Helsinki: The True Finns may back down from threats to block Portugal’s bailout as the party tries to negotiate its way into Finland’s next coalition government.

Ireland’s top banker today claimed there were no more black holes in the country’s banks as share prices jumped in the wake of the state’s €85bn rescue deal.

Ireland will rebound “relatively rapidly” from its current economic woes, Europe’s Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn predicted this afternoon.

EVERY household in the country will be hit with thousands of euro in extra charges and taxes under a savage four-year austerity plan — with fears of more pain on the way once the bank bailout bill is factored in.

The EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn has said the Government's four-year fiscal plan "strikes a good balance of durable expenditure and revenue measures, with due regard to protecting the least well off".

Ireland is lining up the same savage cuts as a feared International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescue, the country’s top banker warned today.

The European Commission has predicted that Ireland's GDP will rise 3% in 2011, the second-highest rate of any country in the eurozone.

The European Commission has approved the Government's bank rescue plan the National Assets Management Agency.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan has reiterated that the rate at which Ireland is currently borrowing money is unsustainable and must be urgently addressed.

The European Commissioner who was at the forefront of the dressing down of Ireland at last week's meeting of Finance Ministers says the Government's new saving scheme is a step in the right direction.