The EU's Economics Commissioner said it's too early to decide whether Ireland should be given a precautionary second bailout.

The Government is coming under increased pressure from the European Commission to reduce the budget, due out later this month, by the full €3.1bn.

Ireland’s massive banking sector largely located in the Financial Services Centre should not be under threat from the EU that worries about financial institutions sinking sovereign states, according to ECB executive board member Jorg Asmussen.

IT’s almost 18 months since the prospect of changing the terms of the promissory note was first raised by Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Further cuts and harsh tax increases are on the cards for next year’s budget following the latest figures forecasting the perfect storm of anaemic growth, unemployment, rising debt and falling pay.

Eurozone finance ministers will gather in Cyprus this morning for their first meeting since the summer.

BY regularly raising hopes of getting a better deal on bank debt only to let us down again, the Government is losing all credibility on its ability to deal with the issue.

The country may yet have to pay a high cost for the deferral of the €3.1bn promissory note payment as the ECB is deeply unhappy with the deal and the extra cost to the exchequer may have to be made up in government spending cuts.

Europe is in a mild recession at the moment, Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn said as Eurostat cut its estimate for growth in the EU and eurozone for last year, suggesting the much-forecasted double dip.

US ratings agency Fitch says it is downgrading the credit ratings of five countries that use the euro, including economic heavyweights Italy and Spain.

Europe's Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn has said there will be a moderate recession across Europe in the first half of 2012.

A fresh round of proposals to address the eurozone's debt crisis will be unveiled by the European Commission today.

IRELAND and the other eurozone countries could immediately lose half their wealth were the euro area to break apart, while Germany would lose a million jobs if the currency area were to shrink to a few core members.

THE euro crisis intensified last night as the EU’s rescue fund found it difficult to raise €3bn on the markets for Ireland and had to pay its highest rate so far for the money — the cost of which will be passed on to Ireland.

IRELAND is likely to save about €10 billion over the life of its EU/IMF loans, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said.

US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner’s invitation to a special EU finance ministers meeting in Poland later this week is aimed at giving confidence to the markets, in a flurry over Greek default fears.

THE Government can fulfil its pledge not to raise income tax rates in the coming budget, but it will have to fill the €250 million hole in some other way, EU sources said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny meets EU leaders in Brussels today promising to raise Ireland's case for a cheaper bailout deal - if he gets the opportunity.

THE Government has been forced on the defensive over its decision to allow taxpayers pay for the bank bailout and leave senior bondholders untouched.

FINANCE Minister Michael Noonan took the fight over corporation tax to France when he said its attempts to increase Ireland’s rate were perverse.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan will meet with ECB President Jean Claude Trichet and EU Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn in Brussels later today.

FINANCE MINISTER Michael Noonan will begin discussions with the European Commission and the European Central Bank today on a package to ensure sufficient funding to keep Irish banks afloat, cut interest rates on the EU loan and agree concessions on some element of company tax.

THE new Government got advance warning from the European Commission last night that it cannot change the goalposts of the agreement for the€67 billion EU-IMF loan.

TAOISEACH-in-waiting Enda Kenny will spend today working with his new coalition partner to plot the 13 TDs who will be nominated for seats at Cabinet.

FUTURE budgets will be drawn up with the help of a fiscal council of independent experts while the Department of Finance will obliged by law to work towards balancing the country’s income and expenditure.

THE Government’s battered credibility suffered a fresh blow last night after the European Commission flatly contradicted its projections for economic growth next year.

IRELAND’S GDP growth will be around half next year of what the Government had assumed when drawing up the four-year budget programme, the European Commission’s autumn forecast says.

The EU and the IMF have the authority to seek changes to yesterday's four year austerity plan, according to the Irish Times.

THE IMF is reluctant to contribute towards bailing out Irish banks and as a result the major part of the estimated €90 billion loan is expected to come from the European Commission and member states, according to EU sources.

THE contract being negotiated by the Government with the EU, ECB and IMF will bind whatever government is in power, since it is an agreement with the state, the European Commission has confirmed.

DESPITE two years of restructuring and up to €50 billion of taxpayers’ money, there is growing consensus the country’s banking system is still in need of a complete overhaul.

EUROPEAN Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn will today tell the opposition parties the country’s recovery prospects would improve if they agreed to a broad political consensus.

THE EU is not seeking to interfere with Ireland’s corporate tax rate, officials of Dublin Chamber said yesterday.

THE EU wants the Government to spell out in November the spending cuts and tax increases it will make over the next four years to reduce the massive 32% budget deficit caused by the bank bailout.

IRELAND will need to provide evidence of its commitment to bring the budget deficit down to 3% by 2014, Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday, to help safeguard the financial stability of the euro area.

IRELAND could be asked to make further cuts to government spending next month when the European Commission finalises its assessment of the country’s deficit and debt.

THE finance ministers of the 15 euro countries told Ireland in no uncertain terms that it must act immediately to cut the burgeoning public debt, putting further pressure on the Government to make cuts in next week’s budget.