The euro turns 20 on Tuesday, marking two tumultuous decades that saw the single currency survive a make-or-break crisis and become a fixture in financial markets and Europeans' wallets. But it is destined to remain a fragile giant without closer eurozone integration, observers say.
France and Germany have agreed on the broad outlines of a proposed eurozone budget which they will present to EU finance ministers in Brussels on Monday, a French finance ministry source said.
Berlin has been one of the main lenders to Greece during its debt crisis. While conservative parties warned that supporting Greece would come at the cost of the German taxpayer, new figures show Germany has made money on the crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative allies on Wednesday took aim at her backing for a new eurozone budget, German media reported, opening up another front in their attack against her.
France's President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday announced common plans on a plethora of EU reforms ahead of a crunch end-June summit that could determine the future of the bloc.
France and Germany are "determined" to reach a compromise on President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for a shake-up of the eurozone, a French government source told AFP on Sunday after marathon talks between the two countries.
The German economy grew slower than
analysts had forecast in the first three months of 2018, federal statistics authority Destatis said Tuesday, in a result likely to stoke fears of a eurozone slowdown.
Germany and France on Saturday pledged to deliver a joint proposal to reform the eurozone in time for a leaders summit in June, despite their big differences on the future of the bloc.
Wages in Germany have grown much
faster than in other eurozone countries in recent years, a Bundesbank (central bank) study published Monday found, reversing conditions seen before the
financial crisis that stoked intra-European resentment.
French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Berlin Thursday for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, hoping to breathe fresh life into his grand vision for EU reforms in the face of growing German
resistance.
French President Emmanuel Macron's vision for a stronger European Union may be in tatters as a growing rift emerges with
Germany on everything from defence to his plans for deeper eurozone
integration.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday they would come up with a roadmap for a major shake-up of the European Union by June, despite resistance to Macron's ambitious reform agenda from smaller members of the bloc.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday cautioned Berlin and Paris not to try to push through their ambitious EU reform plans against the will of other member states.
Germany and France will offer their joint
vision for reforming the eurozone by March, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday, in an effort to bridge divisions over the future of the single
currency.
French President Emmanuel Macron on
Tuesday pleaded his case for ambitious European reforms, appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to join forces with him and enter the debate.
Eurozone finance ministers deluged German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble with farewell gifts on Monday as the man who inspired Europe's austerity answer to the debt crisis attended his last
meeting with them.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, the warhorse of the debt crisis, attends his final meeting of Eurozone ministers on Monday as variously the most loathed or loved figures in EU politics.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was prepared to "consider" new French President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for a shake-up of the eurozone.
Chancellor Angela Merkel lost a key ally on Sunday night as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after losing a referendum on constitutional reform. But anti-immigrant populists in Germany welcomed the result.
Eurozone finance ministers agreed late on Tuesday night to pay out €10.3 billion to Greece so that it can make debt repayments due in the coming months.
The German government believes Greece should be granted debt relief only in 2018 after it has fully complied with its EU bailout, according to a finance ministry document seen by AFP Thursday.
Germany's right-wing populist AfD believes that France and southern European countries should be excluded from Europe's common currency, the party's top officials said, AFP reported.
For the first half of 2015 he was the arch nemesis of the German government. But Greece’s left-wing former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, revealed on Monday his admiration for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday that it may continue buying eurozone governments' bonds into 2016, hoping to free up banks' cash to invest in business. The German stock market reacted excitedly – but economists aren't convinced.
Germany will work closely with Greece's new government under left-wing prime minister Alexis Tsipras, both on its debt troubles and on the migrant crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Monday.
