Mario Draghi appears to have tacitly endorsed the restructuring of the promissory notes.

The EU’s rescue fund, the ESM, is illegal, accountable to nobody and should never have been established in its current structure, the EU’s highest court was told by lawyers on behalf of Independent TD Thomas Pringle.

A deal will be done for Ireland on bank debt and a decision will be made on this before Christmas, says a Luxembourg-based source close to the Eurogroup of finance ministers.

The Iseq closed up 12.07 points yesterday at 3,262.51 as the news of the German Constitutional Court’s movements to endorse provisions for the European Stability Mechanism are digested.

The German constitutional court is expected to rule today on whether the European Stability Mechanism is in line with the constitution.

The news that the giant global investment manager Franklin Templeton is the biggest holder of Irish government debt outside of the IMF and EU has put the economy in a spotlight before a series of crucial ECB/EU meetings.

The US has raised pressure on eurozone leaders to take decisive action to solve the debt crisis, by lowering troubled members’ borrowing costs, before a crucial European Central Bank meeting.

FEAR is quietly stalking euroland.

The German constitutional court is to rule today on the legality of the €110bn bailout package given to Greece.

IRELAND will have to wait until December to find out if the country is likely to face another EU treaty referendum.

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen was battling with Germany last night to avoid having to call a new referendum to change the rules of the euro.

EU leaders have opened the door to the possibility of rescuing troubled eurozone economies by stating they would take action to ensure the safety of the euro area following a special summit in Brussels.

THE new European Parliament kicked off its five-year term during the week, a term during which it will either grow up and become a properly democratic institution, or continue to languish in the twilight world the member states have created for it.

THE German Constitutional Court has just ruled that the German government must introduce legislation to ensure that the German parliament – the Bundestag – has the right of refusal over changes brought about by the proposed Lisbon Treaty (Article 48).

THE Czech senate voted in favour of the Lisbon treaty yesterday, leaving the fate of the document to reform the EU institutions largely in Ireland’s hands.