Are things improving for Europe?

A story from the Washington Post suggests that the worst may be over for the Euro Zone:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/smalls-signs-of-progress-in-euro-crisis/2012/10/25/21f1c3c6-1ed8-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html

..but Spanish unemployment continues to reach record levels, as more people lose their jobs, and it is not yet clear that Greece will get their next tranche of bailout funds, due in November:
http://www.examiner.com/article/spain-and-greece-crisis

Video update

http://grab-media.com/premium-videos/4445817

European Summit inches forward toward crisis resolution

As CNN reports, EU leaders were able to come to agreement on bank oversight at the summit held in Brussels last Thursday and Friday : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19986603

However, as CNN Money points out, there are still many difficult issues left to work out:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/19/investing/european-union-summit/index.html

Also from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/21/us-eurozone-roadmap-idUSBRE89K0IO20121021

Also, tensions were clear between French President Francois Hollande and Germany's Angela Merkel:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19986603

By Sunday night, there were reports that Angela Merkel was threatening to cancel next month's summit to discuss the EU budget if David Cameron continued to threaten that he would veto any budget that didn't call for a total freeze on spending: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8fa9b08-1ba0-11e2-ab87-00144feabdc0.html#axzz29zWpDoma

The domestic politics of the situation are making negotiations difficult, as well as personalities.  Leaders continue to move forward toward a banking union, but there are clearly some hurdles ahead that may derail or slow forward progress.  In the meantime, Greece appeared to be making progress towards it's next disbursement as reported in the AP, "Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras moved closer to winning a delayed aid disbursement when European leaders praised his government’s budget-cutting push." more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Greece-Nears-Aid-Revival-as-Samaras-Wins-EU-3963940.php#ixzz29zZMmHUd

EU Leaders share ideas and concerns in lead-up to EU Summit

It has been a month of bilateral meetings between EU leaders from France and Germany in Spain, Greece, and Italy, while it is looking more likely that Spain will request a bailout and the cost of borrowing has dropped for Spain:
http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/17/investing/european-union-summit/index.html


Francois Hollande sends a warning to Germany's Angela Merkel: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/17/francois-hollande-angela-merkel-austerity

François Hollande: remarks highlight gulf between Paris and Berlin over how to tackle Europe’s worst ever economic crisis. Photograph: Thierry Zoccolan/AFP

In the latest report from the BBC:
Germany's Schaeuble pushes EU economic union

Germany has called on countries using the euro to take decisive steps to bring about closer fiscal integration.

 

Chancellor Merkel is understood to support the proposal for a powerful budget commissioner

Continue reading the main story

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