Vi, stories from Europe sound gloomier every day;
todays harvest:
" German retailers say summer sales action was not a success"
German Retail Association HDE said this year's summer sales action was not a success, with the retail industry unable to generate revenues that would meet its costs.
"We are certainly not satisfied overall," HDE spokesman Hubertus Pellengahr told reporters Saturday at the end of the sales period covering the last week of July and the first week of August.
Under German laws, retailers are allowed to hold two sales actions within one year, including a winter sales period taking place in the last week of January and the first week of February.
"Spain Fin Min Sees Econ Slowdown Worst(e) Than Expected - Paper"
Spanish Finance Minister Pedro Solbes believes the dramatic slowdown of the country´s economy has been "worst than everybody expected" due to increased pressures from volatile oil prices and higher interest rates, he told leading daily El Pais in an interview published Sunday.
"Some data has been dramatically different since the past two months," Solbes was quoted as saying. "We expected a slower deceleration, and at the end it has been more intense."
" Italy Berlusconi Says To Cut Spending..."
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed Saturday that his government plans to slash spending - instead of raising taxes - in order to cope with a sharp fall in Italian tax revenue.
Berlusconi, who has repeatedly ruled out raising taxes since taking office in May, didn't provide his own forecasts for the Italian economy, but said the world economic slowdown is hurting Italy.
"We're in a difficult moment for the world economy. GDP doesn't grow," Berlusconi said in a TV interview late Saturday, citing a 7% reduction in VAT tax revenue last month compared with previous months."
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