The European Commission yesterday (30 June) presented its latest proposal to strengthen the Stability and Growth Pact after the Greek crisis had exposed the weaknesses of the EU's budgetary surveillance system, proposing to cut EU farm payouts for countries found to breach the rules.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday (21 June) called for no holds barred reform of the EU's fiscal and macro-economic policy, with deeper and more detailed surveillance of economies that are out of step with the EU's debt targets.