FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Struggling banks snapped up euro489 billion ($639 billion) in cheap loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, a sign of just how hard or expensive it has become to borrow from each other.
Europe secured an historic agreement to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration in the euro zone on Friday, but Britain, the region’s third largest economy, refused to join the other 26 countries in a fiscal union and was left isolated.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, welcomes visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris on Friday.
PARIS—The leaders of France and Germany, racing to repair the troubled euro zone, issued an ultimatum to other European Union governments on Monday, saying members of the 27-nation bloc must decide by the end of the week whether they want to be part of a fiscally integrated ensemble.
Ben Hirschler and Scott MaloneA one euro coin is melted with a welding torch in this photo illustration taken in Bern November 8, 2011.
REUTERS/Michael Buholzer/Files.
When Novo Nordisk’s chief financial officer met marketing colleagues last Friday the conversation moved far beyond the usual discussion of sales and performance. Jesper Brandgaard asked a simple, far-reaching question: how would the firm set prices for two pivotal new insulin products if the euro collapsed?
The memo will prompt fears that Germany’s euro crisis plans could result in a European super-state with spending and tax plans set in Brussels
An intrusive European body with the power to take over the economies of struggling nations should be set up to tackle the eurozone crisis, according to a leaked German government document.
Eric Feferberg/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany spoke during a news conference held at the end of a euro zone summit in Brussels on Thursday.
BRUSSELS — European leaders, in a significant step toward resolving the euro zone financial crisis, won an agreement from banks early Thursday to take a 50 percent loss on the face value of their Greek debt. The agreement was crucial to assembling a comprehensive package to protect the euro, which has been keeping jittery financial markets on edge around the world.
(Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican October 23, 2011/Giampiero Sposito)
The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment of a “global public authority” and a “central world bank” to rule over financial institutions that have become outdated and often ineffective in dealing fairly with crises. The document from the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department should please the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators and similar movements around the world who have protested against the economic downturn.
Time to get serious: France’s President Sarkozy, US President Obama, German Chancellor Merkel and Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron Photo: REUTERS
Next month’s G20 summit must go beyond the usual rhetoric. Confidence in the eurozone’s banking system has to be restored through recapitalisation of its banks.
A number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world’s reserve currency
The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world’s monetary system since the Second World War.