Euro crisis

Spanish opera protests austerity

Guy Hedgecoe — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:02:00 +0000

MADRID, Spain — “El crepusculo del ladrillo,” or “Twilight of the brick” premiered on Sunday in la Tabacalera, a rundown downtown tobacco factory, to rapturous applause. The musicians and singers are all members of Solfonica, an orchestra linked to the indignados, and evidence of the varied response to a crisis that continues to deepen despite predictions it would end this year.

Euro zone in longest recession ever since records began in 1995

Daniel DeFraia — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:23:00 +0000

About 19 million people in the euro zone are unemployed.

Is Latvia the new Cyprus?

Charles McPhedran and Markus Kuokkannen — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

RIGA, Latvia — Tiny European country lures Russian cash by the suitcase before suffering banking crisis. Sound familiar? But this isn’t Cyprus, whose financial woes unleashed a European political crisis just over a month ago. An old playground for wealthy Russians, Latvia plans to join the euro zone next year, which has made it one of the newest causes of concern among euro zone decision-makers.

Austerity with a human face?

Paul Ames — Thu, 02 May 2013 10:01:31 +0000

BRUSSELS — "With nothing but austerity, Italy will die." Europe "is being battered by the selfish intransigence of Chancellor Merkel." It's time to fight unemployment caused by a "society that seeks selfish profit outside the bounds of social justice." Europe has become used to such slogans in countless street demonstrations against the German-inspired austerity policies that many now blame for the ongoing recession gripping much of the continent. In the past few days however, that disquiet has spread.

Berlusconi bounces back

Justin Smith — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

ROME — Italians were greeted by a familiar sight this week many thought they’d never see again: Silvio Berlusconi beaming triumphantly from the front pages of the country’s newspapers. Two years after being forced from office, the former prime minister has returned to reap the spoils of the parliament’s traumatic and ultimately failed attempt to elect a new president last weekend.

EU flashpoints: Migrants shot in Greece, Germany approves Cyprus aid, Italy fails to elect president

Paul Ames and Samantha Stainburn — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:39:00 +0000

BRUSSELS — Many in Europe are reeling from harsh effects of economic woes, but a recent show of brute violence in Greece could signal a terrible turn.

Is France the next sick man of Europe?

Paul Ames — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:00:29 +0000

BRUSSELS — Ever since last month's disclosure that ex-budget minister Jerome Cahuzac lied about stashing almost $800,000 in a secret Swiss bank account, the French have become obsessed by their politicians' money. However, France's neighbors are far more worried about the country’s finances: Brussels is warning that unless Francois Hollande manages to get it back into shape, the euro zone's second-largest economic power could bring down the whole bloc.

Twitter feud hits all the right notes: Estonia v Paul Krugman, the opera

Markus Kuokkanen — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 19:36:00 +0000

TALLINN — Last summer, Estonia became a poster child for the euro zone’s austerity drive in an improbable but dramatic war of words between the American economist Paul Krugman and Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Now a composer has created a “financial opera” inspired by this country’s brief turn at the center of a raging debate over how to tackle the financial crisis paralyzing Europe and dragging on the global economy.

Who will be the next Cyprus?

Paul Ames — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:15:44 +0000

BRUSSELS — A wave of speculation that Slovenia is poised to follow Cyprus as the next victim of the euro zone crisis sweeping southern Europe has left its people mortified. But Slovenia isn’t alone. Fears that savers in other countries could follow Cypriots in seeing their bank accounts frozen, access to funds restricted and deposits raided are spreading across the euro zone and beyond.

Cyprus says crisis averted

Paul Ames — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Cyprus bailout plan hits Russian economic model

Gregory Feifer — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:56:00 +0000

Analysis: Russia’s latest foreign policy offensive may be far less harmful to human life than its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which enables Moscow to posture on the world stage. But it reveals as much about the motivations of a government run by and in the almost exclusive interests of a small group of President Vladimir Putin’s cronies.

Spain under pressure to end evictions crisis

Guy Hedgecoe — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 10:01:10 +0000

MADRID — Daubed on the wall of one lender in the city center are the words: “This bank kills people.” That’s an increasingly common sentiment in Spain, where banks are blamed not just for helping prompt this country’s dire economic crisis, but also foreclosures practices that have forced tens of thousands from their homes and driven a desperate few to suicide. However, this week the European Court of Justice ruled that Spain’s mortgage legislation is unfair to homeowners, giving hope the rules will be eased.

Crisis in Greece (PHOTOS)

Milos Bicanski — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:35:00 +0000

ATHENS — Economic crisis is changing the face of Greece. The private sector has been losing more than 1,000 businesses a week while the country has struggled with violent protests, nationwide strikes and a dramatic rise in homelessness. With few signs of improvement in the near future, many Greeks are trying to cope with whatever they can scrounge from government food programs, charities and dumpsters. Here's a look at how many are living.

Euro zone still waiting for its Marshall Plan

Paul Ames — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:17:05 +0000

BRUSSELS — When European leaders agreed last summer on a "growth compact" designed to pump more than two hundred billion dollars into the euro zone economy, it was hailed as modern-day Marshall Plan. Seven months on, however, the money's still not moving and neither is the economy.

Italian elections may decide euro's fate

Paul Ames — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:15:12 +0000

ROME — Italians took a break from politics for most of 2012. Bitter party rivals buried their grievances to give a non-elected, technocratic government time to convince financial markets that the world's 8th-largest economy isn’t headed for a Greek-style meltdown. But all that changed over the Christmas break, when the country was suddenly plunged into an election campaign that's seen as crucial not only for Italy’s future, but for the entire euro zone.