A total of 116 Irish companies collapsed in May, a 25 per cent fall compared with the same month last year. A total of 609 corporate insolvencies were recorded in the first five months of 2013, according to figures compiled by Kavanagh Fennell’s insolvencyjournal.ie website. This compares with 742 from January to May 2012, a fall of 18 per cent, the Irish Times reported. Leinster was the worst affected province, accounting for 68 per cent of corporate insolvencies in May, followed by Munster with 18 per cent, Connaught with 9 per cent and Ulster with 5 per cent.

Hidroelectrica SA, Romania’s state-owned hydro-power producer and largest energy producer in the country will exit the insolvency procedure on July 1 this year, according to the Minister Delegate for Energy, Constantin Niţă, Romania-Insider.com reported. “We will promote professional management as it was done for all the state – owned companies, then we will list 10 percent on the stock exchange. We will set a list of priorities because there are a lot of investments that were started.

Germany's job market may be the envy of a struggling Europe, but many Germans say their country's so-called Jobwunder has passed them by, The Wall Street Journal reported. Germany's unemployment rate was unchanged for the seventh straight month at a relatively low 6.9% in May, after seasonal adjustment. Yet nearly one in five working Germans, or about 7.4 million people, hold a "minijob," a form of marginal employment that allows someone to earn up to €450 ($580) a month free of tax.

The European Commission slowed the pace of austerity in the eurozone on Wednesday, but warned the bloc was still unlikely to produce solid economic growth in the near term and urged governments to steel themselves against possible loss of social and political support for reform efforts, the Financial Times reported. Unveiling a highly anticipated evaluation of all 27 EU members’ budget plans, Brussels warned that social safety nets were fraying and poverty was rising dangerously in many parts of Europe as efforts to combat growing unemployment faltered.

The behaviour of liquidators is set to come under greater scrutiny from the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement as the number of company failures remains at a high level, the Irish Times reported. New ODCE director Ian Drennan said yesterday he would consider prosecutions in cases where liquidators failed to comply with their statutory reporting obligations. Liquidators of companies that are in insolvent liquidation are obliged under the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001 to report to the office on the company’s demise.

The EU Commission has urged the Government to confront a re-emergence of lax lending standards in the banking system, warning in a new report that it sees fresh signs of bad practice in some lenders, the Irish Times reported. The commission expressed concern about the banks, which have received more than €60 billion in State aid, as it said the proceeds of the deal to scrap the Anglo Irish Bank promissory note scheme should be used to pay down debt.

A rise in “zombie debtors” – people paying only the interest charges on their debt and not the debt itself – is masking the difficulties faced by many households in the UK, according to insolvency experts, the Financial Times reported. RSM Tenon, the accountancy group, has revealed a fall in personal insolvencies so far this year and says the figures point towards a reduction for 2013, to levels last seen in 2005.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned on Tuesday that failure to win the battle against youth unemployment could tear Europe apart, and dropping the continent's welfare model in favor of tougher U.S. standards would spark a revolution, Reuters reported. Germany, along with France, Spain and Italy, backed urgent action to rescue a generation of young Europeans who fear they will not find jobs, with youth unemployment in the EU standing at nearly one in four, more than twice the adult rate.

Slovenia needs at least €900m ($1.15bn) by July to refloat one of its struggling banks. This is a large sum of money for a country with a GDP of only €35bn. The question is where to find the funds, The Guardian reported. The public deficit is deepening and investors are beginning to question the country's solvency, to such an extent that it can no longer borrow on the money markets. On 30 April Moody's, the credit-rating agency, downgraded Slovenian bonds to junk status. Both Brussels and the OECD are urging the government to take action. But why is there such a hurry?

Accountants still fail to question banks properly over how they make provisions for poorly performing loans on their books, auditing policeman Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The criticism goes to the heart of regulatory efforts since the 2007-09 financial crisis to restore investor confidence in the figures lenders publish about their health. The FRC said in its annual report it was concerned and disappointed there had been no significant improvement in auditing loan-loss provisions at banks and building societies in Britain.