Ireland’s bid to offload billions of euro of debt was slowly making headway last night despite EU leaders bickering over the details of a banking union.

Germany's constitutional court has given the eurozone bailout fund the green light.

The German parliament yesterday approved a second, €130bn loan package for Greece after Angela Merkel, the chancellor, warned lawmakers that it would be irresponsible to abandon the country to bankruptcy.

The EU could end its woes by taking lessons from the US subprime crisis, says Daniel Gros