Europe will be able to handle future economic crises without the help of the International Monetary Fund, the head of the eurozone’s bailout fund told German magazine Der Spiegel yesterday.

The European Commission has urged Greece to stick to commitments it has made to reform its economy as prime minister Alexis Tsipras called a snap election within hours of new EU bailout cash arriving in Athens.

Greek banks are set to keep broad cash controls in place for months, until fresh money arrives from Europe and with it a sweeping restructuring, officials believe.

Mathematicians use “imaginary numbers” for abstract concepts such as the square root of -1. The EU seems to be using a similar trick in constructing a bailout for Greece.

The Greek parliament has backed government proposals for economic reforms in the hope of ending the country’s debt crisis.

Saying anything definitive about the Greek crisis at the moment is extremely hazardous as the situation is changing from hour to hour. 

Today is ‘D-Day’ for Greece as the eurogroup wait to receive and evaluate proposals from the Tsipras government for a third bailout programme.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has ruled out any new bailout for Greece restricting what the Irish Government can offer in the next budget.

The prospect of a quick fix to the Greek problem together with €15.5bn in funds disappeared at midnight as the stakes were raised for the country and for the EU.

The Troika gave the country’s economic progress a thumbs-up and maintained their advice that the Government should put unexpected extra income into cutting debt, rather than cutting tax and increasing spending.

Permanent TSB has completed its €525m capital raise, which values the business at €2bn and lowers the Government’s shareholding in the bank to 75%.

Shares in newly-formed Irish investment firm Malin closed up 6% at the end of its first day’s trading in Dublin yesterday.

Malin, the Irish-backed investment firm targeting privately-owned life-science companies, has surpassed its initial funding hopes, by raising up to €330m in what is being viewed as one of Europe’s largest ever IPOs for the life sciences market.

The European Central Bank faces criticism over its denigration of employment and social rights during the ongoing austerity drive, says Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

Ireland pays a substantially higher rate of interest on its bailout than Greece, but economists cast doubt on the country getting any further relief.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has been accused of “surrendering” any hope of a bank bail-out debt deal from the EU.

Ireland no longer needs to recoup the money it paid to bank investors when the crisis hit, the head of the EU’s bailout fund has said.

Ireland’s plan to save up to €375m in interest repayments to the IMF is getting an encouraging response from EU institutions, but the deal has not been secured yet, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned.

There will be no giveaway budget in October despite much better-than-expected exchequer figures for the first eight months of the year, the Government has warned.

-Merkel adviser insists collapse was of Ireland’s own making

Current figures do not show any leeway for the Government in next year’s budget and the full sum of €2.1bn must be cut, says a European Commission report.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan is adamant he does not have to cut €2bn from the budget, while the EU opened a glimmer of hope Ireland could get retrospective bank recapitalisation. But Mr Noonan would not say if his budget would leave more money for services, or mean tax cuts for some.

The man in charge of the EU's bailout fund Jeroen Dijsselbloem has said it will be "difficult" for Ireland to get a deal on its legacy bank debts.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has signalled that he will ignore the recommendations of the IMF and European Commission and aim for the 3% fiscal deficit target in October’s budget.

The possibility of the domestic banks having to raise new capital following the ECB stress tests "cannot be precluded" even though AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB all passed the Central Bank’s Balance Sheet Assessment (BSA) at the end of 2013, according to the IMF in its latest review of the Irish economy.

Ireland recouping the money it put into its failing banks is a near impossibility as the rules on bank recapitalisation are finalised, a top EU official has admitted.

The eurozone’s permanent crisis resolution mechanism is selling bonds in the public market against a brighter backdrop for European peripheral sovereigns.

There is no visibility on when the restructuring plan for Permanent TSB might be approved by the European Commission, according to the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan.

Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem says eurozone finance ministers will return to their push to work out rules for channelling aid from the European Stability Mechanism directly to banks.

Inside Permanent TSB Group, there is a good bank trying to get out.

The eurozone’s Single Resolution Mechanism could use its borrowing ability to cushion shocks to countries whose financial systems are roiled by major bank failures, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said.

Germany’s top court has rejected lawsuits seeking to block the country’s participation in the European Stability Mechanism, a key part of the euro area’s response to the debt crisis.

Germany’s constitutional court has upheld the country’s participation in a fund which can bail out troubled governments in the eurozone.

German chancellor Angela Merkel did not rule out Ireland getting money back for bailing out its banks when she held a joint press conference with Taoiseach Enda Kenny in government buildings.

The European Commission has cited a number of “possible national solutions” to the tracker problem crippling the Irish banking system in its latest report on the Irish economy — ruling out official support from either the ESM or the ECB.

The speculated Ulster Bank/Permanent TSB merger that would create a third banking force in the domestic market faces many challenges before it becomes a realistic proposition.

If the Government is successful in its attempts to get a bank debt recapitalisation from the ESM, then it is likely to get only a portion of the €30bn it has requested, according to a troika source.

It is far to soon for the Government to make a commitment on tax cuts in next October’s budget because of the ongoing uncertainty over growth figures, a troika source has said.

The policy credited with halting the euro crisis — outright monetary transactions — is likely to exceed the European Central Bank’s remit and violate German law according to the German constitutional court.

A high ranking EU official declared that the situation in Ukraine is worse than that in Belarus — and was quickly asked to explain.

The Government could give up on getting the money it put into the banks back from the EU and instead sell the shares to investors, according to Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Employees of Shannon-based engineering equipment maker Mincon are set to be awarded around €1,000 per year of service as part of a €1.2m employee recognition payment plan.

The visit of ESM fund chief Klaus Regling to Dublin yesterday, and that he came in an atmosphere far less fraught than might have been the case some years ago, was informative and slightly dispiriting.