As the spread between Italian and German bonds climbed over the watershed 500 point (5%) mark, the International Monetary Fund called on the EU to "implement agreements to stabilise markets", which includes redemption of debt by the European bailout fund in order to reduce widening spreads.
Spread reaches 500 points, IMF scolds EU – Il Sole-24 Ore
Thousands of civil servants demonstrated in Madrid yesterday against the latest austerity measures announced by Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy. These include no extra Christmas pay — representing a 7% drop in annual salary — and cutting from six to three the numbers of day off that can be taken outside of paid holidays for personal affairs. Protesters tried unsuccesfully to march on parliament.
Civil servant protest raises volume – ABC
Bavarian Minister-President Horst Seehofer has lodged a complaint with the German Constitutional Court against the system of tax transfers between German states. With elections due in 2013, Bavaria, the richest federal state, coughed up 3.6 billion euros in 2011 to poorer regions, with Berlin as the main beneficiary.
Bavaria no longer wants to pay – Berliner Zeitung
According to Britain's 2011 census, the population of England and Wales grew by 7.1 per cent to 56.1 million, twice the rate recorded in the previous decade. When results for Northern Ireland and an estimate for Scotland are taken into account the UK population stands at around 63.1 million, up four million in the past decade. More than half the population growth has been driven by immigration, with two thirds of immigrants coming from non-EU countries.
Immigrants fuel record surge in UK population – The Daily Telegraph
A month ahead of an unprecedented visit to Poland by Patriarch Kirill I, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Polish and Russian clerics are preparing a joint appeal to both nations. According to the Warsaw daily, they will call for reconciliation between the two Christian churches and invite Russians and Poles not to manipulate history. Polish priests have already compared the document to the famous letter of Polish bishops to their German counterparts of 1965 in which they wrote: “we forgive and ask for forgiveness” – considered a milestone in the Polish-German relations after WW II.
Reconciliation and forgiveness – Gazeta Wyborcza
A landmark legal report has established for the first time a "probable link" between French nuclear tests in Algeria in the 60s, as well as those in Polynesia in the 70s and 90s, with a number of cancer cases suffered by ex-military or nuclear professionals.
Cancer: revelations about French nuclear tests – Aujourd'hui en France - Le Parisien
Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!
It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.
Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!