The leaders of Italy’s populist coalition government said they had no intention of leaving the euro but will stick with spending plans that have triggered both a credit rating downgrade and sharp criticism from Brussels, the Financial Times reported. Both Luigi Di Maio, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star party, and his coalition partner Matteo Salvini, leader of the anti-immigration League party, said they remained committed to Italy staying within the single currency.

A eurozone government set on a collision course with the EU over budget deficit targets. Borrowing costs rising amid market jitters over plans to overturn austerity. A vulnerable banking sector and one of Europe’s highest public debt burdens. Italy fits the description. But this was Portugal less than three years ago, soon after a minority Socialist government came to power vowing to “turn the page on austerity” with support from hardline communists and the anti-establishment left, the Financial Times reported. Today, the contrasts could hardly be sharper.

Investor advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has reversed its initial advice to Aryzta shareholders to vote down the company’s planned €800 million capital raise, while two other proxy advisors have come out in favour of the plan, the Irish Times reported. Following discussions with management and the food group’s largest shareholder Cobas, which is opposing the deal, ISS said it was now advising investors to support the rights issue, which will be put

French tyre maker Michelin warned of declining sales in Europe and China in the second half of the year, dragging down shares of its competitors in the US and Europe, the Irish Times reported. Demand for Michelin’s products fell in Western Europe because of new emissions-testing standards that have dented car sales, and dropped off in China as its auto market slumped, the company, based in Clermont Ferrand, France, said Thursday. “Given the significant decline in the passenger-car and light-truck and truck-tyre markets late in the third quarter and the further weakness ex

Increasing competitive pressures inside and outside Europe could lead to additional airline restructurings and bankruptcies, the German government said in a response to a parliamentary query that was published on Thursday by the Handelsblatt newspaper. The government did not comment on whether it would offer other airlines help such as the 150 million euro bridging credit it provided to Air Berlin, Germany's second largest airline, when it ran into trouble last year, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Italy’s new budget plan has landed with a thud on desks in Brussels. The proposals mark a big change, of course, from the populist coalition in Rome, which has thrown out the previous administration’s commitment to reduce the budget deficit. Instead, prime minister Guiseppe Conte’s government, prodded by the election pledges of the Five Star Movement and the League, is to raise spending, saying this will stimulate growth, the Financial Times reported.

Germany’s finance ministry has presented plans for a European unemployment stabilisation fund designed to arm the eurozone against crises, in a response to French president Emmanuel Macron’s call for deep reform of the currency union, the Financial Times reported. The fund proposed by Olaf Scholz, the social democrat finance minister, would lend to recession-hit countries with high unemployment and strained social security systems. Recipients would repay the money once they had resolved their economic problems.

A court in Rome has accepted a filing by troubled Italian builder Astaldi for protection from creditors, the company said on Wednesday, confirming what sources had said. Astaldi, hit by delays to plans to sell a bridge in Turkey, filed for court protection from creditors in September to allow it to continue business while restructuring its debt, Reuters reported. “The court of Rome has admitted the company to the creditor protection procedure,” Astaldi said in a statement. The court has set Dec.

European political leaders need another financial crisis to frighten them into completing a banking union, a senior EU official said on Monday. He said key issues such as a euro zone deposit insurance scheme and finalising a multibillion-euro backstop to resolve failing lenders remain outstanding, The Irish Times reported.

A downgrade of Italy’s credit rating by Moody’s Investors Service looks like a done deal in the coming weeks, possibly as early as October, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move is so widely expected that analysts say it could spark a short-term relief rally in Italian government bonds, depending on the rating agency’s accompanying explanation. Even so, a downgrade would reflect increasing concern that Italy’s already elevated debt could rise even further. Moody’s has extended its review period on Italy to get clarity on the budget.