Europe must cooperate more closely if it wants the Euro to succeed as its shared currency, and it still has a long way to go to overcome its sovereign debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year's Eve address.
European summit deal to strengthen budget discipline in the Euro zone failed to restore financial market confidence on Monday, forcing the European Central Bank to step in again gingerly.
Pessimistic comments from Germany and new figures exposing deepening stress among Europe's banks dented financial market hopes of a turning point in the Euro zone's debt crisis at a summit this week.
The winner of the Nobel Prize in economics says that a decade ago he feared the Euro would face problems because there wasn't enough fiscal coordination between countries to support it.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris on Monday to align their positions on centralizing control of Euro zone budgets to stem a debt crisis that threatens Europe's currency union.
Greek police clashed with anti-austerity protesters and Italy announced sweeping reforms in response to a European debt crisis that on Thursday pushed borrowing costs for France and Spain sharply higher.
As technocrats leaders in Italy and Greece rush to form governments as they sought to limit the damage from the Euro zone debt crisis – and the Euro climbed on relief that a key Italian bond auction drew decent demand from investors – German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up to defend Europe’s common currency.
If Greece decided to leave the Euro, it would also have to quit the European Union, according to the terms of the EU treaties, the European Commission said on Thursday.
Policymakers have lost control of the economic crisis and financial markets are forcing the world into a depression, George Soros said on Friday, urging Europe to create a common Treasury, recapitalize its banks and protect vulnerable states.
Major central banks around the world will cooperate to offer three-month US dollar loans to commercial banks in order to prevent money markets from freezing up because of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.