Europe, Elections | featured news

Fears of an imminent Greek exit from Europe's joint currency receded Sunday after the conservative New Democracy party came first in a critical election and pro-bailout parties won enough seats to form a joint government.

Francois Hollande is the man in charge after his Socialist Party swept France's parliamentary election. Voters welcomed the French president's vision of injecting government money into Europe's economies in hopes of helping the joint euro currency stave off disaster....

French voters are choosing a new parliament Sunday that will determine how far Socialist President Francois Hollande can push for economic stimulus in France and around a debt-burdened, stagnant Europe.

...Companies around the globe will be on similar high alert this weekend as Greeks prepare to vote in an election on Sunday that could decide the future of the European single currency.

The Socialists, led by François Hollande, and their leftist allies were ahead in the first round of voting and are expected to emerge with a majority in the runoff vote on Sunday.

Greece's conservative New Democracy party has regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday.

Greek voters are returning to the establishment parties that negotiated its bailout, a poll showed on Thursday, offering potential salvation for European leaders who say a snap Greek election next month will decide whether it must quit the euro.

The head of Greece’s top administrative court, Panayiotis Pikrammenos, was named the nation's caretaker prime minister Wednesday as voters prepare for another election on June 17 that is widely viewed as a referendum on whether Greece stays in or leaves the Eurozone.

Greece's president spoke of "fear that could develop into panic" at the country's banks in the weeks before fresh elections that could precipitate Athens exit from the euro zone.

Stocks fell and the spread between Spanish and German bonds hit a record wide, as the prospect of fresh elections heightened concerns about the likelihood of Greece exiting the euro zone.