German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis and, apparently responding to his criticism of a heartless dictatorship of the economy and the “cult of money”, called for stronger regulation of financial markets.
Germany's two main opposition parties traded warnings against joining forces with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after September's election if they fail to win their own left-of-centre majority.
US-EU plans to join forces via a free-trade agreement are taking on shape. During his Berlin visit, US Secretary of State John Kerry described the planned pact as a priority for President Barack Obama's second term and marked out the agreement as a key element in cementing transatlantic ties.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti rowed back from comments suggesting that German Chancellor Angela Merkel had expressed opposition to his political rivals on the centre-left days before an election next week.
The Euro zone slipped deeper into recession in the last three months of 2012 after its largest economies, Germany and France, shrank markedly at the end of the year. It marked the bloc's first full year in which no quarter produced growth, extending back to 1995.
After lengthy talks in Brussels European leaders have reached an agreement on the budget for 2014-20 with a ceiling of 960 billion Euros, the first time the EU multi-annual budget has been reduced.
Leaders from the European Union and the Community of Latinamerican and Caribbean States concluded on Sunday a two-day summit with pledges of boosting bilateral trade and while few concrete details were released, the two economic blocs expressed a clear wish for stronger ties.
Britain’s future in the European Union would rest on a knife-edge if a referendum was held immediately, according to a research poll carried out for The Times: 40% of voters back an UK exit while 37% want to keep ties with Brussels and 23% do not know.
Germany and France have warned UK Prime Minister David Cameron that Britain cannot pick and choose EU membership terms after he pledged a referendum. PM Cameron said a poll would be held if the Conservatives were returned to power at the next general election, which is expected in 2015.
European leaders agreed on Friday to press on with further steps to tackle their debt crisis but German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw out a proposal to boost risk-sharing with a fund to help Euro zone states in trouble.