eu

A team of EU and IMF inspectors will arrive in Ireland today to take a closer look at the nation's banking system and prepare for a possible €80bn bailout.

European Council president Herman van Rompuy warns the euro and wider EU face a "survival crisis" as the continent's sovereign debt crisis escalates.

Despite unprecedented cash injections by governments in March 2009, the 12 months to September 2010 have seen increased levels of volatility.

Germany has agreed to give the EU's €440bn (£383bn) bail-out fund permanent status rather than letting it expire in 2013 as planned.

French MEPs may veto the Alternative Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) including a key provision for passporting of investment products, which would allow fund managers to sell products across Europe.

A group of countries including Germany and the UK have thrown their weight behind an EU proposal to fine member states for failing to cut their budget deficits.

The European Commission has revised GDP forecasts for the UK slightly upwards, while the EU as a whole has also seen its figure boosted.

Several of Spain's 18 savings banks have failed tests to see how they would cope with worsened economic conditions, according to reports.

France and Germany have called for rapid agreement on new EU rules to ban elaborate forms of speculation on national debt and company shares.

Britain and France are at odds with other European Union countries over plans to insure against future bank failures, in another sign of the problems in trying to forge a common response to the bloc's economic woes.