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By 08:44 BST, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was 1.4 per cent lower on 1,035.34 points, with banks among the biggest fallers.
Financial institutions suffered due to continued fears economic growth in the eurozone will be limited by strict new measures in southern Europe that aim to control debt problems.
There were falls of between three per cent and 5.4 per cent for Credit Agricole, Banco Santander, UniCredit, Societe Generale and BBVA.
Around Europe, individual indexes in Spain, Portugal and Italy were all down by as much as 3.1 per cent, while the FTSE 100 had dipped 1.12 per cent to 5,372.83 points at 09:39 BST.
Mining firms were among some of the weakest performers, with Xstrata retreating by 4.15 per cent to 1,051p and Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta also sliding.
Posted by Clive Arneil
