New French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met for the first time on 15 May in Berlin. The two leaders announced that they would present common proposals for economic growth at forthcoming EU summits. Die Welt also features a headline report on the re-run of Greek elections, which will have Europeans “trembling” with fear.
Bienvenue and Willkommen – Die Welt
“Unanimity on the question of austerity has come to an end”, remarks the conservative daily, which notes that financing growth has become the main priority in Europe.
Europe’s broken heart – Rzeczpospolita
The success of the radical left in Greek general elections “may bring about the collapse of the European project. The maximum impact of this threat would be felt in Romania”, where 13% of capital holdings and 15% of banking deposits are managed by local branches of Greek banks.
Count-down for the EU has begun – Evenimentul zilei
While the president and the political party leaders attempted to form a government and to avoid further elections, the Greek population withdrew a large quantity of savings from the country’s banks.
We withdrew 1 billion euros in 3 days! – I Niki
According to sources in Brussels, many Greek banks are undercapitalised to the point where “the European Central Bank believes it is irresponsible to provide them with continued support”. At the end of January, the ECB had lent 73 billion euros to the Greek financial sector. Plans have been proposed to halve this sum.
ECB hands off Greek banks – Het Financieele Dagblad
On 15 May, the governor of Central Bohemian Region, David Rath, was charged with corruption and the abuse of EU funds. Following his arrest in flagrante delicto with 7 million Czech crowns (€273,000) on his person, the socialist MP, former minister and noted anti-corruption campaigner was unable to claim immunity from prosecution — an unprecedented development in the Czech Republic.
Hunted Down – Mladá Fronta DNES
The former CEO of News International, the newspaper business controlled by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, has been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by concealing evidence from detectives investigating the News of the World phone-hacking scandal and allegations that reporters paid bribes to police.
Brooks charged over ‘cover up’ – The Guardian
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