Eurozone inflation steady in December

Consumer prices among the Eurozone's 17 countries that have the Euro in circulation remained stable last month, despite a drop in energy prices across the region. The European statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday that consumer prices added 0.4% on a monthly basis, while remained unchanged at 2.2% from a year ago. In the meantime, core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, picked up to 1.5% from 1.4% in November. The annual rate of inflation remained slightly above the ECB's target of just below 2.0% level, which will add to policy makers' reluctance to cut the benchmark interest rate.

"It was said last year that the euro zone was at risk of breaking and I said last year that this won't happen," Juncker told business leaders in Luxembourg. "The euro zone has become more stable after lots of efforts, some from me."