BRUSSELS (Reuters) – In September last year, at a below-the-radar meeting in Helsinki, three euro zone finance ministers came up with a two-word phrase that sounded harmless at the time but has since troubled European leaders a great deal.

Banks’ “legacy assets” sound innocent enough but in the context of Europe’s debt crisis, and particularly for Ireland and Spain, the question of how to deal with existing bad debts is a time bomb that has not been defused.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European officials and diplomats were left scratching their heads after David Cameron’s big speech on Wednesday, expressing confusion about how and when the prime minister expects to overhaul Britain’s ties to the European Union.

Cameron promised voters an in/out referendum on British membership of the EU if he is re-elected in 2015, saying the referendum would take place by the end of 2017, once Britain has re-negotiated its relationship with the EU.

BRUSSELS, Jan 16 (Reuters) – The European Union without
Britain would be like “fish without chips”, the prime minister
of Finland said on Wednesday as he made a detailed case for
Britain remaining a strong and influential player in Europe.

Speaking two days before Prime Minister David Cameron
delivers a much-anticipated speech setting out how he wants to
change Britain’s relationship with the European Union, Jyrki
Katainen said he was sure the British would not abandon Europe.

BRUSSELS, Jan 16 (Reuters) – It’s been called a tightrope
walk, an attempt to thread a needle in the dark and like sailing
between Scylla and Charybdis. The classical allusion may be a
stretch, but one way or the other, Britain’s David Cameron faces
a tough ask on Europe.

When he stands up to speak at 10 a.m. on Friday, the prime
minister will confront a highly expectant audience, not just in
the room before him in Amsterdam, but on TV across Europe and
particularly on the other side of the Channel at home.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland, which holds the presidency of the European Union for the next six months, urged Britain not be too adversarial in pushing for change in its relationship with the EU on Tuesday, saying it should remember its close history in Europe.

Prime Minister David Cameron, responding to growing Euroskepticism among voters at home, has said he wants to overhaul Britain’s 40-year-old links with Brussels and is expected to flesh out his thinking in a speech later this month.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – When 20 European Union leaders gathered in Oslo’s sub-zero temperatures on December 10 to celebrate winning the Nobel Peace Prize, there was an unspoken item on the agenda: banking union.

France and Germany planned to hold talks on the margins of the prize-giving to see if they could find a deal that would put the European Central Bank in charge of all euro zone banks.

BRUSSELS, Dec 18 (Reuters) – When 20 European Union leaders
gathered in Oslo’s sub-zero temperatures on Dec. 10 to celebrate
winning the Nobel Peace Prize, there was an unspoken item on the
agenda: banking union.

France and Germany planned to hold talks on the margins of
the prize-giving to see if they could find a deal that would put
the European Central Bank in charge of all euro zone banks.

BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) – European leaders agreed to
press on with further steps to shore up their finances and
sustain momentum in tackling the debt crisis on Friday, a day
after clinching a deal on banking supervision and approving
long-delayed aid to Greece.

After more than eight hours of late-night talks at a summit
in Brussels, leaders promised to push ahead with setting up a
mechanism to wind down problem banks, although it was unclear
when the facility would be completed.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has scored a series of mini-victories in recent months and is ending 2012 in perhaps the best shape of the past four years, Finland’s Europe minister said on Thursday.

The European Central Bank’s promise to backstop euro-zone bonds, an agreement on forming a banking union, a deal to keep Greece afloat and the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize have all helped buoy spirits after three years of near-relentless crisis.

BRUSSELS, Dec 13 (Reuters) – After a hectic year of crisis
management, during which Greece had a close brush with the euro
zone exit, European Union leaders aim to strengthen banking
oversight and work on wider reforms at their sixth summit of
2012 starting on Thursday.

With Silvio Berlusconi vowing to contest an Italian election
early next year, a full bailout of Spain still on the cards and
a German general election in September casting a long shadow,
2013 promises to be the EU’s fourth turbulent year in a row, and
that’s without mentioning Greece, Ireland or Portugal.