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PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) – The Czech Republic, holding a two-day general election which ends Saturday, has been an EU member since May 1, 2004, but has chosen to remain outside the eurozone for the time being. Here are five key points about the country and its history. Independence in 1993 In 1918, Western Slavs shook off Austro-Hungarian rule, establishing Czechoslovakia, a new country comprising Czechs and Slovaks. But by 1938, Nazi Germany annexed its borderland regions […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain will call for a eurozone budget and finance minister to oversee it at an August 28 summit with France, Germany and Italy, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Monday. “We are going to continue to work to deepen economic and monetary union,” conservative Rajoy said after meeting King Felipe on Mallorca. “Spain is backing a European finance minister and a European budget which will progressively bring closer together living standards and […]
by Alex Pigman Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Eurozone finance ministers failed to reach a deal for fresh bailout cash for Greece on Monday, as a row with the International Monetary Fund over debt relief dragged on. After more than eight hours of talks in Brussels, ministers from the 19-member single currency bloc could not settle deep differences on debt relief pitting Germany, the eurozone’s most powerful member, against the IMF. “I think we […]
BARI, Italy (AFP) – International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Friday urged eurozone lenders to be “far more specific” in their commitment to a debt-relief package for Greece. The IMF has made a package easing Greece’s repayment burden a condition of its participation in a 86-billion-euro ($94-billion) bailout. But several eurozone governments are dragging their heels, insisting on more evidence of debt-plagued Greece delivering on reforms as a condition of green-lighting the third rescue […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – by Alex PIGMAN Eurozone ministers reached Wednesday a vital deal to unlock urgent cash for Greece but analysts warned promises to tackle the country’s debt mountain are sketchy, spelling trouble further down the road. The agreement unlocks 10.3 billion euros ($12 billion) in bailout cash that Greece needs to repay big loans to the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July, having already fallen behind in paying for […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Tuesday that an EU-IMF audit of the debt-laden country’s reforms would likely resume by March 10, hinting that the process was being delayed by divisions among the creditors. “My estimate is that (senior creditor representatives will) return in the first ten days of March,” Tsipras said in a televised interview. “There must finally be agreement between the (creditors) so we can move forward,” he told Star TV. […]
DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) — Voting got under way in Ireland on Friday in an election which could see it become the latest eurozone country to face political instability as anger against hardship and austerity erodes support for traditional parties. Voters began casting ballots at 0700 GMT in schools, sports clubs and church buildings transformed for the day into election centres. Over 2,000 voters who are residents of islands off the west coast of Ireland have already […]
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Friday (December 18) that the United Kingdom had to respect the European Union principles on freedom of movement. EU heads of governments were meeting in Brussels on Thursday (December 17) evening over dinner to discuss British Prime Minister David Cameron’s four key demands on EU reforms. Speaking after the meeting, Hollande said the two more sensitive issues were the access to social benefits for […]
(Reuters) Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pleaded in the European Parliament on Wednesday for a fair deal to keep his country in the euro zone after EU leaders gave him five days to come up with reforms. “I honestly believe that it’s the sovereign right of any government to decide to increase taxation on profit-making businesses and not affect the lowest possible pensions and cut back further there to achieve those objectives,” Tsipras told the […]
Greeks voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to reject terms of a bailout, risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that could splinter Europe. With nearly half of the votes counted, official figures showed 61 percent of Greeks rejecting the bailout offer. An official interior ministry projection confirmed the figure as close to the expected final tally. The astonishingly strong victory by the ‘No’ camp overturned opinion polls that had predicted an outcome too close to […]
