UK asks austerity-weary workers to suggest new budget cuts

Imagine your pay has been frozen for years and thousands of colleagues have been let go. Then your boss asks you for ideas on how to save even more money.

EU to change budget calculation to ease austerity

BRUSSELS: European Union finance experts have reached a preliminary agreement on changing the way the bloc determines some deficit figures, which will lessen the pressure for austerity measures in some crisis-hit economies, an EU official said Thursday.

Germany's Schaeuble set to stay center stage in euro crisis

(Reuters) - Two years ago, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was on the point of giving up his role as iron fist in the euro zone debt crisis, but the 70-year-old champion of closer European integration now seems likely to remain on Europe's center stage.

Spain, Portugal meet to find ways to help economy

MADRID (AP) — Spain and Portugal's premiers are meeting to discuss the economic turmoil plaguing their countries and the measures the European Union should take to ease the crisis.

Euro Leaders Demand Austerity as Italy Nears New Vote

European leaders demanded that euro members press on with budget cuts to end the debt crisis as Italy edged closer to a new election after an anti-austerity vote last week resulted in political deadlock.

Spain's Economic Woes Take A Toll On The Media

Three years of euro-zone recession have badly hurt Spain's media sector, where some 8,500 journalists have lost their jobs. Dozens of newspapers have closed and the remaining publications are sharply cutting back as ads plummet.

EU leaders gear up for round two of budget negotiations

BRUSSELS: The collapse of EU talks Friday without agreeing a seven-year budget is not calamitous, the bloc will continue to function, but it does heap yet more pressure on a divided European Union mired in an intractable debt crisis.

Spain's bailout hesitation 'highly risky': EU commissioner

BRUSSELS: Uncertainty over whether Spain intends to seek a full bailout is "highly risky", Joaquin Almunia, the EU's competition commissioner, warned Madrid during an interview with AFP.

Dutch opposition rejects budget cuts, crisis deepens

(Reuters) - The biggest Dutch opposition parties refused on Tuesday to back austerity cuts needed to meet EU budget targets after the government fell, deepening the crisis in a nation probably facing a long period of uncertainty until elections.

Euro slammed by poor data, European political risks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro slid against the dollar on Monday after two days of gains, rattled by poor euro zone data and concerns that the region's debt crisis could spread to other healthier European nations after Dutch officials failed to agree on budget cuts.