The EU commission is revising its assessment of a potential EU tax on financial transactions, saying the original version was "misused" to bash the proposal.

Greek debt and - potentially - a new Russia gas crisis will dominate EU affairs in the coming week.

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Squeezed supply of Russian gas to some EU countries fell further today (3 February), the European Commission said, but added the situation had not reached emergency levels despite freezing temperatures gripping much of Europe.

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Hungarian flag-carrier Malév ceased operating early today (3 February), ending 66 years of almost continuous service, after its planes were held overseas for unpaid debts. Last month the Commission ordered Hungary to recover multi-million state aid to the national carrier.

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The European Commission has stepped into the growing row over the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, Acta, as leading MEPs refuse to fast-track parliamentary approval due to bad faith in talks.

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Jean-Claude Juncker, head of eurozone finance ministers (Eurogroup) on Friday rejected rumours there would be a special meeting on Monday dedicated to Greece. "A Eurogroup meeting may be scheduled later in the week," he said in a press release. According to diplomatic sources, the next date in mind is Wednesday.

Farmers in the UK are being encouraged to plough up some of the most quintessential English landscapes so that they can continue to claim European subsidies, experts have warned.

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A violent standoff in northern Kosovo risks halting its fragile dialogue with Serbia, and the latter's EU candidacy process, says the International Crisis Group.

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The anti-piracy ACTA agreement goes far beyond what is acceptable in the defence of intellectual property, threatening to internet users' privacy and allowing even legitimate websites to be blocked, says Ivaylo Kalfin.

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EU and Arab states have watered down the text of their draft UN Security Council resolution on Syria in a bid to get Russia to drop its veto. The new version does not explicitly call for Syrian leader Assad to step down or criticise Russian arms sales to his regime.

A treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism, eurozone's permanent bail-out fund worth €500bn, was signed on Thursday by representatives of the 17 euro-countries. The ESM will be an international financial institution based in Luxembourg lending money to troubled eurozone countries. Its firepower is likely to be increased in March.

EU leaders are calling for an independent probe to find out why and how knife-wielding fans overwhelmed stadium security at a football match in Egypt earlier this week.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Thursday launched a Central Rating Repository providing information on credit ratings issued by those 15 credit rating agencies which are registered or certified in the European Union. The central rating repository will be updated twice a year.

The BBC has admitted to receiving EU grants and loans from the European Investment Bank since 2003, Daily Telegraph reports. The news prompted MPs to question the stations impartiality when reporting EU news. A BBC spokesman said loans were "obtained on a fully commercial basis and has no editorial impact.”

The European Commission has tasked a German-UK consortium to provide eight more satellites for its flagship space project Galileo, a European version of the American GPS system set to launch in 2014. Contracts were also signed for future Galileo satellites to launch on Europe's Ariane 5 rocket.

Eight more EU countries have joined Italy in noting a sharp drop in Russian gas supplies, in events recalling the massive 2009 crunch.

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Germany has ruled out any extra contribution from national governments or the European Central Bank to the second Greek bail-out - as requested by the Greek government. Meanwhile, sources close to the negotiations speak of a €15bn funding gap.

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Hungary's state secretary for social inclusion, Zoltan Balog has urged other European nations to present strategies for Roma integration. “The continent's economic crisis is an opportunity to pay closer attention to the group”, he said in an AP interview. There are an estimated 10-12 million Roma living in Europe.

The European parliament voted on Thursday to adopt a plan for national sport teams to wear the EU logo on shirts. It also wants the EU flag to be flown at major sporting events reports the BBC. Neither would be compulsory but some British conservative MEPs are voicing strong objections.

Connie Hedegaard, the EU's climate action commissioner, has rejected calls to introduce a price floor to sustain Europe's depressed carbon market, saying she does not want a "politically regulated system". In a wide-ranging interview with EurActiv, she also called for rolling back fossil fuel subsidies and shifting them to renewable energies instead.

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