EU finance ministers are meeting in Brussels after a top official said the region had just days to take decisive action to resolve the crisis. EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said: “We are now entering the critical period of 10 days to complete and conclude the crisis response”. The meeting comes a day [...]

  Italy’s Mario Monti is meeting Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, for the first time since Mr Monti took office. They are unlikely to only be talking about Italy. Germany and France currently disagree about whether bonds should be issued by the whole of the eurozone instead of individual countries. On [...]

Greece is braced for a second day of a general strike and mass protests as parliament takes a final vote on tough new austerity measures. Protesters are gathering outside parliament in Athens, a day after 100,000 people marched against the cuts and police clashed with demonstrators. The measures, including tax hikes and pay cuts, are [...]

In a carefully worded statement, Moody’s Investor Service hinted that the outlook for France’s top-tier credit rating could be at risk. The nation still enjoys “very high government financial strength,” said the ratings agency in its annual credit report on France, released late Monday. But that strength has been diminished by the global economic and [...]