Portugal

The German government believes that a Greek exit from the eurozone will be manageable, should it prove necessary, according to news magazine Der Spiegel.

The German government believes that the euro zone would now be able to cope with a Greece exit if that proved to be necessary, Der Spiegel news magazine reported on Saturday, citing unnamed government sources.

The high rate of private consumption in Greece constitutes an obstacle to the strengthening of investments, according to a report published on Tuesday by Eurobank.

As Italy sold 10-year bonds on Tuesday at a record-low yield of less than 2 percent, rates on similar-maturity Greek debt were spiraling toward 10 percent.

Compare that with 2011, when Greece’s troubles were grouped with Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain and Italian borrowing costs exceeded 7 percent.

BELGRADE, - The Serbian government has shown that it can manage public finances transparently, and the coming year will be marked by investments, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said at his end-of-the-year news conference held at the government headquarters on Saturday.

WARSAW - Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain has been voted Europe's best athlete for 2014 in a traditional poll conducted by the Polish news agency PAP among journalists from 18 European news agencies, including Tanjug.

Three days after his visit to Athens was completed, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici stated in Washington that the monitoring of Greece’s economy by its international creditors should become «lighter» and less «interventionist,» with inspectors visiting only twice a year.

European Central Bank officials are considering ways to ensure weak countries that stand to gain most from a fresh round of money printing bear more of the risk and cost.

By Stathis Kousounis

Greece enjoyed the fifth-biggest increase in Google searches from the UK market this year in the category of emerging holiday destinations, according to a chart published by the world’s biggest online search engine.

Italy was top, followed by Iceland and Portugal.

The European Parliament overwhelmingly backed the recognition of a Palestinian state "in principle" on Dec. 17, following a series of votes on the issue in EU nations that have enraged Israel.