Plans underway by Angela Merkel’s Chancellory could see the power to deal with struggling banks move from national to European level.

Greece’s international lenders have agreed to give the country two more years to make the cuts demanded of it.

Eurozone leaders have sealed a new bailout for Greece that will fix its immediate financing needs but is unlikely to revive its shattered economy.

Eurozone ministers have told Greece they could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately held debt until it guaranteed reforms.

EU leaders are working to bolster a bailout fund to help prevent contagion in bond markets, amid growing US pressure to staunch the debt crisis.

EU leaders are holding talks to try to hammer out a plan for tackling the eurozone debt crisis, but a breakthrough is not expected until Wednesday.

The world’s leading economies are pressing Europe to act boldly within eight days to resolve the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis.

Greeks raged against a wave of austerity on Wednesday after finance ministers failed to agree how to make private creditors contribute to a bailout.

European nations aim to formally launch the biggest financial bail-out of a country this week and hope it will bring calm to the markets.