month that the German President, Joachim Gauck, made an attempt to reassure people in ...

A dinner on Monday evening (18 March) in the German chancellery with Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso that should have been about Europe's competitiveness was ...