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. Read more

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. Read more

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. Read more

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. Read more

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. Read more