Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who took power late last year, defended his policies of strict austerity in Spain and said they came in tandem with structural reforms to promote growth. Speaking Thursday in Berlin at a news conference following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rajoy said Spain has to work to create solid foundations for the economy. He said the next four years will be all about economic reforms - a "long and difficult phase."
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who took power late last year, defended his policies of strict austerity in Spain and said they came in tandem with structural reforms to promote growth.
Speaking Thursday in Berlin at a news conference following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rajoy said Spain has to work to create solid foundations for the economy. He said the next four years will be all about economic reforms - a "long and difficult phase."
The Lower House of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, has approved a law which will reactivate a state rescue fund for struggling banks. The SoFFin fund is to provide up to 400 billion euros ($527 billion) in guarantees for cash-strapped banks and up to 80 million euros specifically for recapitalization needs. Following a string of stress tests in the sector, the European Banking Authority (EBA) had estimated that six major German banks needed to drum up an additional 13.1 billion euros to meet higher stock capital requirement.
The Lower House of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, has approved a law which will reactivate a state rescue fund for struggling banks. The SoFFin fund is to provide up to 400 billion euros ($527 billion) in guarantees for cash-strapped banks and up to 80 million euros specifically for recapitalization needs.
Following a string of stress tests in the sector, the European Banking Authority (EBA) had estimated that six major German banks needed to drum up an additional 13.1 billion euros to meet higher stock capital requirement.
they're going to keep doing it until we stop them.
italy's economy is melting down like a gelato in agosto. it's just a matter of time till the people rise up and throw the buffoon class out on its deaf ear. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
The daily newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung" released an evaluation of federal employment statistics on Thursday, claiming that fewer German children are living below the poverty line, but not all parts of the country are enjoying the same levels of success. According to the report, the number of children younger than 15 years old receiving funds from the state welfare program Hartz IV decreased from 1.9 million to 1.64 million between September 2006 and September 2011. The decline between 2010 and 2011 stood out, as the number of children in Hartz IV households shrank by nearly 84,000.
The daily newspaper "Süddeutsche Zeitung" released an evaluation of federal employment statistics on Thursday, claiming that fewer German children are living below the poverty line, but not all parts of the country are enjoying the same levels of success.
According to the report, the number of children younger than 15 years old receiving funds from the state welfare program Hartz IV decreased from 1.9 million to 1.64 million between September 2006 and September 2011.
The decline between 2010 and 2011 stood out, as the number of children in Hartz IV households shrank by nearly 84,000.
There were 11.5 million children under 15 in 2006, and 10.75 million in 2011. That's about 6.5% less. And then the study is not about children who live in poverty as the headline suggests. It is about children receiving Hartz4, as opposed to children in poverty who receive Sozialgeld (tied to the inability to work), or who have a low income as low as Hartz4. (More here, but in German)
However, job growth in Germany has been mainly in the precarious sector. Around one half of all employment contracts today are limited term, and "temp" work is accounting for an ever greater proportion of jobs.
Watch this figure to do a 180 in a New York minute the next time the domestic economy starts stagnating. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
German consumer confidence is continuing to rise, according to the latest index of household sentiment by the Nuremberg-based market research company GfK. Based on a poll of 2,000 average consumers, the survey forecast a rise in confidence to 5.9 percent for February, up from a positively revised 5.7 percent in January of this year. "[German] consumers are continuing to resist the growing recessionary tendencies in Europe which look likely to spare Germany," the study said. "For the second month in a row, economic expectations have risen and consumers' willingness to spend is increasing as a result."
German consumer confidence is continuing to rise, according to the latest index of household sentiment by the Nuremberg-based market research company GfK. Based on a poll of 2,000 average consumers, the survey forecast a rise in confidence to 5.9 percent for February, up from a positively revised 5.7 percent in January of this year.
"[German] consumers are continuing to resist the growing recessionary tendencies in Europe which look likely to spare Germany," the study said. "For the second month in a row, economic expectations have risen and consumers' willingness to spend is increasing as a result."
BRUSSELS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said transferring more powers to EU institutions rather than increasing the size of the eurozone's future bail-out fund is the way to overcome the euro crisis. "We have said right from the start that we want to stand up for the euro, but what we don't want is a situation where we are forced to promise something that we will not be able to fulfil," Merkel said Wednesday (25 January) in the opening speech of the World Economic Forum, an informal gathering of leaders and business magnates held every year in Davos, a Swiss mountain resort.
BRUSSELS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said transferring more powers to EU institutions rather than increasing the size of the eurozone's future bail-out fund is the way to overcome the euro crisis.
"We have said right from the start that we want to stand up for the euro, but what we don't want is a situation where we are forced to promise something that we will not be able to fulfil," Merkel said Wednesday (25 January) in the opening speech of the World Economic Forum, an informal gathering of leaders and business magnates held every year in Davos, a Swiss mountain resort.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday in Davos it would be "quite simply madness" if Europe introduced a tax on financial transactions, which would reduce growth and cut jobs.
