Germany, Europe Debt | featured news

Germany's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to grant Cyprus a 10 billion euro bailout that is designed to avert bankruptcy for the tiny Mediterranean island nation and keep it in the euro zone.

Even as the euro zone periphery starts to spy some glimmers of hope, concern is mounting that Germany is drifting apart from other countries at the core of the single currency bloc, notably France.

Germany's chancellor says she understands the frustration felt by many Germans over the repeated bailout programs for Greece.

The euro-zone economy continued to shrink in October but at a slower pace than in recent months, an early gauge of activity showed, while a rise in consumer sentiment in Germany bolstered hopes that the slowdown there will be brief.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel got a hostile reception from many ordinary Greeks Tuesday when she flew into Athens on her first visit to the country since its debt crisis erupted three years ago....

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signaled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue program that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds.

The German chancellor says it's a "good day for Germany and a good day for Europe". Better than that, it's been a good week. First, the European Central Bank delivered on its pledge to do more - possibly quite a lot more - to hold the euro together. Now the German constitutional court has ruled in favour the new European bailout fund, the ESM.

Angela Merkel reassured Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday that she wanted his country to stay in the euro zone, but gave no sign of ceding to his pleas for more time to meet the tough terms of Athens' international bailout.

Spain has for the first time conceded it might need a full EU/IMF bailout worth 300 billion euros ($366 billion) if its borrowing costs remain unsustainably high, a euro zone official said.

German leaders have a message for their anxious neighbors: Perhaps the euro crisis isn’t so dire after all. A growing chorus of German policymakers say they have years to resolve the euro zone’s problems, even as Italy and Spain press for urgent action to bring down their borrowing costs, which are approaching new heights.