Euro Slips As Irish Elections Revive Debt Worries

The euro weakened sharply Friday, as impending elections in Ireland revived concerns about the euro zone's unresolved debt crisis, which momentarily overwhelmed nervousness about slower U.S. growth and geopolitical instability.

Ireland, one of the 17-nation currency bloc's most troubled economies, has pledged to adhere to an austerity program designed to cut the country's debt load. The conditions are also part of EUR67.5 billion in loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

EU Official Blasts Crisis Response

BRUSSELS—The European Commission's response to the economic crisis has focused too much on pushing government deficit cuts and not enough on policies to promote job creation and economic growth, a European commissioner said Wednesday.

In a rare public show of internal dissent over the commission's economic policies, Maria Damanaki, the commissioner for maritime affairs and fisheries, also said the European Union should consider restructuring the debt of the euro zone's weakest governments in exchange for accepting the drastic budget cuts and far-reaching economic reforms that Germany and France have sought as part of an overhaul of the bloc's economic policies.

Depth of euro crisis may push bailout down agenda

ANALYSIS: Fixing the currency’s problems will be a very complex task, with many conflicting interests. Giving Ireland a better deal might not be a shared priority, writes DAN O'BRIEN

THE TERMS of Ireland’s engagement with the European Union could conceivably change as much in the coming weeks and months as they have since the State hitched its wagon to the European integration train almost 40 years ago. If this happens it will do so in the context of the continuing talks to redesign the euro’s institutional architecture.

ECB, EU Visit Portugal Under Measures Agreed on Debt Crisis

European Central Bank and European Commission officials are visiting Portugal as part of measures agreed earlier this month to fight the debt crisis.

The visit is in accordance with a Feb. 4 statement by the heads of state and government of the euro area and European Union institutions, said an official at Portugal’s Finance Ministry in Lisbon, declining to provide further information.

European leaders said in the statement they had agreed steps including “assessment by the commission, in liaison with the ECB, of progress made in euro area member states in the implementation of measures taken to strengthen fiscal positions and growth prospects.”

G-20 Reach Compromise Deal On Imbalances

The world's dominant economies have reached a compromise deal on how to track imbalances in the global economy that have been blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Saturday.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries managed to get China to agree on a list of yardsticks for imbalances, by softening the criteria for measuring current account surpluses.