European stability pact watered down
618645
Bowing to the inevitable -- following persistent breaches of the rules by the eurozone&#39;s two most powerful members, Germany and France -- Brussels announced plans that would make the pact less rigid.
95071
Signs of shaky economies in France and Germany have sharpened worries about Europe's less-than-robust recovery &#151; and underscored the struggle to shake up regulation-clogged economies in countries that use the euro.
466166
If there is one thing EU finance ministers agree on, it is that heads of government should not take away their lead in revamping the discredited five-year-old stability and growth pact.
538540
It was all supposed to be so much simpler. After the nation entered the EU in May, Europeans hoped they would no longer face a jungle of bureaucratic obstacles to living and working in this country.
555574
Eurosceptics have given up hope of inflicting a big dent in the government's majority in Lisbon treaty vote
176954
EU leaders will gather in Rome today to sign an historic new constitution, but the planned celebration of European unity has been transformed into a crisis meeting over the bloc&#39;s stalled executive.
495869
European Union leaders headed for a showdown on Thursday over the latest bid to overhaul the bloc's creaking institutions, but chances of agreement may be rising after chief critic Poland softened its tone.
741486
The reforms to the EU's stability and growth pact will help to defuse the escalating two-year crisis which has seen France and Germany repeatedly flout its deficit rules.
699884
European Union leaders headed for a  showdown on Thursday over efforts to overhaul the bloc&#39;s  creaking institutions, but chances of agreement appeared to be  rising after chief critic Poland softened its tone.
431440
The European Union&#39;s executive office ended a three-year battle with France and Germany on Tuesday, dropping EU procedures against them after the two nations pledged to get their budget deficits back within EU limits next year.
17395
Good news has been in short supply for Europe&#39;s traditional industrial economies like Germany and France. Growth remains weak, unemployment high, labor markets are still rigid and the euro is soaring, pricing their exports out of the market.
420201
The European Union opened summit talks with Russia in disarray on Friday after Poland vetoed the start of talks on a partnership pact.
589608
BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (IPS) - Bleary-eyed European Union leaders agreed a  'reform treaty' for the 27-country bloc after a working  dinner in Lisbon continued until the early hours of the morning  Oct. 19. Yet despite suggestions that governments like those of  Poland and Britain had driven a hard bargain, sizeable chunks of  the text they signed up to are identical to the EU constitution  rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
492666
PARIS A religious - or &quot;cultural&quot; - issue has wrecked the new European Commission&#39;s bid to do business in the European Union the way it has been done until now.
492742
Weak political decisions have "seriously undermined" one of Europe's key strategies to reduce emissions and tackle climate change and look set to do so again, according to a report out today.
141448
Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought Friday to shake off accusations that he is lukewarm on Europe, during his first EU summit in Brussels.
256144
The European Commission announced Wednesday that the planned signing of a cooperation deal with Serbia this week had been scrapped, deploring the "obstruction" of Serbia's prime minister.