A round-up of public finance news stories from Europe you might have missed this week (August 5-9).

Obama voices support for Greece's leader

President Barack Obama voiced support for embattled Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his economic restructuring plans after the two leaders met on Thursday. The Obama administration is hoping Samaras can hold his government together long enough to undertake economic reforms required as a condition for receiving millions of dollars in aid from the International Monetary Fund and eurozone countries. (Wall Street Journal)

French government's next tax grab may strain fragile recovery

A growing chorus of French businesses and consumers is warning that government plans to wring 6 billion euros more in tax out of the economy next year risk stifling a fragile recovery and could damage future growth. (Reuters, via Yahoo.com)

Europe's bail-out programmes: what Angela isn't saying

An orchestrated hush has descended over the euro area as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who conducts its troubled band of 17 states, campaigns for a third term in the election on September 22nd. The calm also stems from signs that the euro-zone economy may gradually be emerging from recession. But discord will reappear after the poll as it becomes clear that Europe’s bail-out programmes won’t be unwound harmoniously and that more big bills are on their way. (The Economist)

Italy aims for more budget austerity

With Italy pulling out of a two-year recession, the government now seeks to eke out further growth by lightening the tax burden on the country's struggling companies and creating a new body tasked with reducing public-sector waste, said the country's Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni in an interview. (Wall Street Journal)

Banks face tougher risk weights as Borg seeks Swedish probe

Swedish finance minister Anders Borg said the financial regulator needs to look into raising risk weights on banks’ mortgage assets as he suggested levels may still be too low after being tripled this year. ‘This is something the Financial Supervisory Authority should evaluate,’ Borg said in an interview in Stockholm. (Bloomberg)

Government finally admits ‘inconsistencies' in official's testimony on swaps

Portugal’s government has this week acknowledged ‘inconsistencies’ in testimony by the secretary of state for the treasury on his degree of involvement in the 2005 sale by his then employer, Citibank, of financial products that have left state enterprises facing massive losses. (The Portugal News online)