European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly is taking on the powerful ECB, asking why market-moving information was revealed to a select group of people including bankers and hedge fund managers in London.

A senior EU finance official has told Government not to increase public spending too soon if it wants to prevent a fresh boom and bust cycle.

Ireland has a key role to play in the digital war against terror, the French minister for European affairs said last night.

Brussels police detained a Slovakian man dressed in camouflage gear near the European Parliament and found a gun and a chainsaw in his car, triggering a security scare which caused several offices to be evacuated.

The ECB could publish the now notorious letter it sent to then finance minister Brian Lenihan on the eve of the bailout as early as next week.

France and Italy will keep pressure on Germany this week to use government money to revive the eurozone’s stagnating economy but, in a sign of inertia, a promised list of projects to create growth will not be ready until December.

Get a taste of some of the interesting and quirky happenings in Europe from our Europe correspondent, Ann Cahill.

Enda Kenny will today announce the new minister for justice with much speculation last night pointing to Fine Gael party chairman Charlie Flanagan as the likely successor.

EU Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels today to discuss the ongoing crisis in Egypt.

THE Cypriots are being crucified for their economic sins.

Tax dodging causes the EU to lose around €1 trillion of income each year, the president of the European Council said yesterday as he announced that EU leaders would discuss the issue at a summit next month.

Great Britain's Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah were awarded the 2012 European Athlete of the Year prizes at the European Athletics Awards Night in St Julians, Malta, last night.

The European Union Ambassador to Ukraine has been prevented from visiting former Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko in a hospital where she is being treated.

European finance ministers promised last night to respond "speedily" to the eurozone debt crisis after Spain pleaded for help to prop up its struggling banking system and avoid a bailout.

As the eurozone crisis edges closer to another 2008-style meltdown, the situation calls for the intervention of the banking big-boys with the money to assure markets and hopefully get credit flowing once more, reports Kyran FitzGerald

GREECE’S shock decision to call a popular vote on its latest bailout has sent efforts to sort out the eurozone’s debt crisis stumbling back to square one, European affairs minister Lucinda Creighton said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Berlin today for a meeting with the German Chancellor, ahead of tomorrow's critical European summit.

Leading eurozone countries today moved to calm nerves over a possible European Union bailout of Ireland.

EU and German officials assured markets they were working quickly to approve a bail-out for Greece as they tried to keep the country's debt crisis from dragging others into a continent-wide financial meltdown.

EUROPEAN governments have put together a €30 billion loan package for Greece, trying to stamp out its fiscal crisis and restore confidence in the euro.

The man leading the hunt to fill two new top roles in Europe spoke today of the diplomatic niceties which make the job a serious headache.

British prime minister Gordon Brown will offer new British plans for tighter banking controls today as the blueprint for the rest of the world.

STEPS are being taken by European Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to introduce export refunds for pig meat carcasses, cuts and bellies as a response to the difficult market situation.

SERVICES will be disrupted at more than 100 post offices today as workers protest over European Commission plans to open the postal market.

Bulgarian and EU leaders have condemned today’s convictions in Libya of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for allegedly infecting 400 children with the HIV virus.

INCREASES in export refund rates for butter and whole milk powder agreed at a meeting of the European Commission’s milk management committee in Brussels have been welcomed by Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan.

The British presidency of the European Union has recommended that €200m be allocated to peace and reconciliation funds for the North, it was claimed today.

Ireland’s new European Commissioner today accused national governments of failing to take enough responsibility for public indifference and hostility towards the EU.

The system of farming subsidies and import tariffs in the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy is “unsustainable” and needs reform, Britain’s European Commissioner-designate Peter Mandelson said today.

The Government should abandon decentralisation plans when Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy takes up his new role as European Commissioner, it was claimed today.

BEWARE of Greeks bearing gifts, but not Bertie Ahern in generous mood.

“JESUS — IT’S BERTIE!” The astonished cry rang out over the Charles Bridge in Prague.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell clashed with the United Nations refugee Agency chief yesterday over the EU’s proposed treatment of asylum seekers.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler has told Irish farmers that the CAP reforms ratified by European ministers earlier this year will represent the EU's bottom line at upcoming World Trade Organisation negotiations.

President Mary McAleese today defended her support for a ‘‘Yes’’ vote in a referendum on the European Union’s Nice Treaty while on an official trip abroad.