EU in 'social emergency', says EC chief Jose Manuel Barroso

A string of leading European figures on Monday denied persistent press reports that Spain is preparing a request for bailout aid.Such funding "is not even a working hypothesis," said Luxembourg prime minister and euro chief Jean-Claude Juncker after talks with European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso."Not for the commission either," Barroso said at a joint press conference. "The commission has no intention of preparing a specific plan for Spain."

The head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, took German leaders to task Tuesday in a press interview for failing to drum up popular support for the crisis-hit euro.

The head of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday said he did not anticipate Europe sliding into recession, instead seeing modest growth."We don't anticipate a recession in Europe. The latest forecast by the European Commission shows there will be growth, modest growth it is true," he said during a visit to Australia.His comments follow rating agency Standard & Poor's last week saying a second quarter slowdown had increased the risk of a double dip recession in Europe, but that the region should escape with sluggish growth this year.

Joaquin Almunia, European Union Economic and Monetary Policy Affairs Commissioner, believes Britain is very likely to join the euro currency. London has continued to deny the statement since similar remarks made by EU chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

The spotlight is once again on Slovenia. Olli Rehn, the European commission’s economic chief is unhappy with economic progress in Slovenia and is threatening to put the country into an "excessive imbalances procedure" by the end of the month. The problem is, Spain is in a similar "excessive imbalance" state prompting an unnamed eurozone official to state "As Spain Goes, So Goes Slovenia".

  Anyone who wants to get an inside look at both the European banking system and the politicians in charge of fixing it need to only look at Spain’s Bankia. Bankia was formed in December 2010 by merging seven totally bankrupt Spanish cajas (regional banks that were unregulated). The bank was heralded as a success story and an indication that European Governments could manage the risks in their banking systems.