European Union regulators are seeking greater authority over the approval of car models in response to Volkswagen’s emissions-test deception, risking a clash with EU governments.

China needs to be more transparent in explaining its financial policies to the world following a stock- market tumble over the summer, and be aware of risks from new financial instruments, a senior EU official said yesterday.

Burning tyres sent plumes of black smoke into the air just metres from where EU Agriculture Ministers were meeting and police in riot gear held back thousands of farmers angry at falling prices for their produce.

In the wake of the Greek referendum Kostas Karkagiannis, the foreign business editor of Kathimerini newspaper, looks at how Greece was treated by the eurozone and Tsipras

EU finance ministers agreed to proceed with a planned €315bn investment plan, while reminding crisis-hit nations it will not offer them special assistance.

The EU’s strategic investment fund designed to kickstart projects worth €315bn will go to riskier countries, the commissioner in charge of the strategy said.

External factors were largely blamed for the latest slowdown in EU growth, setting back recovery and forcing the European Commission to revise down its growth projections for this year.

Irish citizens will fuel the growth in the country’s economy over the next three years, with support from the traditional export markets of Britain and the US, according to the economic forecast from the European Commission.

The European Union said no nation has broken EU budget rules by a big enough margin to warrant immediate action, a move that gives France and Italy more time to win approval for their draft spending plans.

France and Italy unveiled plans yesterday to trim their deficits more than previously planned in last-minute pitches to get clemency from the European Commission on their 2015 budgets.

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.

From a minister who looked in danger of being washed away in a flood of Irish Water controversies to the brink of becoming Europe’s €60bn man, it has been quite a year for Phil Hogan.

Ireland’s plan to save up to €375m in interest repayments to the IMF is getting an encouraging response from EU institutions, but the deal has not been secured yet, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has warned.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny compared Ireland’s turning around of its economy with what was needed in the EU generally, but said the country had some way to go to secure lasting growth and job creation.

A major battle has kicked off in the EU over just how austere budgets should be in the future with Ireland in a minority in the European People’s Party looking for much greater flexibility.

Eamon Gilmore will today tell world leaders there is an urgent need for an appropriate deal with the European Central Bank on the country’s debt.

The Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton has said it is understandable that Finland has concerns about making Ireland a special case, when it comes to renegotiating our bailout.

The Taoiseach and ministers will this week push their German counterparts for a deal to help offload some of Ireland’s €64bn bank debt.

Finnish prime minister Jyrki Katainen was unhurt after a man tried to attack him with a knife.

A knifeman has tried to stab Finland’s Prime Minister while he was out campaigning.

Investors have reacted warily to comments by Spain’s prime minister that he will not accept certain conditions in return for a European Central Bank (ECB) proposal to buy Spanish government bonds.

Ireland’s economic crisis was caused by people’s "mad" borrowing, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has told the Davos global gathering.

GERMANY and France stepped up a drive yesterday for coercive powers to reject eurozone members’ budgets that breach EU rules, as a market rout of European debt eased temporarily on hopes of outside help for Italy and Spain.

THE European Union voiced support for Italy and Spain under attack on financial markets but acknowledged that investors now doubt whether the eurozone can overcome its sovereign debt woes.

EUROZONE ministers pressed ahead last night with plans to make Greece’s private creditors share the costs of a second aid package amid European Central Bank (ECB) warnings that any coercive solutions could unleash a new wave of contagion.

PORTUGAL will pay bailout interest rates similar to those imposed on Greece and Ireland, but the final numbers are yet to be decided.

PORTUGAL’S outgoing government and opposition parties appear to have accepted the terms of a €78 billion EU/IMF bailout which is likely to come at a lower interest rate than Ireland’s.

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.

Huge gains for a nationalist eurosceptic party in Finland’s general election have posed a challenge to EU plans to rescue Portugal and other debt-ridden economies.

Finnish voters dealt a blow to Europe’s plans to rescue Portugal and other debt-ridden economies, ousting the pro-bailout government and giving a major boost to a Eurosceptic nationalist party.

THE Portuguese are to get a bailout in the region of €80 billion in exchange for implementing the austerity measures that brought down their government — plus additional cut backs.

European finance ministers agreed to find a €500bn for a new crisis fund, but continued to argue over the best way to combat the debt crisis that has crippled the eurozone over the past year.

BRIAN LENIHAN has been ranked the second-worst finance minister out of 19 European countries by an expert group of leading economists and analysts.

Finland’s foreign minister was sacked today after being caught sending scores of text messages to an erotic dancer.