Topic: European Union

The Spanish contestant in the pan-European singing show “Eurovision” has said her crisis-hit country would struggle to host the next event if she were to win the competition, according to various reports.

Many government and corporate workers in Spain  are  looking for safer havens for their money, transferring their spare cash to stronger euro zone countries like Germany “on a daily basis.” The NYT reports.

With concern growing about the future of the euro zone, analysts are now debating ideas that, until recently, were considered unthinkable.  One topic being bandied about is the viability of capital controls. 

Shares in Spain's fourth-biggest lender Bankia SA were suspended on the Madrid stock exchange on Friday, ahead of an evening announcement when the bank is expected to ask the state for a rescue of more than 15 billion euros ($19 billion).

French President, Francois Hollande has cast himself as the European leader pushing hardest to forge a growth-oriented “new path” through the euro zone’s grinding debt crisis, pitting him against the austerity-minded German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the New York Times reports.

Gold prices rose back above $1,560 an ounce in Europe on Friday, snapping four sessions of losses, as the euro recovered from two-year lows against the dollar, though worries over the outlook for the euro zone kept investors on edge.

Some of Europe’s biggest fund managers have confirmed they are dumping euro assets amid rising fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone and single currency turmoil, the Financial Times reports.

Italy's Mario Monti said he believed Greece would remain in the euro zone but it was impossible to say with certainty. So, just in case, euro leaders agreed to have a "Grexit" plan in place.

The European Central Bank wants Greece to stay in the euro zone and is working under that assumption, Joerg Asmussen, member of the Executive Board of the ECB, told TVN/CNBC in an interview on Thursday.

The euro zone debt crisis will continue to dominate European stocks in 2012, with even well-run companies in danger of being sucked into the morass, according to S&P Capital IQ.

Four years of economic crisis and market turmoil that have sent German bund yields to record lows now have half of the top bond strategists and economists polled by Reuters fearing a Japan-style "Lost Decade".

There has been no global recession but negative sentiment and maximum uncertainty are clouding the reality of the situation, Frank Appel, Deutsche Post’s CEO told CNBC on “Worldwide Exchange.”

The concept of Eurobonds as one tool to tackle the euro zone debt crisis has re-emerged onto the agenda this week. But how would they work and how could they help to solve the crisis?

Joint bonds issued by the euro zone, also known as Eurobonds, are one of the possible solutions to Europe’s debt crisis, Joaquin Almunia, vice president of the European Commission told CNBC, “but many conditions would have to be met” before they were introduced.

Greece will leave the euro zone next year and the country's new currency will "immediately fall by 60 percent," according to Citi chief economist Willem Buiter.