Experts and politicians battled into the night in Brussels to come up with the additional billions of euro needed to bring down Greek debt to what they hope will be sustainable levels.

The Government was accused of hypocrisy in not supporting rules to have oil, gas and mining companies in Ireland and other EU countries report what money they pay to governments for mining concessions.

There is a raft of helicopters at the ready to transport EU leaders to their summit today if the road from the airport is blocked due to a general strike by Belgian unions.

A LOT of shadow boxing goes on in the EU.

SOMETIMES when things change we look back and realise we didn’t know we had it so good.

A LOT of nasty little domestic political games were being played at Friday’s EU summit that was billed as the one to finally protect the euro.

WHATEVER Taoiseach Enda Kenny hoped to get from his visit to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the overall impression was that he came away empty-handed.

THERE is not much good news anywhere you look: the G20 was a disaster, the predicted slowdown in growth globally is bad news for Ireland, the coming budget could end up being an interim one, and the EU is losing the plot.

IN the middle of a news blackout, who comes and who goes offers a vital clue as to what is going on for the myriad of intrepid reporters covering EU meetings.

WILL Sunday’s summit be the EU leaders’ BlackBerry moment?