Headlines

In the search for solutions to Europe's youth unemployment crisis, governments are blowing the cobwebs off a decades-old idea that many economists had hoped would remain in the attic for good, The Wall Street Journal Brussels Beat blog reported. Governments are considering using money from the European Union budget to fund early retirement for older workers. The idea is to free up positions for the millions of Europeans under 25 who can't find a job.

The patient is doing better but is still in intensive care: That’s the Bank of Canada’s latest assessment of risks to the Canadian financial system amid a prolonged period of fragility for the global economy, The Globe and Mail reported. Risks to the Canadian financial system “have decreased somewhat” in the past six months, the Bank of Canada said in a report issued Thursday, the first release from the bank under the watch of new governor Stephen Poloz. The bank cited an easing of short-term risks in the U.S.

Galway hotelier and developer Michael Finn and his wife Claire, who are being pursued by the National Asset Management Agency for €108 million, have invested €600,000 in companies operating a high-end car resale business and transferred shares in their family home to their children, the agency has claimed at the Commercial Court, the Irish Times reported. The agency is seeking a €108 million summary judgment orders against the couple who, it alleges, have failed to use funds available to them to reduce their liabilities to it.

The top judge at Germany's constitutional court questioned on Wednesday whether the strings attached to any bond purchases by the European Central Bank would be strict enough to protect German taxpayers, The Wall Street Journal reported. On the final day of hearings into the legality of the ECB's main measure for dealing with the euro-zone debt crisis, Andreas Vosskuhle, president of the court, said there were certain promises that can't always be kept.

Austria is seeking "creative" ways to clean up ailing nationalised lender Hypo Alpe Adria, Finance Minister Maria Fekter said on Wednesday, rejecting the option of a "bad bank" that would hit state finances before elections, Reuters reported. She also said she was confident she could get more time from the European Commission for an orderly wind-down of the bank that Austria took over in 2009 and which eked out a small profit last year.

Greece's fragile governing coalition failed to reach a compromise Wednesday about the closure of the state-run ERT broadcaster. That left the government in a crisis that could lead to early elections, just a year after it was formed to save the country from bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported. The three-party government yanked ERT off the air late Tuesday, axing all 2,656 jobs as part of its cost-cutting drive demanded by international creditors.

New bankruptcy legislation aiming to strike a better balance between the rights of debtors and the rights of creditors has been introduced, the BBC reported. The Bankruptcy and Debt Advice (Scotland) Bill 2013 will provide for improved financial advice. It will also ensure that those who "can pay" their debts "should pay". The legislative reform promises to create a more efficient process and allow people to apply for bankruptcy online.

David Cameron’s hopes of agreeing an international deal on fighting tax evasion suffered a blow when Bermuda said it would not commit to a pact before next week’s summit of the Group of Eight leading economies, the Financial Times reported. UK officials fear that if some British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies fail to come into line, it could limit the scope for an ambitious agreement at the summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

Romania's biggest power producer, state-owned Hidroelectrica, is likely to exit insolvency on June 26, a year after it was hit by a drought and a string of loss-making contracts, its manager was quoted as saying on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Hidroelectrica was declared insolvent and underwent restructuring largely because of deals under which it sold the bulk of its output for less than market prices, causing losses of $1.4 billion over six years and prompting an investigation by the European Commission.

During Spain's economic boom of the past decade, one of its largest gambling enterprises followed the lead of other Spanish corporate heavyweights and piled up debt to expand in Latin America. The wager hasn't paid off, The Wall Street Journal reported. Regulatory setbacks in Mexico and Argentina and a recession that is shrinking its market at home have Codere SA CDR.MC -5.42% scrambling to restructure a growing debt burden.