Euro crisis: Germans yearn for their lost Deutschmark

Germans have long felt a nostalgia for their old currency. If you wander through the Christmas markets that thrive at this time of year, you come across stands which still take the Deutschmark. 

You can buy your bratwurst with Germany's old money, which is accepted with a smile and then taken to the bank and exchanged for the true currency of Germany, the euro.

Euro woes give EU's Lisbon Treaty baptism of fire

For many of the EU's citizens, facing job insecurity and public service cuts, the Lisbon Treaty's first birthday this week is hardly cause for celebration.

The treaty's troubled infancy is blighted by deep fissures in the 27-nation EU and a determination already to change the text - however unpalatable that is after eight gruelling years of negotiations.