The economy is in shambles, people are taking to the streets in angry protest, and the government is on the verge of collapse after passing unpopular yet necessary austerity measures.

But this is not Greece in 2012 - it was Germany a decade ago.

Contending with the worst economic downturn since 1993, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder came up with a package of labour and welfare reforms he called Agenda 2010. Deeply disliked at the time, it's now widely credited as the reason why Germany is in considerably better shape than the rest of Europe.

In particular, it helped increase Germany's competitiveness by making its labour market more flexible and living on the dole less attractive. But the Greeks, Italians and Irish now railing against the supposedly callous Germans for living it up while demanding their neighbours implement tough austerity measures appear not to be aware of just what it was like here ten years ago.

Serbian officials say the recent arrests of four criminals -- one of whom is charged in the March 12th 2003 assassination of the late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic -- is a major advance in the country's fight against organised crime.

President Boris Tadic said the arrests deal "a decisive blow to organised crime, from which it will not recover for a long time". He added that this could also be important for new investment in the country, because foreign businesses invest money in safe countries.

In Valencia, Spain, police arrested Vladimir Milisavljevic -- known as Budala -- who was sentenced in absentia in 2007 to 35 years in prison for Djindjic's assassination. Also apprehended was Serbian underground leader Luka Bojovic and members of his organization, Sinisa Petric and Vladimir Mijanovic.

"The Zemun criminal clan no longer exists," Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced on Friday (February 10th), speaking on Thursday's arrest.

Some eurozone countries no longer want Greece in the bloc, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has said.

He accused the states of "playing with fire", as Greece scrambled to finalise an austerity plan demanded by the EU and IMF in return for a huge bailout.

Mr Venizelos promised to clarify the plan before a conference call with eurozone bosses due at 16:00 GMT.

Greece needs to convince lenders that it will make enough savings, and that its politicians will enact the changes.

Athens is hoping to get a 130bn-euro (£110bn; $170bn) bailout from the EU and IMF.

The farm ministers of Spain and France have issued a joint statement on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), saying both countries "will not accept" any budget overhaul that fails to preserve the EU's current level of farm spending.

Spain has joined France in its campaign to preserve the EU's farm budget after 2013 when a major overhaul of the policy is due to kick in.

The two countries are among the biggest beneficiaries of the CAP, which absorbs some 40% of the EU's annual budget (see background).

As negotiations on the future of the CAP enter a critical phase, the two ministers stressed the importance of maintaining a strong agricultural sector that contributes to growth and jobs in Europe, said the joint statement, issued on Tuesday (14 February).

"In this respect, France and Spain consider it essential to maintain the CAP budget at least at the level of commitments reached at the end of the current programming period, as the Commission proposes." 

"France and Spain will not accept any financial framework that does not guarantee the stabilisation of the CAP."

As the clock ticks down on the Yunus Rahmatullah case, the Ministry of Defence has been caught in another mess over its special forces in Iraq. The two cases have regrettable parallels: in both instances the MoD set its face against coming clean about the fate of its prisoners. Now it has been forced to admit the existence of the H1 blacksite, and is still stonewalling over the fate of Yunus Rahmatullah. But the time is fast approaching when the truth - all of it, however ugly - will emerge.

A brief recap: last week we learned that British involvement in Iraq's 'black sites' was far greater than we knew. The MoD was apparently up to its ears in a heretofore unknown secret prison at an airstrip in the desert called H1. We only know about H1 because one man, Tariq Sabri al-Fadhawi, was beaten to death in a Chinook en route. Given that the purpose of the detention facility was to hide prisoners from the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is safe to conclude that the fate of those who reached their destination was equally grim.

Defiant peers have narrowly voted again to demand that the government drop plans to cut housing benefit for claimants in under-occupied homes.

The peers voted by 236 to 226, even though the Commons had last week rejected a similar amendment from the Lords and then imposed financial privilege, a means of preventing the Lords from tabling the same amendment again.

The Lords had opposed the so-called "spare bedroom" tax a fortnight ago, and on Tuesday reasserted that view by saying housing benefit cuts of £14 a week should not be imposed on claimants in under-occupied homes if they are unemployed, carers, foster carers, disabled or war widows.

In a process known as ping-pong, the Commons will have to address the issue again when it returns from its half-term break next week. The amendment passed was costed by the department of work and pensions as up to £100m annually by 2013-14.

Yesterday's telephone conference agreed to postpone a decision on Greece until Monday; Germany, Finland and the Netherland seek more letters of assurance from smaller Greek parties; Jean-Claude Juncker said that some issues remained open until a final agreement can be reached; Antonis Samaras has written a letter confirming his commitment to the programme, but said that modification may be necessary if the Greek economy does not recover; Juncker also insisted that the troika would need a permanent representation in Greece; reiterated insistence that the money be disbursed into an escrow account; Wolfgang Schäuble enrages the Greeks with a suggestion that they should postpone the elections; a senior German official said there was now a massive problem of trust; Greek president Karolos Papoulias said he cannot accept Mr Schäuble's insults; Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos said there are forces trying to push Greece out of the eurozone; Peter Spiegel has more details of the letters of the financial and legal advisers to the euro working group, in which they warn about the serious consequences of delaying the agreement; the Greek privatisation agency said that they could raise at most €4.7bn in revenues this year, as political obstacles remain; Portugal had a successful auction of Treasury Bills; Mario Monti says there shall be no additional austerity even if economy hits recession; also criticises stereotypes of core and periphery; Nicolas Sarkozy declares his candidacy for the French presidency; French Q4 growth stronger than previously estimated;Erkki Liikanen, meanwhile, warns about the consequences of the ECB's liquidity policies and says an exit strategy is urgently needed.

Thousands of the British military's tanks, carriers and cars will head across the Channel because of MoD plans to sell off its vast complex at Ashchurch in Gloucestershire. This is where it stores or repairs up to 6,000 vehicles, ready for duty.

The problem of where to put them all when the 72-hectare (178-acre) site is sold has been troubling military planners, who have plumped for Mönchengladbach in western Germany. The city in North-Rhine Westphalia is home to the British-owned Ayrshire barracks.