Hungary's prime minister has rejected criticism from the European Union over changes to the country's constitution. The EU is among those who fear the changes threaten Hungary's democracy.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban responded to a reporter's question in Brussels on Thursday by denying that the constitutional amendments were anti-democratic or contrary to EU regulations.

"Who is able to present even one single point of evidence, facts, may I say, which could be the basis for any argument that what we are doing is against democracy?" the conservative politician said. "Without facts there is no sense of any general political discussion," he added.

The number of right-wing extremists in Germany who have gone underground is higher than previously known. Forty-nine of them are convicted violent criminals. Yet a nationwide manhunt, the police say, is unfeasible.

"A ticking time-bomb" is how Ulla Helpke, the domestic policy spokesperson for the Left Party in Germany's lower parliament, describes some of the German neo-Nazis who have gone underground. "There are at least five from the NPD [far-right German nationalist party] and another nine from their militant groups," the spokesperson said. "You have to keep an eye on those people and put pressure on the authorities here, so they make sure they get arrested."

BRUSSELS - Rising unemployment, bleak economic prospects and continued austerity is making people question the benefits of the EU, Europe's top trade unionist has said.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's (14 March) EU summit, Bernadette Segol, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, said the current policies "have failed."

"We are in a double dip recession. Unemployment is up, up and up. When is growth going to come?"

David Cameron has accused Labour and the Liberal Democrats of posturing after the collapse of cross-party talks on proposed reforms to press regulation.

The prime minister announced plans to put Conservative proposals for a royal charter to introduce a new press regulator to a vote in the House of Commons on Monday. He said that the talks with other party leaders had been halted because the gap between them was too great.

European leaders meeting in Brussels were met with protests against austerity as they try to work out a way to tackle the debt crisis crippling the Eurozone. Some of the protestors were arrested by police.

Thousands of protestors in Brussels were also demanding that EU leaders bring austerity measures to a close and focus on boosting growth and reducing unemployment.

The protests were led by the European Trade Union Association, and the direct action groups For A European Spring and Bloccupy.

European Court of Justice says Spanish eviction practices contravened European law; says Spanish judges should be able to grant a stay of eviction while a legal case is resolved; also criticised that Spanish law offers less consumer protection than EU law; court specifically considers it as disproportionate that a lender can recall a mortgage if a borrower misses a single payment; ruling raises concerns about the Spanish banking system, which may now face a much slower resolution of its bad mortgage assets;  Spanish mortgage association plays down impact of the ruling; opposition Socialists are calling for an immediate stay of all evictions; Spain's retail sales dropped 9% in the last year; poverty rates among those in employment in Spain are rising fast; Matteo Renzi says he is ready to lead Italy, but only after a new round of elections; Pier Luigi Bersani lambasts Beppe Grillo for being irresponsible in his comments that Italy was already out of the eurozone; Italy's new parliament convenes today - with no signs of a government; the US ambassador to Italy applauds Grillo's use of the social media, and gives the impression that he supported the movement; over the last year, Italians have cut their spending on food by 10%; the Italian property market continues to slump; Grillo Senate whip is endorsing "happy de-growth"; the Bank of Italy imposes a ban on bonuses, and discourages tricks to circumvent the ban; the Greek government is ready to dismiss 5000 civil servants; the Greek approval rate for the euro is falling from 70% to 59%; the Portuguese government is to announce review agreement with the troika; eurozone employment hits seven year low; the French social partners have agreed on suspension of indexation for private pensions; Slovenia's incoming prime minister forms four-party coalition; Romano Prodi says austerity went too far and euro exchange rate too high; Ireland's has a successful bond auction thanks only to a single fund; the ECB plans to hire about 800 staff to get ready for the single supervisory mechanism by July 2014; the ECB says excessive debt ratios may be the reason for the low growth in some countries; the eurozone's cross-border repo market seized up last year, giving rise to increased fragmentation; the SPD is making no headway in the German polls; Olaf Storbeck, meanwhile, says wage moderation was the cause of Germany's improved competitiveness, not Gerhard Schroder's reforms.