Multi-speed Europe

Greece will have to ask for an extension on its bailout program before parliaments in eurozone nations close for Christmas because a new credit line will not be ready in time, a senior euro zone official said on Wednesday.

Eurozone finance ministers will discuss in early December conditions for providing Greece with credit when its current aid programme expires, German Finance Minster Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras has called for a compromise between Athens and the troika in an interview with Sunday’s Kathimerini, while also insisting that the eurozone should provide Greece with further debt relief.

Bulgaria's Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov expects a negative annual report on justice and internal affairs of the European Commission on Bulgaria.

Ivanov told the BNT public broadcaster breakfast show, that most likely the EC will conclude that Bulgaria "has lost direction in the judiciary reform and loses the trust of its international partners."

The Greek economy may be basking in the glow of a record summer tourism season, but it is just one bright spot in a fragile recovery overshadowed by weak exports, economists say.

“Tourism did the best it could to lift the Greek economy but it can’t do it all,” said economist Panayiotis Petrakis at the University of Athens.

A European Union official with knowledge of Greece’s negotiations with the troika has told Kathimerini that there are still substantial differences to be resolved between the two sides before inspectors can return to Athens.

A surge in exports boosted the euro zone trade surplus in September to more than double the previous month's value, data showed on Monday, pointing to a positive contribution from trade to euro zone's economic growth in the third quarter.

Industrial production in the European Union (EU 28) and in the Eurozone rose by 0.6% in September 2014 compared with August 2014, with Romania having been among the countries where the industrial production recorded the highest growth rates month on month, according to the data released on Wednesday by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

A Cypriot official says other nations using the euro currency have approved his country’s next installment of rescue money amounting to 350 million euros.

That happened during a meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

The head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said on Thursday that eurozone finance ministers are behind the idea of providing Greece with the financial support that would allow it to exit its bailout at the end of the year without requiring further funding from the International Monetary Fund.