COPENHAGEN, March 30 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers
agreed on Friday to raise their financial firewall to prevent a
new flare-up of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, but it was
unclear if markets and Europe’s G20 partners would see the boost
as sufficient.

The 17-nation currency area agreed to combine its two rescue
funds to make 500 billion euros of new funds available in case
of emergency until mid-2013, on top of 200 billion euros already
committed to bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – The euro zone should not commit more than 800 billion euros in rescue aid, and tapping that money should only be available when countries promise reforms, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Thursday.

The financial firewall would stand ready to help the bloc’s large and indebted economies, namely Italy and Spain. Finance ministers meeting in Copenhagen are due to finalize it on Friday, putting in place one of the last big pieces of the euro zone’s crisis response.

BRUSSELS, March 27 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers
need to impress finance markets with the size of their rescue
fund for indebted countries when they meet later this week, the
head of the OECD said on Tuesday, advocating “the mother of all
firewalls”.

Investors and many European officials want ministers to
agree a combination of the 17-nation currency area’s two rescue
funds to nudge the International Monetary Fund into backing
debt-stricken European economies, should they need help.

BRUSSELS, March 27 (Reuters) – The euro zone’s public debt
crisis is not over despite calmer financial markets this year,
the OECD said on Tuesday, with a warning that the bloc’s banks
remain weak, debt levels are still rising and fiscal targets are
far from assured.

As the euro zone heads into its second slump in just three
years, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) said the 17-nation area needed ambitious
economic reforms and there could be no room for complacency.

March 26 (Reuters) – Among the piles of papers on one
European diplomat’s desk in Brussels is a memo with the words
“growth” and “jobs” scrawled in blue ink, followed by a large
question mark.

“I think we’re missing something,” said the diplomat as he
sucked his pen. “There’s a lot of talk about growth strategies,
but what about the banks? They are still not lending.”

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers are moving closer to agreeing a combined rescue fund of around 700 billion euros (582 billion pounds) in Copenhagen next week and anything higher would probably be too ambitious, euro zone diplomats said on Friday.

The EU’s top economic official, Olli Rehn, is pushing for a big fund capable of bailing out indebted euro zone countries such as Italy and Spain, should they be cut off from the markets, despite resistance in Germany, the bloc’s paymaster.

BRUSSELS, March 23 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers
are moving closer to agreeing a combined rescue fund of around
700 billion euros ($924 billion) in Copenhagen next week and
anything higher would probably be too ambitious, euro zone
diplomats said on Friday.

The EU’s top economic official, Olli Rehn, is pushing for a
big fund capable of bailing out indebted euro zone countries
such as Italy and Spain, should they be cut off from the
markets, despite resistance in Germany, the bloc’s paymaster.

BRUSSELS, March 15 (Reuters) – The number of people in
work in the euro zone fell again in the last three months of
2011 while hourly labour costs rose, highlighting Europe’s
difficulty in driving a U.S.-like recovery in jobs.

Employment in the 17 nations sharing the euro fell 0.2
percent in the fourth quarter compared to the third, the
European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Energy prices drove up the cost of living in the euro zone in February, likely to drag on a still-stagnant economy and dampening any sense of relief that Europe’s debt crisis is easing.

Energy costs were 9.5 percent higher in February than the same month a year ago, breaking a fall in euro zone inflation and pushing consumer prices up to 2.7 percent in the month, the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday.