* Italy will stick to savings programme The euro zone's strategy for tackling Greece's debt crisis comes at a price and should remain an isolated case, ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi was cited as saying in a German paper. Bini Smaghi echoed critical comments by fellow ECB policymaker Jens Weidmann after the ECB
More
France will not need to introduce austerity measures in response to increased debt exposure from the euro zone's new rescue plan for Greece, its finance minister said on Saturday. Francois Baroin said in an interview with French daily Le Monde that the government would be able to maintain its deficit reduction targets and would not
More
The energy crisis will be with us for some time to come, with the island’s main power station that was destroyed in an arms blast two weeks ago only expected to resume gradual output in a month’s time, Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority (CERA) chairman Giorgos Shammas said on Saturday. Speaking to the press after a
More
The Cyprus army has a new chief, Lieutenant General Stylianos Nasis, who was sworn in on Saturday, less than two weeks after his predecessor resigned over a deadly arms blast that killed 13 people and disabled the island’s biggest power station. President Demetris Christofias, whose government has been blamed for incompetence in mishandling the confiscated
More
Cyprus's government and opposition parties agreed a package of budget austerity on Friday and more is in store after a massive munitions blast destroyed the island's largest power station. Already under pressure from its exposure to debt-riddled Greece and prohibitively high borrowing costs on international markets, party leaders said they had agreed on an initial
More
The EU will do its utmost to help Cyprus through the difficult period it is facing, following a blast at the naval base “Evangelos Florakis”, near Limassol, and the subsequent destruction of the nearby power plant at Vassiliko, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn said at the site of the disaster. “You can be
More
Euro zone countries have agreed to keep funding Ireland beyond 2013 if it is not able to tap debt markets, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said on Friday, signalling for the first time doubts about Dublin's ability to regain its economic sovereignty. Euro zone leaders agreed a second rescue package for Greece at an emergency summit
More
Fitch declared Greece would be in temporary default as the result of a second bailout, which Athens said had bought it breathing space. But the agency pledged to give Greece a higher, "low speculative grade" after its bonds had been exchanged and said Athens now had some hope of tackling its debt mountain, which most
More
The junior partner in Cyprus's two-party coalition on Thursday urged sweeping changes and the formation of a "non-partisan" administration, a sign of growing dissent with the government after a deadly munitions blast. "It would be ideal … in such crucial times to form a national unity government of popular acceptance and support," Democratic Party (DIKO)
More
Cyprus sold 50 mln euros of 31-week government treasury bills at an average of 3.90% on Thursday, the Finance Ministry said. The sale was above the 40 mln it had initially sought to issue. The finance ministry has not issued 31 week bills before, and the closest in maturity issued recently were 26 week bills
More