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Despite a raft of new austerity measures, the fifth review of Portugal’s bailout programme has been the hardest so far, reports the Lisbon financial daily. The EU-IMF-ECB troika has criticised deficit slippage and delays in structural reforms. “The issues on the table were so sensitive that the meetings took on an atmosphere of tension.”
Stricter troika hardens assessement of Portuguese government – Diário económico
The IMF - one of three organisations that financed the 2010 Irish bailout - has issued a number of "demands" as Ireland's finance minister prepares €3.5bn in savings for the December budget. These include new taxes and cutbacks in child benefit, health care and education. The minister insists that "the IMF demands were ‘simply advice’”, notes the Dublin daily.
IMF plans to hit our pockets even harder – Irish Independent
The EU-ECB-IMF troika has asked the Greek government to raise retirement age from 65 to 66 or 67. It has so far accepted only €6 billion out of a total of €11.5 billion in cuts that the government must come up with for 2014.
Negotiations with troika on retirement at 66 – Ta Nea
This week, the European Commission will present its plan for common supervision and management of banks. As of January 1 2014, it is hoping that 8,000 institutions of the eurozone area will fall under the control of the European Central Bank, which could impose sanctions in case of non-compliance.
EU plan: ECB must close national banks – Der Standard
Catalonia celebrates its self-styled “national day” — Diada — this 11 September. With growing support for independence from Spain, massive demonstrations are expected in the north-eastern region under the slogan “Catalonia, a new European state”. According to Artur Mas, nationalist president of regional government, upcoming negociations with Madrid over increased fiscal sovereignty are “the most urgent and important battle".
A ‘Diada’ that looks to Europe – La Vanguardia
Former senior communist leader Béla Biszku has been arrested in Budapest for his role in the repression of the Hungarian uprising of October 1956, in the wake of the Soviet invasion. He is charged with war crimes "in connection with two shootings that killed many people," said the Attorney General of Budapest.
Biszku suspected of war crimes – Magyar Hírlap
Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, detained in Ethiopia for the last 14 months, were released on September 10, following a government pardon on the occasion of the Ethiopian New Year. Arrested in July 2011, they were sentenced to 11 years in prison for "supporting terrorism". They illegally entered Ethiopian territory from neighboring Somalia with rebels of the National Ogaden Liberation Front.
Free at last – Svenska Dagbladet
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