Today's front pages

German chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Athens this 9 October to express "support for the efforts of the Greek government and the people on the road to recovery" and to "put an end to a long period of uncertainty over Greece's membership of the eurozone," the Athens daily notes.

Merkel hour – To Ethnos

The European Stability Mechanism (EMS) was formally launched by the finance ministers of the eurozone meeting in Luxembourg yesterday. This permanent fund of up to 500 billion euros is destined to help eurozone member states facing difficulty.

EMS rescue umbrella opens over Europe – Die Welt

Following a meeting of finance ministers of the eurozone, Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker urged Spain to "continue its programme and objectives of fiscal consolidation", and postponed making any decision on aid to struggling eurozone member state. The Spanish government has requested that the ECB buys its debt at interest rates lower than those of the market.

Eurogroup slows down Spain rescue – Expansión

During preliminary negociations to establish the EU’s 2014-2020 budget, Germany has pushed for a separate eurozone budget, which could cost Poland several dozen billion zlotys. “This would be the beginning of breaking the EU into two Europes,” warns the daily.

Union cracks, Poland loses – Rzeczpospolita

British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne vowed at the Conservative party conference to stick to his plans for repairing the economy as he attempted to rebuild public support for austerity. A few hours later, the International Monetary Fund cut growth forecasts for the UK, predicting that the economy would shrink by 0.4 per cent this year. In July it forecast growth of 0.2 per cent.

Osborne refuses to budge over his austerity package – The Times

After more than two years of austerity in Europe and several growth forecasts revised downwards, the International Monetary Fund presented a "mea culpa" yesterday. In a report that downgraded forecasts for the world economy, the IMF corrected some initially erroneous math: for every euro cut from state budgets, the economy does not fall 0.5 euros as was previously believed, but from between 0.9 to 1.7 euros.

IMF admits it misjudged impact of austerity – Público

Marek Dalík, right hand man of former Czech PM Miroslav Topolanek (in office from 2006-2009), and long considered "untouchable", was arrested on October 8 in Prague. It is alleged that he demanded €18 million in bribes during the purchase of Austrian Pandur armoured cars for the Czech army in 2009. He faces up to 10 years in prison. This is the fifth arrest in the Czech Republic's political circles since the beginning of the year.

Dalík arrested, who's next? – Mladá Fronta DNES