Belgium

The problems facing Greece are just the beginning, Spiegel Online reported. The countries belonging to Europe's common currency zone are drifting further and further apart, and national bankruptcies are a distinct possibility. Brussels is faced with a number of choices, none of them good. Accruing debt is becoming increasingly expensive for other countries in the euro zone as well, among them Portugal and Spain. The southern members of the euro zone are especially being eyed with mistrust.

Outgoing EU economics commissioner Joaquin Almunia has warned that Greece will have to adopt new austerity measures if it fails to meet targets set out in an already tough emergency budget, The Irish Times reported. Mr Almunia said the budget programme was achievable but prone to risk. By mid-March, Greece will have to submit its first special report to Brussels on the implementation of the measures, with a follow-up due in mid-May.

Are EU policy makers willing to let Greece suffer a little? The Source asked. Absolutely. Greece is paying about 3.5 percentage points over benchmark rates in order to borrow, which is a hefty tax on the country’s already strained public finances. But EU officials in Brussels note that a bailout might encourage “moral hazard,” allowing yet another Greek government to skirt much-needed reforms. The bloc’s finance ministers and bureaucrats justifiably feel duped.

Greece rejected speculation that it will need a bailout to tackle the European Union’s biggest budget deficit as officials fly in from Brussels to scrutinize tax and spending plans. “We don’t expect to be bailed out by anybody as, I think, is perfectly clear we’re doing what needs to be done to bring the deficit down and control the public debt,” Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today.

Europe’s leading healthcare companies have complained to Brussels over the non-payment of debts on drugs and other medical products they say total almost €7 billion by the Greek public health system, the Financial Times reported. The moves come as Greece struggles to raise funds on international markets to finance its swollen budget deficit and public debt in the face of credit rating downgrades.

Ukraine has made an urgent appeal to the International Monetary Fund for about $2 billion in emergency loans to ease “an extremely difficult situation” in meeting its external obligations and avoid the danger of a “spill-over effect” on other economically vulnerable states, the Financial Times reported. “The next three months are crucial,” said Hryhoriy Nemyria, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. Mr Nemyria’s warning seems aimed at putting public pressure on the IMF, the US and the European Union at a difficult time in financial markets.

The Airbus military transport plane A400M took off for its maiden flight on Friday in Seville, Spain. But the project is now €5 billion over budget and EADS would like European governments to help cover the shortfall, Spiegel Online reported. Airbus parent EADS is hoping that the governments of seven European countries, which have ordered 180 of the gigantic, military transport aircrafts, will agree to renegotiate the original contract -- one which placed the burden of budget overruns squarely on the shoulders of Airbus.

Germany's biggest aluminium smelter plant, owned by Norway's Norsk Hydro, is facing immediate shutdown due to high environmental costs, a German daily said on Tuesday. The Rheinwerk plant in Neuss will have to close down immediately if the metal industries do not receive aid in the coming days, Die Welt newspaper cited Martin Kneer, managing director of the German Metal Federation WVM, as saying in an e-mail to the German Chancellor's Office. A spokesman for WVM told the newspaper other aluminium and zinc smelter plants are facing the same risk of being shut down.

The restructuring plan for General Motors Co.'s European operations is mostly in place, Nick Reilly, president of GM Europe, said on a conference call Saturday. There will be about 8,300 job cuts in Europe, Reilly said, confirming an estimate in a document seen by Dow Jones Newswires Friday. Reilly repeated his optimism that governments in the European countries affected by restructuring would come through with financial aid.

Fears that Greece faces imminent bankruptcy are unfounded but the country must take "harsh" measures to shore up its economy, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said on Sunday, Agence France-Presse reported. Greece's widening public deficit and a huge official debt has unsettled European market watchers, particularly regarding the standing of Greek government debt bonds. The concern intensified after the recent debt crisis in Dubai.