BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU leaders will raise the thorny topic of tax policy on Thursday, as Germany and France rekindle a debate that smaller states fear could ultimately force them to surrender low tax rates which have been a magnet for foreign investment.

Diplomats from the 27 European Union states have wrestled for decades over tax policy, which touches on highly sensitive issues: national sovereignty, fears of what some see as creeping European federalism and, not least, money.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – When it takes six hours to draft a single sentence in a 100-page document, you know things are moving slowly.

In meeting rooms of embassies across Brussels, diplomats are haggling over the finer details of dozens of reforms more than four years after the financial crisis that devastated European banks and triggered the euro zone’s struggle with debt.

FRANKFURT/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Central Bank wants its second offer of cheap ultra-long funds next week to be its last, putting the onus back on governments to secure the euro zone’s longer-term future.

Powerful members of the central bank’s 23-man governing council are privately hoping demand at the February 29 auction will fall well short of the 1 trillion euros some expect, backing their view that it should be the last.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Eurozone finance ministers abandoned a plan to gather on Wednesday to discuss aid for Greece and instead decided to talk by phone as they continued to grapple with unresolved problems over a financial rescue plan.

Greece needs a second package of financial aid to save it from disorderly default.

BRUSSELS/ LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – European Union
countries may be asked next month to back an EU tax on financial
transactions or to block it, a move by finance ministers that
could clear the way for a smaller group of countries to
introduce a levy themselves.

The British government has promised to stop any such
pan-European tax, fearing it would damage the City of London,
and the European Central Bank has warned that a transactions tax
is impractical if introduced in Europe alone.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – In the marathon tennis match that is the Greek debt crisis, the ball is firmly back in Athens’ court and the consensus that a bailout deal will eventually be done is starting to fray a little.

After a ‘deal’ was struck among Greek political leaders on Thursday, euro zone finance ministers in Brussels took one look at Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos’ figures and promptly told him to go back to Athens and do more.

BRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – European Union diplomats
and the European Parliament agreed on Thursday to overhaul
regulation of the roughly $700 trillion derivatives market, a
move that will make it easier to control one of the most opaque
areas of finance.

WHAT IS A DERIVATIVE?

A derivative is a financial instrument that derives its
value from that of an underlying asset, such as a bond or a
commodity like grain or oil. It is often used to protect against
fluctuations in prices.

BRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuters) – European Union diplomats
and the European Parliament agreed on Thursday to overhaul
regulation of the roughly $700 trillion derivatives market, a
move that will make it easier to control one of the most opaque
areas of finance.

The new regime, which could be largely in place by the end
of 2012, will overhaul a market that boomed in the decade before
the economic crash and was blamed for amplifying the crisis by
hiding risks from regulators.

ATHENS/BRUSSELS, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Prospects of a deal
on a second international bailout for Greece rose on Wednesday
when euro zone finance ministers were summoned to talks in
Brussels while Greek political leaders met to approve a tough
reform and austerity programme.

Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker invited ministers
from the 17-nation single currency area to meet on Thursday
evening and the International Monetary Fund said managing
director Christine Lagarde would also attend.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone countries are trying to finalize a second Greek rescue package by the start of March to save the country from default despite repeated delays in decision-making by Athens, EU officials said on Monday.

Europe’s policymakers want the EU/IMF aid deal to be nailed down quickly and are frustrated with Greece’s political leaders who on Monday said they needed yet another day to consider the package’s painful conditions.