Eurozone jobless numbers this week may lay bare a fault line scarring the region’s recovery, as evidence of Germany’s employment muscle contrasts with the political quagmire destroying work in Italy.

France and Italy yesterday piled more pressure on the ECB to agree steps this week to reduce crippling borrowing costs for southern eurozone states.

International institutions will oversee an audit of Spain’s banks aimed at reassuring investors that bailout costs will not spiral as the prospect of new Spanish borrowing threatens to further inflame the eurozone crisis.