14.01 The growing tensions between Germany and Greece was on show today as public sector workers stormed a building where officials from the two countries were meeting in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
Police had to form a shield around German Consul Wolfgang Hoelscher-Obermaier as he tried to enter the building. They also pelted him with water bottles and coffee in a protest against austerity measures, chanting: "It's now or never!" and holding up mock gravestones and banners proclaiming "Fight until the end!"
A protester, not seen, throws a coffee at the German consul in Thessaloniki, Wolfgang Hoelsche-Obermaier, center with the blue shirt, who arrives to attend a conference of Greek and German mayors on Thursday (Photo: AP).
13.42 Spain's most vulnerable homeowners will now be protected from eviction for two years if they fall behind on their mortgage payments.
The government passed a decree to prevent households with a monthly income of less than ?1,597 who also have three or more children, a child under three or disabled dependents from being forced out of their homes.
Jobless Spaniards who are no longer eligible for benefits also qualify.
For those who have already been evicted, social housing will be provided.
Members of the Stop Evictions movement enter the home of Gisela Bajo (unseen) as they wait for the judicial commission to evict her from her home in Valencia on Thursday (photo: Reuters).
13.15 Slovakia's prime minister is also against a further writedown of Greek debt.
Robert Fico told reporters in Bratislava that the measures taken so far haven?t solved Greece's debt problems, and that Greece "must first pay the price," before the terms of its bail-out could be relaxed.
12.25 Mario Draghi's speech has just been published on the ECB's website.
12.04 Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, will cut short her trip to Asia to ensure that she is present at next Tuesday's Eurogroup meeting on Greece, according to a spokesman. Gerry Rice told reporters:
The managing director will participate in the eurogroup meeting on November 20 as she usually does, and that will mean shortening her current trip to Asia.
On Monday, Ms Lagarde openly disagreed with Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, over a critical target for reducing Greek debt levels.
The EU wants to give Greece an extra two years to meet its debt reduction target of 120pc of GDP by 2022 instead of 2020. The IMF doesn't.
The 2020 ?debt sustainability? target was a condition for the IMF?s involvement in the second Greek bail-out.
Christine Lagarde gestures at a press conference in Malaysia on Wednesday (Photo: AFP).
11.45 Italian PM Mario Monti is up next. He's thanking a lot of people at the moment. Financial journalist Fabrizio Goria isn't impressed:
11.37 Speaking to an audience in Milan, Mr Draghi also said that Europe's debt crisis proved that there was still a need to complete economic and monetary union, though he added that countries faced a long road towards this, with much uncertainty.
11.28 European governments should focus on spending cuts, not tax rises to get their deficits down, according to the head of the European Central Bank.
Mario Draghi said that the ECB's action (via its ?1 trillion LTRO bazooka and announcement of the OMT programme) had helped to calm markets, but that it was up to governments to regain credibility.
Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi is pictured at Bocconi University on Thursday (Photo: EPA).
11.05 Greece has enough money to ensure that it doesn't go bankrupt - for now.
The country sold an additional ?937m (?754m) of short term debt this morning to enable it to meet a ?5bn bond redemption this Friday.
This follows a ?4.062bn debt sale on Tuesday.
11.03 German MPs have reiterated this message.
Michael Meister, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, told reporters that he could "live with" giving Greece more time to bring down its debt levels, adding that the EU had "many tools" to enable this to happen.
However, he said that a writedown of Greek debt would be unacceptable to Berlin, and that MPs would not rush through a vote on the country's next aid tranche.
10.52 Lots of news on Greece this morning, with the main message being that European governments will NOT - EVER - take a haircut on their holdings of Greek debt.
Olli Rehn, European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said that while the EU was "working closely and constructively with the IMF to find a solution to open issues, mostly on funding and assessing debt sustainability," the loans made by euro-area governments to Greece "won?t be touched".
Mr Rehn (pictured, below) told reporters in Helsinki:
Lowering Greek loan rates may be one part of the program to ease Greece?s unsustainable debt load, but the solution will consist of various elements and no one measure is enough to ease the debt burden.
10.38 David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said the data were "disappointing":
The figures will put even more pressure on retailers to get Christmas right and will certainly influence how they approach the next five weeks of trading.
We may see some decide to ?up the ante? and begin significant promotions and discounts in order to win sales from their competitors. This can be a high risk strategy. Discounting can drive footfall, but if retailers cut too deeply this can impact profitability at a vital time of year.
One thing is clear: the high street remains as competitive as ever. While consumer confidence remains shaky retailers will have to fight hard to win a share of the Christmas wallet.
10.31 Meanwhile, British retail sales have fallen unexpectedly, as shoppers shunned the high street last month.
Sales volumes dropped 0.8pc month-on-month in October, according to the Office for National Statistics, as clothes and shoes volumes fell 2.3pc, and food stores reported the biggest monthly decline in sales since November 2011.
This reverses September's rise of 0.6pc. Economists had predicted a fall of 0.2pc.
10.25 While Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight, said:
Latest data and survey evidence remain generally weak, and the odds currently strongly favour the Eurozone suffering further GDP contraction in the fourth quarter of 2012. Significantly, Germany looks to be in severe danger of contracting in the fourth quarter, as does France.
Indeed, we suspect that the Eurozone faces extended modestly contracting or flat quarter-on-quarter GDP in the face of tightening fiscal policy in many countries, high and rising unemployment and persistent serious Eurozone sovereign debt tensions. Although they may well abate in the near term, we expect Greek tensions to mount anew as 2013 progresses. As a result, we expect Eurozone GDP to contract 0.2% in 2013.
10.23 Commenting on the data, Professor Paul de Grauwe at the London School of Economics, said:
We are now getting into a double dip recession which is entirely self-made.
It is a result of excessive austerity in southern countries and unwillingness in the north to do anything else.
Countries in the south have to reduce their deficits, but they cannot if those in the north with a surplus are not willing to help with stimulus.
This divide, even hostility, between countries is stronger than I have seen in the last 20 years.
The degree of austerity has now put so many people in terrible conditions that they reject all of this. That's a very dangerous situation.
10.16 Here's how some European countries fared last quarter:
10.01 The eurozone has officially entered its second recession in four years, official data show.
The 17-nation bloc contracted by 0.1pc in the three months to the end of September, following a 0.2pc contraction in Q2, Eurostat said.
The EU managed to eke out growth of 0.1pc over the same period.
09.55 More "troika" meddling could be on the horizon in Spain.
European debt inspectors from the EU, ECB and IMF reportedly want the government to consult them before any changes are made to repossession procedures, according to Spanish daily Expansion (?).
Spain?s government wants to pass a law aimed at sparing households that default on their mortgages from eviction. However, the troika wants to minimise the cost of Spain's bail-out, according to the Spanish daily.
09.44 Speaking at a debate at the University of Ghent, Mr Coene also conceded that Greece would probably require a writedown of at least part of its debt to make it manageable.
Germany has strongly rejected this idea, saying it would be illegal.
09.39 Spain must "urgently" seek a bail-out from the EU, according to a European Central Bank council member.
Luc Coene, who is also Belgium's central bank governor, told Belgian daily De Standaard that Spain should head to Brussels with its begging bowl sooner rather than later because if markets start getting nervous again, the ECB may not have enough "tricks" up its sleeve to "calm them this time".
Mr Coene also said that fiscal and monetary tools to stimulate the eurozone's economy had become very small. "The margins are exhausted," he said.
09.12 In just under an hour, we will find out if the eurozone as a whole has fallen back into a technical recession (defined as two successive quarters of negative growth).
09.08 Next up, Italy, where the economy contracted by 0.2pc in the third quarter, according to Istat. Economists had expected the economy to shrink by 0.5pc.
09.05 Things aren't looking so rosy in Holland, where GDP has fallen by a shock 1.1pc, as investment fell sharply and household consumption continued to decline.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had only expected a 0.2pc decline.
The Dutch statistics institute said that household spending was now 1.8pc lower than a year ago.
09.02 Germany also continues to grow - be it very slowly.
Economic growth ticked up 0.2pc in Q3, according to the Federal Statistics Office. This was mainly driven by foreign demand.
08.55 In France, it's a tale of two quarters.
The economy ticked up by 0.2pc in the third quarter, against expectations for a 0.1pc rise.
But French statistics office INSEE also revised second quarter growth figures to -0.1pc, from a previous reading of zero, meaning the economy narrowly avoided slipping into recession.
INSEE hailed the "renewed growth in consumption" in Q3. It said in a statement:
Household consumption expenditure increased by 0.3% in 2012 Q3 after a 0.2% dip in Q2. Food expenditure increased (+0.7% after ?1.2%), so did clothing expenditure (+3.9% after ?5.9%). On the contrary, consumption of energy fell as repercussions of low temperatures in Spring (?2.5% after +3.0%). Expenditures in services slightly increased (+0.2% after ?0.1%).
08.41 Spain's economy shrank by 0.3pc in the third quarter, official data show. The figure was widely expected by economists, the Spanish government, and the Bank of Spain.
This follows a 0.4pc contraction in the second quarter, and means that the Spanish economy has been in recession for five straight quarters.
Spain's construction sector continued to provide the biggest downward pressure on growth. The sector contracted by 3.4pc in the third quarter, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. Household spending fell 0.5pc in the three months to September.
How the Spanish economy has fared against the rest of the EU and eurozone.
08.35 Three letters dominate this morning's agenda: GDP.
This morning, Germany, France and Spain all released preliminary estimates for third quarter growth.
08.30 Good morning and welcome to another day of live coverage of Europe's debt crisis.
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