EU summit to take only minor steps on debt crisis

Euro zone leaders will take the next cautious steps in their year-long effort to quell the region's debt crisis at a summit on Friday, but the meeting is unlikely to produce a breakthrough.

The top item on the agenda for the 17 heads of state and government is to agree a "competitiveness pact," a deal Germany and France are pushing the rest of the euro zone to adopt to show their commitment to overhauling their economies.

Euro crisis set to return?

While investors are preoccupied with political turmoil in the Middle East and rising oil prices, an old problem festers.

If you were wondering what the next shoe to drop was, well here it is: The European Central Bank's "strong vigilance" against rising inflation will likely result in higher interest rates as soon as next month. I talked about that in my last blog post.

Misunderstanding the euro crisis

When France and Germany laid out a “pact for competitiveness” – visibly designed as a quid pro quo for German assent to more effective solutions to the eurozone debt crisis – they were seen as running roughshod over other nations and over the European Union’s spirit of community and solidarity. On Thursday came the response from the most ardent of European integrationists, in a Financial Times comment article by former Commission presidents Jacques Delors and Romano Prodi, and Belgian ex-prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. Both proposals champion the long-standing wishes of their authors. Neither remotely addresses Europe’s current challenges.

Eurozone to consider closer economic scrutiny

Eurozone countries could get a far greater say in each others' economic policies, according to draft documents seen by the BBC.

They would also have to make "concrete commitments" on economic targets, which would be reviewed every year.

These moves, and a closer co-ordination of fiscal measures, will be discussed later this month at a meeting of eurozone leaders, the papers suggest.

‘Oil prices, euro zone debt crisis downside risks to growth story’

A day after painting prospects of a 9 per cent GDP rate in 2011-12, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee outlined internal and external challenges such as soaring oil prices and high inflation that could pose a threat.

“The challenge before the government and the Reserve Bank of India has been to support the growth process without compromising on price stability,” Mukherjee said at the annual general meeting of industry chamber Ficci on Tuesday. “The task has not been easy, but we are making progress.”