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 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 ...

Austria has accused the UK of being a haven for money launderers ahead of an EU meeting in Dublin, with Cyprus, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia's (potential) bailout needs also on the agenda. The Austrian finance ...

Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has warned that Portugal risks "collapse," a euro exit or a second bailout after a court ruling which deleted €1.3 billion of austerity measures in this year's budget. ...

Ireland and Portugal are to be given more time to repay their emergency loans with both countries seen as good pupils in following the imposed austerity programme. An EU finance ministers meeting Tuesday (5 March) noted ...

Business investors are confident the eurozone has weathered the worst of the sovereign debt crisis, according to European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. In a speech given to Portuguese diplomats in Lisbon on ...

Portugal's President has called into question the viability of his country's austerity programme. Cavaco Silva said in his New Year's speech this week that he would request an inquiry from the country's top court on ...

Eurozone finance ministers agreed Monday (3 December) that €39.5 billion will be paid to prop up Spain's banks. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Jean Claude Juncker, who chairs the 17 member Eurogroup, stated ...

Cristina Silva believes the worst is over. But she cannot be sure. As executive director of a recuperation centre for disabled people in central Portugal, Silva has seen first hand how the economic crisis in Portugal is ...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confronted the ire of exasperated Portuguese, but maintained that "painful reforms" are the only way out of the crisis and that the government in Lisbon is doing all the right things. ...

The nightmare scenario of Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain leaving the euro could cost the world economy €17 trillion, a new study says. The figure - totted up by German consultancy Prognos for the Berlin-based ...

As Europe hangs on every public statement about the possibility of more bailouts from the European Central Bank or German Chancellor Angela Merkel, some investors don't see the wood for the trees. The focus on short- ...

Portugal's centre-right government unveiled across-the-board tax hikes on Wednesday (3 October) to ensure the country meets debt and deficit targets required under the terms of its bailout. Finance minister Vitor Gaspar ...

Portugal is facing a massive backlash against troika-approved austerity measures to raise social contributions for employees. Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva is on Friday (21 September) to convene a rare ...

Recession-hit Portugal is likely to miss its deficit target this year, the troika of international lenders is expected to conclude next month following its return to Lisbon on Tuesday (28 August) to take stock of the ...

Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva has broken the government's tacit pro-German line and urged the European Central Bank (ECB) to start buying bonds from troubled eurozone countries. "Why not have the ECB start ...

On a map of Europe where green is gay-friendly and red is not, an olive-coloured peninsula in the west brings a little variety to an otherwise yellowish south. Both Spain and Portugal, in a little over one generation, ...

The EU commission on Tuesday (3 April) praised Portugal for its austerity measures and said unemployment benefits had to be further cut even though the percentage of jobless people was "surprisingly" higher than ...

On Friday 10th February, Greek unions in Athens held a 48-hour general strike after the country's cabinet passed a package of austerity measures demanded by the "troika". To show solidarity, a selection of ...

German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble on Thursday was caught on tape promising Portugal an adjustment to its programme after a deal with Greece is sealed, the first time an EU minister has publicly spoken of such ...

Portuguese city Guimaraes launched the start of its year as European Capital of Culture (ECOC) on Saturday (21 January) against a backdrop of budget cuts which threaten to derail the success of the event. The city ...

Much of Portugal was paralysed on Thursday (24 November) as a general strike against EU-IMF austerity shut down most of the country’s transport networks and public services. Most flights in and out of the holiday ...