In addition to Europe’s contribution to the 85bn-euro Irish rescue package, 14 members of the eurozone are being stuck with an additional bailout-related bill from Dublin. It comes to 963m euros, and it represents Ireland’s remaining share of the 110bn euro Greek bailout agreed in May.

After securing its own bailout on Sunday, Ireland informed its fellow eurozone partners that it would no longer be able to shoulder its 1.3bn euro commitment to Greece. Before running into its own debt problems, Dublin chipped in 346m euros for that cause earlier this year. The result, according to the rules of that agreement, is that the rest of its obligation will now be divided up among the other participating eurozone members.

With all the talk of tumbling eurozone dominos, there is increasing chatter about whether Belgium, one of the founding members of the European Union, might feel the same chill winds as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and others on the “periphery” have felt recently.

At first glance, Belgium looks indeed like a contender for trouble. Its public debt is worth 100 per cent of its GDP, the third highest in the eurozone after Greece and Italy. It has had no government since the last one collapsed in April, and no viable coalitions has yet emerged from the ensuing elections.

Worse, those elections were won in the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) region by a political party which wants to dissolve Belgium – or at least weaken the federal government. Local consensus is that Belgians are more likely to have to go to the polls again than to have a government by Christmas.

More in the background for now, the Belgian financial system was among the most battered during the downturn, and further surprises can’t be fully excluded. Belgian banks emerged as some of the most exposed to Ireland, for example. Small exposures can escalate into big problems for a small-ish country.

Amid all this, the bond markets seem remarkedly relaxed. Belgium pays 3.6 per cent  a year to finance its 10-year bonds, less than 100 basis points more than benchmark German debt. That’s up a bit over the past few days, but roughly in line with recent months, where it has oscillated between 55 basis points and well over 100. Either way, it is nowhere near the premium investors demand to hold “periphery” countries’ debts.

Belgium-backers put up several explanations for this.

First, though its debt may be high, Belgium’s budget deficit is manageable. At under 6 per cent, it is below the eurozone average, and under half the Irish and ever-revised-upward Greek figure.

Second, high debts and political stalemate are nothing new for Belgium. The government and the administration that supports it are well used to working under peculiar political constraints. Belgium’s debt has always run about 20 percentage points higher than the eurozone average, with little trouble. It may be uncomfortable now, but it is not unexpected.

Third, there are fewer surprises in Belgium than in Greece (with its cooked books) and Ireland (spectacular housing bubble, deficient banks and so on). The fundamentals remain OK; Belgium’s economy is growing quite quickly, aided by a proximity to the buoyant Germans.

Fourth, technical factors. Belgium doesn’t need the international debt markets quite as much as the peripheral countries, because its public debt is partly offset by private savings. In short, it can always lean on domestic sources of capital (i.e. pliant banks) rather than be at the mercy of bond markets. It has little need to visit capital markets in the coming months.

Against that, the nay-sayers have a few arguments, even beyond the gridlock and uncertain banking sector.

Even when a government is formed, there is unlikely to be a strong political consensus on how to cut the debt, and perhaps no agreement any cuts are even necessary. Generally-speaking, Francophones in the south see far less need to slash public services than their northern Flemish neighbours. With seven political parties likely to form the next government, markets are unlikely to get the clear political steer that they prefer.

Most unpredictably, a comprehensive rejigging of the Belgian state, some form of which is likely, could unnerve investors. It looks like a lot of powers will be transferred from the federal level down to the regions. Will the debt also be transferred? Will the regional governments be as diligent as the federal government when it comes to meeting obligations? There are no clear answers to these questions yet.

100 basis points over German debt is nothing to scoff at: in the long term, for a debt of Belgium’s size, that means 1 per cent of GDP effectively wasted on repayments.

But at least for now, there is a difference between paying a smallish premium to jittery investors and being the next domino to fall in the eurozone.

Christmas has come early to Brussels’ beleaguered eurocrats, thanks to a ruling from the European Court of Justice. After months of deliberation, the ECJ sided with EU staff in their pay dispute with member states.

Specifically, the court found that Scrooge-like member states overstepped their powers when they sought to cut in half a 3.7 per cent pay raise due thousands of diplomats and staff at the European institutions for 2009.

Civil servant pay is a touchy subject in Brussels, where eurocrats have long had to endure taunts that they are first-class passengers on a champagne-soaked and caviar-laden gravy train. But it has arguably never been so sensitive, given the bleak age of austerity now dawning across Europe.

Brussels has always been sensitive about stories showcasing EU money being spent frivolously, and every year squirms when the European Court of Auditors releases its findings that structural funds are the most problematic bit of the EU budget (even though the situation is improving).

The current budget negotiations for 2011 are stalled, with national leaders led by the UK’s David Cameron reluctant to plough more money into the EU while forcing budget cuts at home, but also harbouring some doubts over the way Brussels then spends the cash.

The EU’s cause won’t be helped by the confirmation on Friday that €720,000 of EU structural funds went to finance an Elton John concert in Naples last year.

The Commission has docked the money from Italy, following an investigation.

It made clear this was no reflection on Sir Elton’s music: apparently the rules are clear that the money earmarked for highways and long-term infrastructure can’t be used to bring over ageing rockers for a gig.

Brussels only has a vague idea of how the €50bn of structural and cohesion funds is spent: the Elton John case only became an issue after a member of the European parliament started using it as an example of where the money goes. (Another revelation is promised in the coming days).

The Commission allows regional and national authorities to sign off on projects worth less than €50m, which is the bulk of the 300,000 projects funded annually. It rarely ever answers questions about individual schemes, usually redirecting enquiries to local officials for explanation.

In this case, the organiser of the event reportedly claimed it would showcase Naples in a way that would boost the area in the long-term – and pointed out that the promotion of tourism is one of those things that EU money can be spent on.

Indeed, the Elton John concern was part of a wider cultural festival that received €2.25m from the EU. The funding for the rest of the event was deemed to be in line with EU funding guidelines, however.

It has not been easy for the last year to find someone in Brussels willing to say something nice about Greece - the country that fiddled with its financial figures for years, forced European leaders to underwrite a hugely unpopular bailout, and whose hairdressers have apparently been retiring (unbeknownst to German autoworkers) at age 50 and with full benefits.

But Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs – who has lost several weekends to emergency discussions over Greece – offered some rare kind words today. Mr Rehn noted that for the first time, Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, was able to certify the government’s books “without any reservations.”

“This is a major achievement, and I want to congratulate the Greek authorities,” the commissioner said.