With eurozone governments’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic set to rack up €1.5tn of extra debt, several senior Italian officials including the prime minister’s economic adviser have suggested the European Central Bank should forgive governments the debt bought through quantitative easing, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Cancelling sovereign debt the ECB has gathered or extending its maturity perpetually, they say, would free up more resources for the government to support the recovery. The idea has caused consternation in France and Germany.

Italy’s two houses of parliament gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to approve a contested reform of the euro zone’s bailout fund, known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), at an EU summit on Dec. 10-11, Reuters reported. Last week some 60 rebels from the co-ruling 5-Star Movement, which has always opposed the reform, threatened to vote against the government, leaving it potentially vulnerable to defeat.

Greek banks, among Europe’s weakest, are getting rid of their bad loans at a healthy clip. In spring, the pandemic interrupted plans among the country’s banks to shed loans still festering from the eurozone crisis a decade ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. But stimulus from central banks and governments globally has sent fresh cash into funds that buy non-performing loans, reinvigorating the efforts.

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank provided the bulk of the funding for Wirecard’s acquisition of a pair of Indian companies referred to in the fraud allegations against the defunct Germany payments group, documents seen by the Financial Times reveal. In 2015 Wirecard turned to the German banks when it agreed to pay up to €340m to a Mauritius-based fund for two India-based sister companies, Hermes i Tickets and GI Technology, the Financial Times reported.

Eurozone governments’ borrowing has rocketed to fund their response to the coronavirus pandemic, reigniting longstanding calls for the European Central Bank to ease debt burdens by forgiving sovereign bonds it owns, the Financial Times reported. The proposal was floated by academic economists as an answer to the single currency area’s last debt crisis in 2012. Senior Italian officials have recently stirred up the idea once more, suggesting the ECB could forgive debt bought through its asset purchase programme or swap it for perpetual bonds, which are never repaid.

Norwegian Air was given additional creditor protection by a court in Norway on Tuesday on top of that granted by an Irish judge on Monday, allowing the cash-strapped airline’s restructuring efforts to continue, Reuters reported. “A supplementary reconstruction process under Norwegian law will be to the benefit of all parties and will increase the likelihood of a successful result,” Chief Executive Jacob Schram said. Norwegian said it could now move forward with the dual-track process.

The Pound to Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate plummeted by -1% today, with the pairing currently fluctuating around €1.096, Future Currency Forecast reported. The Pound (GBP) fell today following comments from the European Union’s Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier, who outlined a ‘very gloomy’ assessment of trade negotiations between the two sides.

The Commercial Court is being asked to set aside the purported transfer of assets by businessman Alistair Tidey to his wife, Jane. The action has been brought by the deputy official assignee in bankruptcy arising out of purported transfers between the couple, one of which was described as a “sham” designed to put assets beyond the reach of Mr Tidey’s creditors, The Irish Times reported. The case was admitted to the fast-track Commercial Court list on Monday.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group said it is in negotiations to buy collapsed department store chain Debenhams from administrators in a rescue deal, which would further extend the retail billionaire’s reach in the British high street, Reuters reported. Frasers, formerly Sports Direct, said that it hoped a deal could be agreed and jobs at Debenhams saved after the COVID-19 pandemic sunk its business, but cautioned that the transaction was complicated and talks needed to take place quickly. A former shareholder in Debenhams, Ashley’s Frasers Group has long-been linked to its rescue.

Ireland’s High Court on Monday granted creditor protection to Norwegian Air and its Irish subsidiaries, allowing the Oslo-based airline more time to restructure its massive debt, Reuters reported. Norwegian last month asked the court to begin a so-called examinership legal process as the carrier seeks to stave off collapse amid the coronavirus pandemic. The judge said he had agreed to protection of Oslo-based Norwegian Air as well as its Irish subsidiaries as the survival of each was dependent on the survival of the other.