BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Falling investment and consumers’ reluctance to spend even at Christmas were behind the euro zone’s slide deep into recession in the last three months of 2012, according to a second official estimate on Wednesday.

Economic output from the 17 nations sharing the euro fell 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, EU statistics agency Eurostat said, confirming an earlier reading and giving a more detailed breakdown.

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) – Spain joined France on Tuesday
in pleading for more time to reduce its budget deficit, saying
it believed the European Commission was warming to the idea to
avoid deepening the country’s recession.

Echoing France’s position at a meeting of European finance
ministers on Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, Spain’s Economy
Minister Luis de Guindos said there was no point in forcing
Madrid into deeper cuts when the country was taking action and
its credibility with markets was no longer in doubt.

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister
will have a first chance to challenge plans in Brussels to cap
bankers’ bonuses at a meeting on Tuesday, but he is unlikely to
find enough support from fellow EU ministers to block a measure
popular with voters.

European Union diplomats and the bloc’s parliament agreed
new rules last week that would prevent bankers from receiving
bonuses bigger than their base salaries from next year. The
bonus cap can rise to twice the size of the salary if
shareholders agree.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Britain’s finance minister will have a first chance to challenge plans in Brussels to cap bankers’ bonuses at a meeting on Tuesday, but he is unlikely to find enough support from fellow EU ministers to block a measure popular with voters.

European Union diplomats and the bloc’s parliament agreed new rules last week that would prevent bankers from receiving bonuses bigger than their base salaries from next year. The bonus cap can rise to twice the size of the salary if shareholders agree.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – France, the euro zone’s second-largest economy, will miss its budget deficit target this year but can reach the goal in 2014, the country’s Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Monday.

Under pressure to show budgetary discipline to the rest of the euro zone and reassure financial markets, Moscovici pleaded for understanding from the European Commission, the EU executive that is policing countries’ debts and deficits.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Inflation fell in the euro zone in February and joblessness rose to an all-time high, highlighting the impact of the bloc’s debt crisis.

Annual inflation in the 17 countries sharing the euro was 1.8 percent in February, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Friday, around the ECB’s target of below but close to 2 percent, and by more than expected.