Just a month after securing a substantial restructuring of the remaining €28bn in promissory notes issued to bail out two of Ireland's zombie banks in 2010, the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government has obtained an agreement in principle from fellow EU finance ministers to extend the maturities of its bailout loans...

When the technocratic government led by Prime Minister Mario Monti took over from Silvio Berlusconi's discredited right-of-centre administration in November 2011, Italy was on the brink of economic and financial collapse. Investor concerns about Italy's huge sovereign debt burden (equivalent to 120% of Italian GDP at the time) and the...

Recent economic indicators suggest that at least some of the risks to the Turkish economy that built up in 2010-11 have started to ease. Although this improvement may be partly due to external developments outside of the control of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, much of the rebalancing...

When Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano called on Mario Monti to form a government in November 2011 the country was on the brink of a financial and economic collapse that threatened its position in the eurozone, and, because of its size (too big to bail out) the eurozone itself. Mr Napolitano...

Following the failure on 15 May of the Greek president's last-ditch attempt to put together a parliamentary majority willing to back a government of unity, Greece is heading for another general election, probably on 17 June, the outcome of which is unlikely to reassure financial markets. Having finished second in...