Lithuania, a country of 3.2 million which joined the EU in 2004, will assume its first presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July. Lithuania considers itself one of the most successful countries to overcome the economic and financial crisis and to return to sustained recovery and growth. It is the first Baltic country to take the EU stint.

The European Commission is poised to publish new payments rules covering ‘interchange’ fees, which are charged on card transactions. These could unfairly hit Visa and MasterCard, leaving rivals American Express and Paypal unfair market advantage, says the president of MasterCard Europe.

The latest meeting of the three leaders of Greece's coalition government over the aftermath of the unprecedented decision to shut down ERT, the country's public broadcaster, will not necessarily lead to elections, although no one could rule this out, writes Yiannis  Roubatis