BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone just avoided recession in early 2012 but the region’s debt crisis sapped the life out of the French and Italian economies and widened a split with paymaster Germany.

Euro zone gross domestic product stagnated in the first quarter, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone’s sick economy probably slipped into its second recession in just three years in early 2012, data is due to show on Tuesday, as the debt crisis sucks southern Europe into a downward spiral and widens the split with paymaster Germany.

Euro zone gross domestic product is seen contracting 0.2 percent in the first quarter, according to economists polled by Reuters, following a 0.3 percent contraction in the last three months of 2011 and driving it into a recession.

BRUSSELS, May 14 (Reuters) – Isolated in Europe, Britain has
little choice but to back down on its demand for changes to
draft EU banking rules it had called idiotic.

European Union finance ministers meeting on Tuesday will
seek to agree rules on the capital that banks across the
27-member bloc must raise in order to cover their risks, a
measure designed to avoid another financial crisis.

BRUSSELS, May 14 (Reuters) – Output at factories in the euro
zone unexpectedly fell in March, the latest in a series of
disappointing numbers signalling that the bloc’s recession may
not be as mild as policymakers hope.

Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro
fell 0.3 percent in March from February, the EU’s statistics
office Eurostat said on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had
expected a 0.4 percent increase in the month.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission expects the budget deficits of Central European countries to be within its official limit of 3 percent of GDP next year, including Hungary, but would not say whether it will allow Budapest access to funds frozen earlier this year.

The Commission’s deficit forecasts for Central European countries outside the euro zone, released on Friday as in the table below, contrast with some west European countries which will stay well above the deficit limit.

BRUSSELS, May 11 (Reuters) – The European Commission sees
indebted Hungary’s budget deficit at 2.9 percent in 2013, higher
than the government’s forecast but just inside the EU’s ceiling,
which may be enough to regain access to blocked development
funds from next year.

The Commission’s economic forecasts released on Friday
showed that across Central and Eastern Europe all countries’
budget deficits were expected to be inside the EU-mandated limit
of 3 percent of economic output next year, with Poland, the
region’s biggest economy, comfortably at 2.5 percent.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – French and German shoppers helped retail sales in the euro zone grow by more than expected in March but trade was still down on a year ago and will likely do little for the bloc’s economy as it slips into recession.

Retail sales in the 17 countries using the euro rose 0.3 percent in March from February, the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales volumes to be unchanged.

BRUSSELS, May 3 (Reuters) – Britain’s George Osborne accused
fellow EU finance ministers of trying to water down Europe’s
bank capital rules and said this would make him “look like an
idiot”, as talks about a law to stop another financial crisis
unravelled in Brussels.

In remarks at the negotiating table, Osborne, who says he
wants much tougher controls to avoid a repeat of the current
crisis, fumed that regulation being discussed could dent the
credibility of Europe and harm London, its top financial centre.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain’s George Osborne accused fellow European Union finance ministers of contemplating a deal to tighten bank capital rules that would make him look “like an idiot”, in an outburst that marked high tension during day-long talks in Brussels.

In remarks at the negotiating table, relayed on television to watching journalists, Osborne, who says he wants much tougher controls to avoid a repeat of the current crisis, fumed that complex regulations being discussed could dent the credibility of Europe and harm London, its top financial market.