Euro, Europe Debt | featured news

Yannis Stournaras, a well-respected liberal economist, was appointed Greece's new finance minister on Tuesday after the sudden resignation of the first choice for the job at a crucial moment for the debt-laden country.

The euro will survive even if Spain were cut off from capital markets, European Central Bank policymaker Ewald Nowotny said, adding the currency was in solid shape despite financial problems in some member countries.

Spain's banks would need 51-62 billion euros ($64-78 billion) in extra capital to weather a serious downturn in the economy, less than a 100-billion-euro aid package offered by the euro zone, independent audits showed on Thursday.

Germany may be Europe’s most powerful economy. But its prosperity is so uneven that Poles just across the border see it differently: as a place where housing is a bargain... The uneasiness here helps to explain the unwillingness voiced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about proposals that would require her country to dip further into its treasury to help address the rest of Europe’s economic problems.

Euro zone paymaster Germany, relieved at a narrow election victory for Greece's pro-bailout parties, signaled on Monday it may be willing to grant Athens more time to meet its fiscal targets to avert a catastrophic euro exit.

Spain’s borrowing costs soared Tuesday to levels that have sent other euro members into the arms of international lenders, calling into question the viability of a bailout deal for Spain’s banking sector even as other troubled countries were weighing whether they could make similar rescue arrangements.

European finance officials have discussed limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing euro zone capital controls as a worst-case scenario should Athens decide to leave the euro.

Spain, the latest combat zone in Europe's long-running debt wars, urged the euro zone to set up a new fiscal authority to manage the bloc's finances and send a clear signal to markets that the single currency project is irreversible.

Spaniards alarmed by the dire state of their banks are squirreling money abroad at the fastest rate since records began, figures showed on Thursday, and the credit ratings of eight regions were cut.

The European Central Bank stepped up pressure on Thursday for a joint fund to guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone, saying Europe needed news tools to fight bank runs as the bloc's debt crisis drives investors to flee risk.