Germany at odds with ECB over Greece

In an open letter to European and international authorities, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said: "Any additional financial support for Greece has to involve a fair burden sharing between taxpayers and private investors."

He warned that if Greee does not get more funding before mid-July, "we face real risk of the first unorderly default within the eurozone".

Eurozone consumers keep shopping despite debt crisis

Retail sales in the 17 countries that use the euro rose more than expected in April, despite the debt crisis and an interest rate rise.

Retail sales rose 0.9% in April, compared with the previous month, the statistics office Eurostat said.

The increase was much bigger than had been expected, and made up for March's 0.9% decline.

Economic Crisis 'Successfully Exited'

HELSINKI—The euro zone's economic crisis is over and it is now enjoying a broad-based recovery, Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer said Monday.

"There are increasing signs that the economic recovery is on track," Mr. Noyer told a financial markets conference, pointing to a "brilliant" first quarter and strong business sentiment indicators. He added that he considered that financial conditions are now "favorable" and that there is no sign of credit rationing as demand for funds improves. "All in all, we have strong reasons to believe that we successfully exited the economic crisis."

Trichet seeks single EU finance ministry

(FT) -- Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, has called on the European Union to take bolder steps towards controlling fiscal and economic policies, suggesting a long-term goal of establishing a European ministry of finance.

Redwood: The origins of the euro crisis

The euro crisis is following a predictable path. The bills have increased greatly, and are being passed around in the hope the problems will go away.

Unfortunately the countries in trouble are spending too much and earning too little. That has to be tackled, as there will be limits to the patience and the amount of money the EU and the IMF can throw at this problem.