Revellers in the city centre greeted the new year by eating 12 grapes in time with the chimes at Madrid's central Puerta del Sol clock in a national tradition, while hundreds of thousands partied in Berlin to live music in the landmark Brandenburg Gate.

BBC: New Year's Eve 2012: Celebrations around the world

When tens of thousands of young Spaniards emerged in May, apparently out of nowhere, to turn Puerta del Sol, a square in central Madrid, into a tent city, the tenor of their complaint was far from revolutionary.

ECONOMIST: Youth unemployment in Mediterranean Europe