Europe, Euro | featured news

Investors nervous about the changing political winds in Europe initially drove down the euro and sent stock markets falling across the region Monday morning, though markets were bouncing back later in the day following renewed signs of strength in the German economy.

Just when we thought the euro crisis had subsided for a bit, Spain is bursting back up as a trouble spot. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the country is “facing an economic situation of extreme difficulty.” Spain is struggling to borrow money and can’t hit its deficit targets.

Just three years ago, the euro was being praised as the can-do currency that had delivered unprecedented prosperity in Europe. Now, it's widely derided as a hugely flawed experiment in the wake of a debt crisis that's threatening its very existence — an uncomfortable backdrop as the currency's notes and coins hit their first decade in circulation on Jan. 1.

Prime Minister David Cameron stood before Parliament on Monday and forcefully defended his decision to veto key decisions at last week’s European summit meeting to rescue the euro, asserting he made the only reasonable choice to protect Britain’s national interests even though critics — including some within his own coalition government — contend he has effectively marginalized the country’s influence in Europe.

European Union members that use the euro agreed to sign a treaty that would require stricter financial and fiscal discipline, but two countries with their own currencies, Britain and Hungary, refused.

Europe’s debt crisis is going from bad to worse. The borrowing rates for troubled--and even not-so-troubled--European governments once again soared Friday, heightening the danger of an all-out collapse in Europe’s common currency. It comes as political leaders across the continent are all pointing to each other as needing to act to avert a worse outcome.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso tells MEPs that Greece will stay in the eurozone but warns the EU is facing its "greatest challenge".

A top board member of the European Central Bank unexpectedly resigned on Friday in what analysts saw as further evidence of the deep divisions over how to resolve Europe’s growing debt crisis. The move immediately rattled European markets and the euro, which slipped to a six-month low against the dollar. The European Stoxx and German DAX indexes tumbled 3.5 percent.

European leaders are holding an emergency summit on Greece's debt crisis, trying to prevent a meltdown for the euro and a global economic slump.

Stress tests on Ireland's four main lenders will reveal a capital hole of around 20 billion euros ($28.2 billion), The Sunday Business Post reported, without citing any sources.