French growth picking up, soon to halt jobless rise - INSEE

PARIS, (Reuters) - France's economy will expand fast enough in the second half of the year to halt the rise in unemployment, albeit with joblessness topping 10 percent, the national statistics office INSEE said on Thursday.

Spain's budget to focus on nascent recovery, reforms

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will boost economic and job forecasts in the 2014 budget to be presented on Friday, moving away from tough spending cuts and relying instead on lower borrowing costs and momentum from previous reforms to achieve fiscal targets.

Italy says economy shrank 0.3 per cent in second quarter

Italy on Tuesday downgraded its estimate for growth in the second quarter, saying the economy shrank by 0.3 percent in April to June instead of 0.2 percent initially calculated.

ECB 'very cautious' about eurozone recovery

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Thursday sought to temper hopes that the eurozone was about to rebound strongly, insisting that the nascent recovery remains extremely fragile.

France enters recession; Hollande under pressure

PARIS: President Francois Hollande holds a key press conference on Thursday, a day after his first anniversary in office was marred by news that holland France had fallen back into recession amid plummeting economic indicators.

Spain to rescue its indebted regions with 15 billion euros

DUBLIN: The Spanish government is putting finishing touches to a new bailout plan for its highly indebted regions to settle 15 billion euros ($19.7 billion) of unpaid bills to suppliers, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Saturday.

Finland slips into recession as exports stall

HELSINKI: Finland slipped into recession in the third quarter as the euro zone debt crisis dented demand for exports from one of its smallest and most secure economies, data showed on Wednesday.