The ruling French Socialist Party has repeated its calls for a devalued euro in a bid to stimulate France's ailing economy. The proposal, which forms part of a paper drafted by European centre-left parties ahead of next ...

Peer Steinbrueck has had a bad year so far. His popularity rates are less than a third of those of Chancellor Angela Merkel and his Social Democratic party is also trailing behind Merkel's Christian Democrats just 100 ...

The German Constitutional Court is not interested whether the European Central Bank's (ECB) actions in the euro-crisis were successful, but whether they were legal, the court's top judge said on Tuesday (11 June) in a ...

The IMF staff report leaked last Wednesday (5 June) evening was a guided missile aimed at the European Commission. Contained in the Fund's 50-page mea culpa were two accusations levelled at the EU's executive arm: that ...

An idea to create special arrangements within the European Parliament for deputies from eurozone countries is gaining traction but there is confusion over whether it can work in practice. The aim is for eurozone MEPs ...

On Tuesday and Wednesday (11-12 June), the German Constitutional court in Karlsruhe will hold public hearings on the legality of the European Central Bank's actions in the euro-crisis. ECB vice-chief Joerg Asmussen will ...

EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn joined the increasingly bitter war of words between the EU's executive body and the IMF on Friday, accusing the Washington-based fund of 'washing its hands' of its role in the ...

The European Commission has hit back at criticism over its handling of the Greek debt crisis, insisting that cutting the country's budget deficit and keeping it in the euro was "no mean feat." Speaking with reporters on ...

Latvia is set to become the 18th member of the eurozone after the European Commission gave its application the green light on Wednesday (5 June). "Latvia douze points is my message to Riga," Olli Rehn, the bloc's ...

Around eight years ago Lithuania was the first among the Baltic states in line to join the euro. The economy had been growing fast after the country re-gained its independence from the Soviet Union and it was planning ...

EU leaders will travel to Yekaterinburg on the Kazakhstan border for the latest EU-Russia summit on Monday and Tuesday (3-4 June). The EU's four-person team will be led by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and ...

The European Commission’s threat to fine Belgium may look absurd, but it’s actually worse. It’s a showcase for an attack on social rights. On Wednesday (29 May) the commission released its recommendations for member ...

Seven EU countries are to be given extra time to bring down their budget deficits, after the European Commission took a lenient stance on austerity measures taken by governments to balance their books. France, Spain, ...

Italy is set to move off the EU 'crisis list' this week, as the European Commission acknowledges its efforts to reduce its budget deficit. EU sources indicated on Monday (27 May) that Italy will be among several ...

In an unusually politically comment, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi has said Europe needs a more European UK. “I cannot say which of the two sets of arguments is stronger, the economic or the political ...

Ever since Alternative für Deutschland had their coming-out party in April, commentators have struggled to say something interesting about this new anti-Euro party. Will they disrupt the continuation of the Black-Yellow ...

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 ...

Criminals are using bitcoins and other unregulated digital currencies as a payment method of choice when blackmailing companies following a data breach. Belgian-based Buy Way Personal Finance told this website on ...

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 ...

US treasury secretary Jack Lew will repeat calls for Germany to stimulate demand in order to drag the eurozone out of recession, according to US government sources. Speaking with reporters in Washington on Wednesday (8 ...

France has moved centre stage in the crisis, after EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn said that the country would fall into recession in 2013 and needs two more years to bring down its budget deficit. Presenting ...

European Central Bank director Mario Draghi handed out signed copies of the new €5 bank note on Thursday (2 May) to a group of ‘euro children’ who have grown up only knowing the euro. "The children who are here today ...

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 ...

Cypriot MPs will vote on Tuesday (30 April) on whether to give the green light to the country's controversial €10 billion bailout. The rescue package includes €10 billion from the EU and the International Monetary Fund ...

EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn faced a sustained verbal shellacking on Thursday (25 April), with MEPs on both the left and the right finding fault with his policy-making. Rehn, who was speaking at a hearing ...

The EU should move ahead with rules to wind up failing banks and set up a bank-funded resolution fund, European Central Bank (ECB) vice-president Vitor Constancio has said. In a hearing with MEPs in the Parliament's ...

Among other things, recent European politics has suffered from a shortage of prophets. Although it would be a stretch to describe Michael Higgins as a prophet, the Irish president is possibly Europe's only intellectual ...

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 ...

EU leaders were in the firing line in Strasbourg on Wednesday (17 April), as MEPs accused them of "grave mistakes" over the Cypriot bailout. Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader of the Socialist and Democrat group, ...

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) ...

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 ...

Final agreement has been reached on a €10 billion bailout for Cyprus at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Dublin on Friday (12 April). Under the terms of the deal, the €10 billion package will be composed of €9 ...

EU austerity programmes are putting the bloc's social model under strain by isolating trade unions and employers, a report by the European Commission indicated Thursday (11 April). Launching the 300-page report on ' ...

France and Slovenia moved a step closer to the eye of the eurozone storm after being censured by the European Commission for having "macro-economic balances." The commission's reports, published on Wednesday (10 April), ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Cypriot finance minister Michalis Sarris has quit after concluding the country's €10 billion bailout package with the EU and IMF. Sarris, who was swiftly replaced on Tuesday (2 April) by Labour minister Haris Georgiadis ...

Cyprus' banks opened without panic on Thursday (March 28) after a 10 day lockout as the government struggled to agree a €10 billion rescue package. With no reports of disruption and with small, orderly queues reported ...

Cyprus will become the first ever eurozone country to impose capital controls when its stricken banks open for business at noon local time Thursday (28 March). Payments out of the country and cheque cashing will be ...

EU lawmakers are divided on whether large holders of large bank deposits should face compulsory levies if their bank hits difficulties. With the dust yet to settle on a last-minute bailout for Cyprus agreed on Monday ( ...

A defensive Germany has said it should be getting more support from the EU institutions against unfair criticism over its role in handling the eurozone crisis. "Germany is bringing a spirit of solidarity so that ...

Together with a long-standing attachment to politics by summit, the EU is fond of acronyms. How else can you describe a world inhabited by QMV, Coreper and co-decision, not to mention trialogues, comitology and the ...

Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing has said the eurozone should stop enlarging after Poland joins in order to create a "hard core" in the EU. The 87-year-old politician, who also helped draft the EU's ...

Cyprus' banks will remain shut until Thursday (28 March) as lawmakers scramble to avoid a bank run when they reopen. Under the deal reached between the Cypriot government and the EU on Monday, Cyprus' two largest banks, ...

Cyprus edged back from the brink of bankruptcy on Friday (22 March) after MPs agreed to a series of emergency reforms in a bid to avoid financial meltdown and a traumatic exit from the euro. Facing a Monday deadline (25 ...

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 ...