Euro, Austerity | featured news

Over the course of five days, the Greek government -- led by the understated conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras -- overcame two high hurdles in a dash to qualify for the austerity program set out by the so-called troika, made up of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel praises Portugal's resolve in tackling its debt crisis, but faces angry anti-austerity protesters in Lisbon.

Euro zone finance ministers are unlikely to release a new tranche of loans to Greece on Monday as there is no agreement yet on how to make its debt sustainable but Athens is set to get two more years to cut debt, officials said.

Debt-ridden Greece enters yet another week of anti-austerity protests. The country risks coming to a standstill as the parliament votes on a fresh austerity package of cost cuts and tax hikes for a new cash injection from its international creditors. A 24-hour strike starting Monday is expected to unite hospital doctors, journalists, Metro, taxi and train drivers and other transport workers, reports RT's Peter Oliver from Athens.

Greece is inching towards an agreement with its international debt inspectors as they struggle to hammer out the details of (EURO)13.5 billion ($17.5 billion) in austerity measures for the next two years, a package essential for Greece to receive the next installment of its vital bailout funds.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards and Portuguese rallied in the streets of their countries' capitals Saturday to protest enduring deep economic pain from austerity cuts.

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.

Some two decades ago, when Europe’s leaders worked out the details of their grand vision to connect the European Union with a single currency, virtually every economist on this side of the Atlantic — and most of those on the other — figured out that the euro would be fatally flawed.