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Fund managers monitor a number of regional political events on Friday morning.
The Italian government defended its budget priorities for 2019 after the European Commission sent a letter to Rome, saying the financial plans seemed to indicate a "particularly serious breach of the fiscal policy obligations set out" in the EU rules. Italy must respond to the European Commission no later than Monday.
The actions of the Italian banks sank in the last line between Rome and Brussels. Ubi Banca fell by 6% and UniCredit by 3.6%.
However, Italian shares and bonds held up on Friday afternoon, after the EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pierre Moscovici, said he wanted to reduce tensions between Brussels and Rome.
European leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that they were working tirelessly to break the stalemate in the Brexit negotiations. However, the idea of may extend the transition process has sparked a wave of criticism in London, where some lawmakers want to see a breakup of the EU as soon as possible.
On the data front, net borrowings from the UK public sector, excluding banks, declined 35% from April to September compared to a year ago.
In Asia, equities were also mixed after China announced its growth rate for the third quarter of the year. The year-over-year figure of 6.5% is below expectations and is the weakest pace since the first quarter of 2009.
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