About 1,500 people have held a peaceful anti-austerity protest outside an Athens hotel where Greek officials are holding bailout talks with the country's creditors, the International New York Times reported. Wednesday's protest was organized by a labor union affiliated with the Communist Party, which strongly opposes the bailouts that have kept Greece afloat since 2010 and ushered in waves of deeply-resented spending and income cuts and tax hikes.

Struggling French nuclear reactor maker Areva on Wednesday reported a €665m net loss for 2016, which was an improvement on the previous year but still highlighted the scale of the problems facing the group, the Financial Times reported. The state-controlled company is undergoing a far reaching restructuring in a government-backed deal after losses brought it to the brink of collapse. The company recorded a net loss of €2bn for 2015 and €4.8bn for 2014.

There’s been sharp selling pressure on eurozone government bonds lately, led by Italy and concerns about its future in the Eurozone, The Wall Street Journal reported on an editorial. By the beginning of the year Italian government yields rose 40 basis points over German Bunds, a 25% increase. The main pro-European Union party, Matteo Renzi’s Democrats, are on the verge of a breakup. Euroskeptic parties are on the rise.

Finland’s economy stagnated in the last quarter of the year, with GDP growth falling flat at just 0 per cent in the three months to the end of December, the Financial Times reported. Outside its peers in the southern eurozone, Finland’s economy has been one of the worst performing in the 19-member bloc since the financial crisis struck in 2008.

Teams of officials from the EU and the International Monetary Fund start work in Athens today knowing that euro area finance ministers and the international financial markets are keen for signs of progress on the next tranche of Greece’s €86bn bailout, the Financial Times reported. At stake is whether a deal can be struck on tax and pension reforms that would clear a big obstacle to the IMF’s becoming a full partner in the bailout.

The emergence of Martin Schulz as the centre-left Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor has fundamentally altered the dynamics of German politics, the Financial Times reported. It is also changing the debate in Germany on inequality and the future of Europe in ways that will have a significant impact across the continent. Germany is regarded as an economic success story. Unemployment is at its lowest level since reunification in 1990; the trade surplus has reached a record high.

Bond markets may have been roiled by the prospect of Marine Le Pen as president of the eurozone’s second largest economy but the country’s households and businesses are taking it in their stride, the Financial Times reported. They’ve started the year in bouyant mood, reaping the benefits of a broader uptick in job creation and consumer spending seen across the eurozone in recent months.

Faced by the industrial relations equivalent of a perfect storm, Bus Éireann stopped short yesterday of proceeding immediately with some of the most controversial elements of a survival plan it says is essential to its future, the Irish Times reported. But the decision to go ahead with 55 other changes brought a swift – and probably inevitable – response. The National Bus and Rail Union and Siptu said they would begin an all-out strike if the changes are implemented as planned next Monday. Extreme positions have been on display at Bus Éireann for some time.

Fix Europe’s bad debts and you can start fixing Europe. That is the bigger imperative as the European Central Bank gets set finally to push the Continent’s lenders to clean up their combined €1 trillion bad-debt pile, The Wall Street Journal reported. Across the EU, bad debts average more than 5% of total loans, according to the European Banking Authority, which is almost three times the level of the U.S. or Japan, according to World Bank data. In some countries, they threaten financial stability: Italy, with more than €200 billion of duff loans, is the well-known standout.

Eurozone businesses grew more optimistic about their prospects in February, as a measure of confidence among service providers rose to its highest level since before the global financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. The pickup in business sentiment is consistent with the results of other recent surveys, which suggest the eurozone economy has gained fresh momentum in early 2017, despite heightened uncertainty about future policies ahead of key elections across the currency area.