Madrid / Reuters Spain plans to ask the European Commission for an extra year to meet its public deficit targets, El Pais reported on Sunday, after missing the mark with its 2015 deficit and raising the prospect of further spending cuts to narrow the budget gap. The country last month reported a 2015 deficit of 5 percent of economic output, ...

Bloomberg Italian Treasury and central bank officials will meet with executives of major banks, including UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, on Monday to discuss the creation of a fund that would buy shares in bank recapitalizations and help the institutions tackle non-performing loans, according to people with knowledge of the talks. The Rome meeting will try to finalize discussions ...

Paris / AFP Sporadic violence erupted as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in dozens of French cities in the latest protests against labour reforms seen as threatening workers’ rights. Police and protesters clashed in western Rennes and Nantes as well as Paris, leaving several injured, as demonstrations across the country aimed to keep up pressure against ...