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The Spanish economy is falling deeper into recession and depositors are pulling their money out of the banks, figures published on Tuesday showed, while the country's most economically important region, Catalonia, said it needed a major rescue from Madrid.

Angela Merkel tried to calm a growing storm over euro zone crisis strategy on Sunday after the Bundesbank likened ECB bond-buying plans to a dangerous drug and a conservative ally of the German leader said Greece should leave the currency bloc by next year.

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.

Finance ministry officials in Greece have calculated that the debt-stricken country's economy will recover faster and its debt be more sustainable if it is given two more years to reduce its budget deficit, a Greek newspaper reported on Saturday.

At the start of another critical week for the euro, the head of the finance ministers that use the currency, Jean-Claude Juncker, reinforced expectations Monday of an initiative to lower Spain’s borrowing costs, which had hit alarming heights.

Markets and the euro rose after Mario Draghi reportedly told a conference in London that the central bank would “do whatever it takes to preserve” the currency.

Cyprus, the fifth euro zone country to seek emergency funding from Europe, may need a bailout of up to 10 billion euros — over half the size of its economy — officials said.

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.

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.