Two-day EU Summit to focus on banking union
The fourth EU Summit this year gets underway for two days later on this afternoon and the idea proposed back in June - of creating a single banking supervisor under the European Central Bank by the end of the year - will be top of the agenda. But that of course, comes issues for the UK of how to protect the Bank of England's powers.
Already this morning at parliament in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed the proposal, saying the EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner should be given the power to veto government budgets if countries try to ride roughshod over deficit rules. She also suggested the bloc could set up a new fund to finance projects in struggling countries. 17 of the eurozone states support the idea, but the other ten feel uncomfortable about the fact their banks might face new regulation without them having input.
Greece is the worse hit in the Eurozone and again today there's a national strike. Much of the country's public and private services aren't operating: Shops have been boarded up in central Athens, the police were out in force on the streets around the parliament building and the transport network is most definitely going nowhere. Greece's economic woes and those of Spain will of course be addressed, as well the possibility of tightening up integration of the EU in terms of tax and spending.
Written and Presented byMarverine Cole