The European Commission has indicated it is ready to use its nuclear option - Article 7 on political sanctions - against Hungary if it continues to flout EU law.

The new Greek bail-out began to take shape on Thursday afternoon, when Prime Minister Lucas Papademos got political backing for his austerity plan and the European Central Bank signalled it might help.

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The European Parliament, member states and the EU commission on Thursday agreed on the final text of a new set of rules for trading in derivatives - one of the main causes of the 2008 crisis - with more supervision and mediation powers for an EU authority (Esma).

The Dutch far-right Freedom Party, a key ally of the centre-right coalition government, on Wednesday opened up a website to collect complaints about people from Central and Eastern Europe residing in The Netherlands.

Francois Hollande, socialist challenger for the French presidency, has honed his general opposition to the German-led fiscal discipline treaty by outlining the concrete changes he would like to see made to the document.

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Watering down the financial transactions tax to a stock tax with many loopholes doesn’t do the job of curing an ailing system and raising sufficient money to tackle poverty and climate change, writes Bernd Nilles.

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The deal beween political parties in Greece: not quite the light at the end of the tunnel

Analysis: what does the deal between the Greek political parties mean?

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi did not rule out a swap of Greek bonds with the eurozone bail-out fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. The ECB could not "give money" to the EFSF, but it could "redistribute income as part of the capital key", he said.

In a rare show of unity, telecom firms large and small have rejected European Parliament plans to further lower price caps on mobile phone calls passed abroad – the so-called roaming regulation – saying it will squeeze out new competitors from the market.

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Whatever the solution in the tug of war between the Troika and the Greek authorities, it is ordinary Greeks who will be punished for the collective mistakes of their leaders and the mistakes of their colleagues in the other European states, argues Yiannis Roubatis.

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Political leaders in Athens have reached an agreement on economic reforms, the spokesman of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said Thursday. The deal is essential for eurozone finance ministers and international lenders to agree to a €130bn loan to Greece, along with a €100bn cut in its debt.

The European Central Bank decided to leave its interest rate unchanged at 1% for a second-straight month, amid signs that the eurozone economy is stabilising and Greece's government may be nearing a deal with creditors that would avoid a messy default. ECB chief Mario Draghi warned of "continued instability" ahead.

Greece must accept wage cuts to avoid a messy default and deliver on reforms, Slovak finance minister Ivan Miklos said on Thursday ahead of a Eurogroup meeting. "Promises are no longer enough," he said, while adding that he would prefer private bondholders to take higher losses rather than the ECB.

Hungary is to accept most revisions demanded by the European Commission to the country's controversial new constitution, even where it considers the EU executive to be wrong, said MEP József Szájer, who is a member of the country's ruling Fidesz party and was one of the constitution's senior draftsmen.

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Hungary is to accept most revisions demanded by the European Commission to the country's controversial new constitution, even where it considers the EU executive to be wrong, said MEP József Szájer, who is a member of the country's ruling Fidesz party and was one of the constitution's senior draftsmen.

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"I am not aware of any extension of any sort," EU commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said Thursday in reference to reports of a 15-day deadline to cover a €300million funding gap. Tardio said there "a lot of new elements" for the finance ministers to discuss on Thursday, however.

The EU commission Thursday said its position on Hungary "has not changed" as it is still awaiting a reply from Budapest in response to its decision to launch legal proceedings against the country due to concerns about certain domestic laws, relating to the central bank, the judiciary and data protection.

Press summary: Last minute Greek negotiations fail to yield agreement once again; Greek minister: EU subsidies contributed to Greece???s economic downturn

Governments should invest more in disadvantaged schools and students to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance, according to a new OECD report.