BRUSSELS, Nov 7 (Reuters) – The euro zone economy will
barely grow next year but pick up in 2014, the European
Commission said on Wednesday, forecasting slower growth than
governments in all the bloc’s biggest economies expect.

The European Union’s executive arm said the economy of the
17 countries sharing the euro would grow only 0.1 percent in
2013 after a bigger than previously forecast 0.4 percent
contraction this year as a result of the sovereign debt crisis.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – - International lenders and Greece are on track to reach a deal to unfreeze emergency lending to Athens at a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on November 12, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Monday.

Highly indebted Greece has fallen behind with reforms and fiscal consolidation demanded by the International Monetary Fund and euro zone countries in exchange for new loans, because of two rounds of elections and a deeper-than-expected recession.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Finance chiefs of the world’s
20 leading economies are ringing alarm bells over the U.S.
fiscal cliff and Europe’s debt woes at a meeting in Mexico this
weekend as they look to push back deficit reduction targets to
help boost growth.

Unless a fractious U.S. Congress can reach a deal, about
$600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes are
set to kick in on Jan. 1, threatening to push the American
economy back into recession and hit world growth.

BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece revealed on Wednesday that it will overshoot its deficit and debt targets again next year because of a deeper than forecast recession as euro zone finance ministers debated how to keep the near-bankrupt state afloat.

Athens needs to push through spending cuts and tax measures worth 13.5 billion euros ($17.5 billion) as well as a raft of economic reforms to satisfy EU and IMF lenders and secure more bailout money next month to avoid bankruptcy.

BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers conferred on how to keep Greece afloat as negotiations between Athens and its foreign lenders neared conclusion over reforms the country must implement to receive fresh emergency loans.

Greece needs to push through spending cuts and tax measures worth 13.5 billion euros ($17.5 billion) as well as a raft of economic reforms to appease EU and IMF lenders and secure bailout money to avoid bankruptcy.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers will hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss progress in negotiations of the revised Greek bailout but are not expected to make any decisions yet, two euro zone officials said on Tuesday.

Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are in talks with the Greek government on reforms that Athens, cut off from market borrowing in 2010, has to implement to get emergency credit from the euro zone and IMF flowing again.

BRUSSELS, Oct 30 (Reuters) – A compromise proposal on the
European Union’s long-term budget, cutting more than 50 billion
euros ($64.5 billion) from the original blueprint, ran into a
crossfire of criticism on Tuesday from governments on both sides
of the spending debate.

The plan by the EU’s Cypriot presidency, sent to capitals
late on Monday, recommended the deepest cuts to infrastructure
spending in the poorest member states to reduce the total bill,
with a less drastic reduction in farm subsidies.

BRUSSELS, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Greek debt will be above the
target of 120 percent of GDP in 2020, a preliminary report by
the IMF showed on Thursday, and Athens will need more reforms
before emergency credit from international lenders can start
flowing again.

Excerpts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report
were presented to the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG) – junior
finance ministers and treasury officials who prepare meetings of
euro zone finance ministers.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone officials are expected to press ahead on Thursday with plans to give Athens two more years to meet its budget goals as well as examine ways of closing the yawning gap in Greece’s finances.

Representatives of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank — known as the troika — have been calculating how much more money Athens will need if it is given until 2016 rather than 2014 to reach a primary surplus of 4.5 percent, as agreed in February.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission threw its support on Tuesday behind a plan by 10 euro zone to use a single rule to tax transactions by financial institutions as a way of contributing to the cost of the sovereign debt crisis.

Support for the harmonized financial transaction tax (FTT)could open another rift in Europe, where countries already diverge in their regulation of finance and where politicians have long argued over how best to control banks.