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Europe’s financial crisis sparks protests Leaders aim to hammer out a plan to save the euro, while demonstrators take to the streets to show opposition to austerity measures in cash-strapped countries.
March 2, 2012
In Pamplona, Spain, a woman shouts slogans during a rally calling for a general strike. Spain's prime minister said Friday that his recession-ridden country will miss its deficit goal for this year, risking sanctions from the European Union.
Alvaro Barrientos
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
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March 2, 2012
Thessaloniki residents crowd round a farmer selling cheap potatoes at the Greek city's university campus. Academic staff and students have arranged for a group of farmers to sell 50 tons of potatoes at nearly a third of supermarket prices. Similar sales are planned in several towns over the next few days.
Nikolas Giakoumidis
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 2, 2012
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos signs the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union during an E.U. Summit in Brussels. The leaders of 25 European states have signed a new treaty designed to prevent the 17 euro countries from running up huge debts in order to prevent a repeat of the current crisis afflicting the single currency zone.
Francois Lenoir
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AP
March 2, 2012
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, looks at his watch as he sits with Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, left, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti before signing the treaty.
Francois Lenoir
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AP
March 1, 2012
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker during an E.U. finance ministers meeting.
Yves Logghe
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AP
March 1, 2012
A man enters an office of the Labor Force Employment Organization in Athens. The graffiti under the logo of OAED reads' 'Snow or rain the jobless are always hungry.''
Thanassis Stavrakis
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb. 29, 2012
Trade union members gather during a protest outside the European Union's office in Athens.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb. 28, 2012
In Athens, a protesting firefighter holds a Greek flag and flares during a demonstration against the government's austerity measures.
Petros Giannakouris
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb. 27, 2012
The German parliament signed off on their country’s contribution to the $173 billion rescue package for Greece.
Axel Schmidt
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DAPD
Feb. 27, 2012
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, talks with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble during the debate prior to the voting of the German Parliament Bundestag about a new Greek rescue package in Berlin.
Markus Schreiber
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AP
Feb. 27, 2012
Merkel speaks before German Parliament votes on whether or not to approve Greece's bailout package.
Clemens Bilan
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DAPD
Feb. 21, 2012
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, right, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos address the media after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers at the E.U. Council in Brussels. After more than 12 hours of talks, the countries that use the euro agreed to hand Greece $170 billion in extra bailout loans to save it from a potentially calamitous default next month.
Thierry Charlier
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AP
Feb. 21, 2012
Blind protesters march during an anti-austerity demonstration near the Prime Ministers' office in Athens.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Feb. 21, 2012
A protester shouts against austerity measures during a demonstration in Athens.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Feb. 20, 2012
A shoe shiner tries to keep warm next to a graffiti-tagged wall in Athens.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Feb. 20, 2012
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, left, speaks with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos during a round table meeting of eurozone finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012. Eurozone governments will likely approve on Monday a long-elusive rescue package for Greece, saving it from a potentially calamitous bankruptcy next month, senior officials said. But finance ministers meeting in Brussels will have a few last issues to wrangle over, such as tighter controls over Greece's spending and further cuts to the country's debt load. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Yves Logghe
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AP
Feb. 13, 2012
An employee of the Greek Stock Exchange passes charts showing a gain in the markets. Stocks around the world rose Monday after Greece's parliament approved a new set of austerity measures that were required by international lenders in exchange for an emergency bailout.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Feb. 13, 2012
Riot police secure the area at Monastiraki square during clashes in Athens. The ancient Acropolis can be seen in the background.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Feb. 13, 2012
A man clears up a burned store in central Athens following a night of rioting after lawmakers approved harsh new austerity measures.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Feb. 13, 2012
A firefighter douses with water one of Athens' oldest restored cinemas.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Feb. 12, 2012
Riots engulfed central Athens and at least 10 buildings went up in flames in protests late Sunday.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
Feb. 12, 2012
People gather i n Iraklio city on the island of Crete to show their opposition to new austerity measures.
Bastian Parschau
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AP
Feb. 12, 2012
Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos addresses lawmakers during a debate at the Parliament over austerity measures.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Feb. 9, 2012
President Obama meets with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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AP
Feb. 9, 2012
Greek union members march in front of the Parliament building in Athens. Greece's deputy labor minister has resigned to in protest of new austerity measures.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Feb. 9, 2012
Protesters in Athens shout slogans under a banner that reads ''Unions." Greece's new austerity plan would make deep cuts to jobs and wages, and it ignited fresh criticism from unions and the country's labor minister.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Feb. 5, 2012
The leaders of the three parties backing Greece's coalition government, George Papandreou, right, Giorgos Karatzaferis, left, and Antonis Samaras, second left, meet with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, second right, in Athens. They are meeting to consider demands by Greece's creditors for tougher austerity measures, private sector pay cuts and firings of civil servants. At stake is a new $171 billion bailout deal without which Greece will default before the end of March.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
Feb. 4, 2012
Members of the Communist party-affiliated union PAME hold a banner that reads "Rise up They destroy people" during a protest in front of the prime minister's office in Athens.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
Feb. 3, 2012
Police officers stand outside Athens's central post office which has been boarded up following damage caused in recent demonstrations.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
Union members hold up signs expressing support for the idea of euro bond at a demonstration outside of an E.U. summit in Brussels.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
Union members gather around a fire outside of the Beauvechain Military Airport in Beuvechain, Belgium. E.U. leaders, scheduled to attend a summit in Brussels, were forced to fly to the military airport after a nationwide strike in Belgium brought public transport to a halt.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
A union member holds up a flyer showing Europe's deteriorating credit rating.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
A message on a display board at Brussels Midi train station reads: 'Railway strike: Traffic heavily disturbed from Jan. 29, 10 p.m. until Jan. 30, 10 p.m.'
Yves Logghe
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
A traveler sits in a deserted departure hall of Brussels South Airport in Charleroi, Belgium.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
Trade union members block the entrance of Brussels South Airport as part of a nationwide strike. They are calling on leaders to move away from austerity measures and start boosting growth and employment.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti attend a meeting at the European Council in Brussels ahead of the European Union leaders summit. European leaders are due to approve a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone and put finishing touches on a German-driven pact for stricter budget discipline.
Philippe Wojazer
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AP
Jan. 30, 2012
British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a roundtable meeting at the summit.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Jan. 24, 2012
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, second from left, speaks with British finance minister George Osborne, second from right, and Danish finance minister Margrethe Vestager during a meeting of European Union finance ministers.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Jan. 23, 2012
A line of trucks blocks a road in Turin, Italy. Truck drivers in Italy have blocked highways near Milan in the north and Naples in the south to show their anger over an increase in gas prices introduced as part of the government's austerity measures.
Massimo Pinca
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AP
Jan. 23, 2012
Taxi drivers gather at the San Siro stadium in Milan during a strike over the government's plans to issue more taxi licenses. The measure is part of a package approved by the government in January as it seeks to convince investors that it has a strategy to deal with its debts.
Antonio Calanni
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AP
Jan. 23, 2012
French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, right, speaks with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi during a meeting of E.U. finance ministers in Brussels. The leaders are trying to give new momentum to talks on a Greek debt relief deal that is crucial to avoid a default.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Jan. 23, 2012
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos waits for the start of a meeting of E.U. finance ministers in Brussels. A European diplomat warned that a final agreement on a Greek debt relief deal might have to wait until a summit next week.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Jan. 19, 2012
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, talks to workers at a factory of Groupe SEB, a manufacturer of small domestic appliances and cookware. in Pont-Eveque, France.
Michel Euler
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AP
Jan. 18, 2012
A person wearing a mask of Philipp Roesler, Germany's vice chancellor and economic minister, and a person wearing a mask of German Chancellor Angela Merkel pose during a demonstration in Berlin in support of a financial transaction tax. Their poster reads “Financial Transaction Tax — Now!”
Michael Sohn
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AP
Jan. 18, 2012
Union workers hold a banner reading "Austerity for salary and pensions, enough," during protest against austerity measures in Paris. The previous day, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a $550 million plan to drive down unemployment and restart growth, a move criticized as an attempt to boost his popularity three months before France's presidential election.
Francois Mori
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AP
Jan. 18, 2012
In Paris, demonstrators are seen under a placard that reads, "Ordered to make social policy."
Francois Mori
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AP
Jan. 18, 2012
British Prime Minister David Cameron holds a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti at 10 Downing Street in London. The talks were held as European leaders were set to try to rescue efforts to deliver new fiscal rules and cut Greece's debt burden.
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Bloomberg News
Jan. 18, 2012
Protesters affiliated with the Communist Party block the entrance of the General Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants building in Athens. Greece's unions and employers are set to start talks to reduce labor costs, but the negotiations were disrupted when protesters from a Communist-backed union occupied the building where the meetings were to take place.
Kostas Tsironis
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
Protesters take part in a rally organized by a Communist Party-affiliated union in Athens.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
Demonstrators tote flags during an Athens protest.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
Demonstrators crowd into the lobby of an office of Greece's Public Power Corporation on the island of Crete. Dozens of protests have occurred at PPC offices around Greece after the government imposed an emergency property tax, levied through electricity bills, to deal with the country's crippling debt crisis. The banner in the foreground reads "No to subservience."
Bastian Parschau
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
An Athens protester holds a black cross to symbolically mourn the death of PSI (Private Sector Involvement) and CDS (Credit Default Swaps). The demonstration took place as international debt inspectors returned to resume their scrutiny of Greece's reforms.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
Costas Tsikrikas, president of the Public Sector Union ADEDY, shouts slogans during a rally in central Athens against austerity measures.
Dimitri Messinis
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AP
Jan. 17, 2012
Employees of the Lejaby lingerie company demonstrate to save their jobs on the stairway of the Cour des Voraces in Lyon, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has bluntly declared that a harsh downgrade by Standard & Poor's of France's formerly top-rung debt rating "changes nothing" for the euro zone's No. 2 economy.
Laurent Cipriani
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AP
Jan. 11, 2012
Mario Monti, Italy's premier, and Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, arrive for a joint news conference in the Federal Chancellery in Berlin. Monti made a plea for more help to overcome the debt crisis before he met with Merkel, warning that his austerity measures might trigger anti-European protests without signs of progress.
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Bloomberg News
Jan. 9, 2012
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, stand next to each other during a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin.
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AP
Dec. 29, 2011
Italian Premier Mario Monti speaks during a news conference in Rome. Italy saw its borrowing rates fall for the second day, but the country's new premier said his government had a lot more to do to convince nervous financial markets that it had a plan to deal with its debt mountain.
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AP
Dec. 24, 2011
An activist of the German Occupy Movement dressed as Santa Claus, walks near the euro sign sculpture at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.
Thomas Lohnes
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AP
Dec. 23, 2011
A railway worker walks during a protest against the dismissal of 800 night workers, at the railway station in Milan. The banner reads, “Now lay off all of us.” Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti won final parliamentary approval for austerity measures that he describes as only the first part of a strategy to relaunch the country's economy.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 23, 2011
A railway worker walks through a train station in Milan. Demonstrators have been protesting against the dismissal of 800 night workers.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 21, 2011
Public workers shout slogans during a protest against spending cuts in Catalonia's public services in Barcelona. Spain's jobless rate stands at a 15-year high of 21.5 percent, the highest in the euro zone.
Emilio Morenatti
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AP
Dec. 14, 2011
Pedestrians pass a branch of Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, Germany. Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest lender, is fighting to bolster capital and avoid a second taxpayer-funded rescue.
Hannelore Foerster
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Bloomberg News
Dec. 21, 2011
People stand on a platform as they await a delayed train at the Brussels Central train station. Belgian trade unions called a general strike in the public sector on Dec. 22 to protest the new government's pension reform plans, which are aimed at making it tougher to take early retirement. Rail travel was disrupted Dec. 20 by angry railway workers who caused severe disruption in the towns of Mons, Ath, Tournai and Charleroi, with wildcat strikes.
David Stockman
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AFP/Getty Images
Dec. 19, 2011
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, center, attends a meeting of the Economic and Financial Committee at the European Parliament in Brussels. The ECB has faced calls to step up its bond-buying program in an effort to stem the euro-zone debt crisis but appears determined to limit its support for indebted governments as they try to dig their way out of trouble.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
Dec. 19, 2011
A pedestrian passes European Union flags outside the the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. European finance ministers will today seek to meet a self-imposed deadline for drawing additional aid to the debt crisis and to form new budget rules as investor confidence that a comprehensive solution is achievable wanes.
Jock Fistick
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Bloomberg
Dec. 15, 2011
Italian Premier Mario Monti stands in Rome's Palazzo Chigi the same day his government called for a vote of confidence on an austerity package aimed at persuading bond markets that the country can get it finances under control.
Andrew Medichini
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AP
Dec. 15, 2011
People wait at a tram station during a transport strike in Milan.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 15, 2011
About 1,000 pensioners marched through Greece's capital in protest of austerity measures that include pension and salary cuts.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Dec. 14, 2011
Poul Thomsen, the International Monetary Fund mission chief in Greece, goes to the podium to deliver a speech during a conference of American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce in Athens. Greece has reached its limit in raising taxes and needs to refocus its austerity program on long-term spending cuts, the IMF has said.
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
Dec. 13, 2011
Cattle farmers hand out dairy products to passersby in the center of Thessaloniki, Greece. The farmers were protesting low market prices for their products.
Nikolas Giakoumidis
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AP
Dec. 12, 2011
A man holds a placard reading: "Invalid and unemployed, I have no invalid pension, next Aug. 12, 2012, I'll be denied my old age pension." Union leaders are calling on workers to stage a three-hour strike to protest austerity measures that Premier Mario Monti hopes will save the country from financial ruin. The union leaders say the measures hit too hard at pensioners and workers and not hard enough at the wealthy.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 12, 2011
A man walks past a monitor showing stock information in Milan. Italy's borrowing costs eased in a bond auction Monday, but worries about the country's ability to manage its debt and enforce spending cuts persisted as unions called a strike against the new government's austerity measures.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 12, 2011
People stage a protest in Milan.
Luca Bruno
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
People crowd Rome's fashionable Via del Corso shopping street. All European Union states except Britain moved toward setting up a new treaty Friday, giving up crucial powers over their own budgets in an attempt to overcome a crippling debt crisis.
Andrew Medichini
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron leaves an E.U. summit meeting in Brussels. Britain was the only holdout on a treaty aimed at easing Europe's debt crisis. Its veto is enough to thwart the hopes of Germany and France to rewrite current E.U. treaties, which requires unanimity.
Michel Euler
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
A protester in Brussels pretends to act as puppetmaster to two protesters wearing masks of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Michel Euler
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti during a roundtable meeting at an economic summit in Brussels.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Dec. 9, 2011
French President Nicolas Sarkozy gives a speech during a news conference. European leaders are wrestling over how much of their sovereignty they are willing to give up in a desperate attempt to save the ambitious project of continental unity that grew from the ashes of World War II.
Michel Euler
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AP
Dec. 8, 2011
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attend the 20th congress of the European People's Party in Marseille, France. The leaders of France and Germany hoped to rally fellow European conservatives around their latest bid to save the euro currency from collapsing under the weight of huge state debt.
Jan-Paul Pelissier
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AP
Dec. 8, 2011
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde speaks with the media as she arrives for an E.U. summit in Brussels.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert
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AP
Dec. 8, 2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron arrives at the E.U. summit.
Michel Euler
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AP
Dec. 7, 2011
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, left, and French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, center, speak with reporters after their meeting in Paris. Geithner says he is very encouraged with the progress Europe is making in coming up with a plan to shore up the euro.
Jacques Brinon
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AP
Dec. 7, 2011
Geithner leaves following his meeting at the Elysee Palace with Sarkozy and Baroin.
Francois Mori
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AP
Dec. 6, 2011
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble give a joint press conference in Berlin. Schaeuble said the U.S. model for solving the financial crisis would be "very dangerous for Europe" and has resulted primarily in flooding emerging markets with excess liquidity.
Michele Tantussi
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Bloomberg
Dec. 6, 2011
Michael Noonan, Ireland's finance minister, holds up his country's 2012 budget plan on the steps of a government building in Dublin. The budget was devised against a backdrop of escalating concern about the future of the euro.
Aidan Crawley
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Bloomberg
Dec. 5, 2011
Dozens of people took part in a demonstration outside Parliament in Athens against government spending cuts.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Dec. 5, 2011
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Elysee Palace in Paris. The leaders will try to agree on a cohesive plan to help save the euro through stricter oversight of government budgets.
Michel Euler
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AP
Dec. 5, 2011
Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and her Greek counterpart Lukas Papademos hold a news conference in Athens. Thorning-Schmidt is in Greece on an official visit ahead of her country's forthcoming assumption of the rotating E.U. presidency in January.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Dec. 5, 2011
Italian Premier Mario Monti speaks at Rome's Foreign Press Club. The new leader must try to persuade a skeptical Parliament that his new plan to cut spending and boost growth will return Italy's ailing economy to health.
Pier Paolo Cito
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AP
Dec. 4, 2011
Italian Premier Mario Monti, center, is flanked by Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero, left, and Cabinet Undersecretary Antonio Catricala during a meeting in Rome. Monti briefed union leaders and a youth delegation on his package of austerity and economic growth measures ahead of a critical week of decision-making to confront the continent's debt crisis.
Pier Paolo Cito
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AP
Dec. 1, 2011
Masked anti-austerity protesters stand outside the Greek parliament during a 24-hour strike in Athens. The strike closed schools and public services, left hospitals functioning on reduced staff and confined ferries to port.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Dec. 1, 2011
European Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia addresses the media in Brussels as the commission extends the crisis state aid rules for banks.
Yves Logghe
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AP
Dec. 1, 2011
Protesters shout anti-austerity slogans during a strike in Athens.
Petros Giannakouris
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AP
Dec. 1, 2011
Protesters, organized by the PAME Communist-affiliated union, gather outside the Greek Parliament. The strike is the first test of union opposition to Prime Minister Lucas Papademos' three-week-old coalition government and comes a day after it promised rescue creditors it will impose additional "deep and broad reforms."
Thanassis Stavrakis
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AP
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