Slumping exports sent Germany’s economy into reverse in the second quarter, with prospects of an early recovery slim as its manufacturers struggle at the sharp end of a global slowdown amplified by tariff conflicts and the fallout from Brexit.

Recent elections produced good results for pro-EU parties, but one of the areas in need of attention is the selection process for president of the Commission, writes billionaire lobbyist George Soros

The ECB could return to its major programme of buying bonds next year, possibly meaning interest rates would stay low for much longer, but only if Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann doesn’t get his hands on the top job at the central bank.

Mario Draghi steps down as head of the ECB at the end of October and the field of candidates to replace him has narrowed. Here are the leading contenders to take over from “Super Mario”

Some ECB policymakers are reluctant to alter their guidance on interest rates as a move could tie the hands of the bank’s next president many months before an appointment is even made, four sources have said.

The ECB has advertised for a new bank supervisory chief, looking for an expert to oversee a sector still weighed down by bad loans and weak profitability following the bloc’s debt crisis.

Last year was great for the eurozone economy, with GDP expanding by 2.3%. That is above the zone’s potential growth rate.

The ECB has pledged to keep its aggressive stimulus policy at least until the end of the year, but markets leaped higher as it signalled there was less of a need to prop up growth and inflation in the eurozone.

Banks based in Britain will lose access to EU markets after Brexit unless the country remains in the broader European trading group that includes nations such as Norway, the head of Germany’s Bundesbank warned yesterday.

Should Mario Draghi ever want to start raining down helicopter money, the ECB president is likely to struggle to get off the ground.

The European Central Bank is ready to act quickly to boost anaemic inflation in the Eurozone, its president said yesterday, offering the strongest hint yet that the bank will unveil fresh stimulus measures at its December 3 meeting.

A day after Mario Draghi presented a sobering economic outlook for the eurozone, the nervousness coursing through the ECB was underscored by a fellow policymaker.

Greek banks are set to keep broad cash controls in place for months, until fresh money arrives from Europe and with it a sweeping restructuring, officials believe.

Jubilant Greeks celebrated their democracy last night as they voted overwhelmingly against the austerity of the past five years but insisted that it is a vote for Europe.

European Central Bank executive board member Benoit Coeure cautioned that the region’s economic recovery is reversible and needs to be used as an opportunity by governments to boost growth potential.

The ECB’s bond-buying decision risks deterring eurozone governments from taking steps to restore their countries’ competitiveness, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said.

ECB staff have presented policymakers with models for buying as much as €500bn of investment-grade assets.

As European Central Bank policy makers gather for their first meeting of 2015, the backdrop is a 0.2% annual drop in consumer prices, the first in more than five years.

Mario Draghi this week faces one of the dominant challenges for the euro-area economy in 2015, writes Catherine Bosley

A gauge of euro-area services and manufacturing signaled economic growth slowed in the final quarter of 2014, supporting calls for more stimulus by the European Central Bank.

German inflation slowed to its lowest level in over five years in December, raising pressure on European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to unveil unconventional measures later this month to ward off a deflationary spiral in the eurozone.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said he can not exclude the risk of deflation in the eurozone, in a sign that the likelihood of large-scale quantitative easing is increasing.

Mario Draghi has one month to win consensus on quantitative easing by reassuring those worried that the European Central Bank risks losing its own money.

European Central Bank officials are considering ways to ensure weak countries that stand to gain most from a fresh round of money printing bear more of the risk and cost.

Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann said there is no need for the ECB to expand monetary stimulus, and argued that sovereign-debt purchases are problematic even if slumping oil prices cause deflation.

A crash in UK housing prices and Mario Draghi leaving the European Central Bank are among 10 “outrageous” predictions for 2015, according to Saxo Bank, which forecast the oil-price slump in a similar list last year.

The European Central Bank (ECB) discussed a bond purchase programme with a volume of more than €1 trillion at its meetings this week, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeiting (FAZ) reported yesterday.

Purchasing government debt comes with legal obstacles and it is no panacea for the eurozone economy, said ECB governing council member Jens Weidmann.

The International Monetary Fund has raised its concerns about the Government’s decision not to implement austerity measures in Budget 2015.

THE ECB is under growing pressure to embark on a large scale government bond buying programme.

Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann has said the room that governments have to stimulate growth through fiscal policy is often more limited than commonly believed.

Eurozone economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter as Germany’s economy shrank and France’s stagnated.

The battle to allow EU governments more say over their national budgets came out into the open with the Italian prime minister telling the head of Germany’s central bank to mind his own business.

Germany’s top finance officials warned investors against prematurely celebrating an overhaul of Europe’s economies four years after they plunged into crisis.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said a further appreciation of the euro would trigger more monetary stimulus in his strongest warning yet about the region’s rising currency.

The European Central Bank is ready to deploy anything in its monetary policy toolbox if inflation stays too low for too long despite keeping interest rates steady yesterday, its president said.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi signalled that deflation risks in the euro region are easing for now after new forecasts showed inflation will approach its target by the end of 2016.

ECB president Mario Draghi said policymakers are ready to add to stimulus if the outlook for prices deteriorates, although there are currently no signs of deflation in the eurozone.

Why is the euro so strong, when the eurozone’s economy is barely out of recession?

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble said there is no rolling back the reform course in the EU and that resorting to any form of debt-sharing would lead to Europe’s demise.

Market euphoria and soaring demand for European bank debt could be brought back down to earth if the EU pushes ahead with the early introduction of rules allowing Cyprus-style raids on bank creditors and big depositors.

Pre-budget horse-trading between Finance Minister Michael Noonan and his Cabinet colleagues is well underway.

ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen has said the publication of a record of governing council meetings should reveal each member’s position in the debate.

It is no exaggeration to say that ECB president Mario Draghi has been by far the most effective bulwark against euro armageddon over the past year.

Optimism in the eurozone’s economy improved sharply in August but high unemployment highlighted the fissure separating the recovering north from the struggling south.

The European Central Bank cannot solve the eurozone crisis, Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann told economists yesterday, pressing the bloc’s governments to get their economies in shape and tighten their fiscal rules.

The euro’s fate is in Germany’s hands, writes Business Correspondent John Walsh

Germany’s top court probably won’t intervene in the ECB’s plan to buy bonds of crisis-torn countries, in line with previous cases involving the country’s integration with the EU.

To listen to some European leaders, especially in France, you would think austerity was over and the eurozone was going full steam ahead to revive economic growth.

Lobbying against the EU’s Robin Hood-style financial transaction tax has been ramped up following the apparent intervention of the European Central Bank.