BRUSSELS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Banking supervision, the single
market, a centralised euro zone budget, a single bank resolution
fund, direct recapitalisation of banks from rescue funds and
much stricter fiscal oversight.

If there were any doubts about how complex a task the Europe
Union faces to protect the euro and shore up its finances, the
agenda for the EU summit on Oct. 18-19 should lay them to rest.

BRUSSELS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Banking supervision, the single
market, a centralised euro zone budget, a single bank resolution
fund, direct recapitalisation of banks from rescue funds and
much stricter fiscal oversight.

If there were any doubts about how complex a task the Europe
Union faces to protect the euro and shore up its finances, the
agenda for the EU summit on Oct. 18-19 should lay them to rest.

BRUSSELS, Oct 2 (Reuters) – Every step Greece takes to shore
up its finances seems to make it harder for Athens to make the
numbers add up in the long-term, especially when it comes to its
spiralling debt.

Monday’s 2013 budget plan contained some positive news – for
example, the expectation that Greece will have a primary budget
surplus, before debt financing costs, for the first time since
2002 – as well as some more alarming forecasts.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma dismissed critics who accuse him of being out of touch with the people and brushed aside one of his most vocal opponents, saying populist rival Julius Malema had no influence and was “just talk”.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the European Union, shortly after a deal was struck to end a six-week strike at South Africa’s Marikana platinum mine, Zuma laughed when asked how he responds to those who say he has lost touch with the roots of the African National Congress and its voters.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – It has been 11 days since the European Central Bank announced it was prepared to buy the debt of struggling euro zone countries in unlimited amounts to help bring down their borrowing costs.

In that time, the euro has gained nearly 4 percent against the dollar, the broadest European stock index is up nearly the same amount and yields on Spanish and Italian 10-year bonds have fallen by more than a percentage point.

BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) – At a private Brussels dinner
for European Union dignitaries last week, each table was named
after a fearsome figure from the cinema or fiction: Godzilla,
Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort and Doctor No were among the
settings.

Bruegel, the economic think-tank hosting the event,
subtitled the evening “Frightening Times” in a reminder to
guests of the scary moments that the European debt crisis has
thrown up over the past 2-1/2 years.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European policymakers are working on “last chance” options to bring Greece’s debts down and keep it in the euro zone, with the ECB and national central banks looking at taking significant losses on the value of their bond holdings, officials said.

Private creditors have already suffered big writedowns on their Greek bonds under a second bailout for Athens sealed in February, but this was not enough to put the country back on the path to solvency and a further restructuring is on the cards.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European policymakers are working on “last chance” options to bring Greece’s debts down and keep it in the euro zone, with the ECB and national central banks looking at taking significant losses on the value of their bond holdings, officials said.

Private creditors have already suffered big writedowns on their Greek bonds under a second bailout for Athens sealed in February, but this was not enough to put the country back on the path to solvency and a further restructuring is on the cards.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greece is unlikely to be able to pay what it owes and further debt restructuring is likely to be necessary, three EU officials said on Tuesday, a cost that would have to fall on the European Central Bank and euro zone governments.

The officials said that twice bailed-out Greece would be found to be way off track by EU and International Monetary Fund officials who have been assessing the country.

MADRID/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Spain paid the second highest yield on short-term debt since the birth of the euro at an auction on Tuesday, and EU officials said Greece had little hope of meeting the terms of its bailout, casting fresh doubt on its future in the euro zone.

Spain’s increasingly desperate struggle to put its finances right has seen its borrowing costs soar to levels that are not manageable indefinitely, reflecting a growing belief that it will need a sovereign bailout that the euro zone can barely afford.