No agreement on the status of non-eurozone members was reached at ministerial level ahead of the extraordinary EU summit on Monday, diplomats told EurActiv.

...On Tuesday Bulgarian finance minister Simeon Djankov said in Brussels that his country wanted the status of observer to the 'fiscal compact' and that it had the support of Germany.

Diplomats explained that indeed, Berlin was supportive that the non-eurozone countries would have observer status, because even if they wouldn't vote, in many cases they would be supporting the German positions.

According to the draft of the 'fiscal compact' treaty, France has a larger alliance-building capacity than Germany, diplomats said.

...According to diplomats, France could "count on the full South", while Germany was at disadvantage.

 

REUTERS - The European Union and IMF want Greece to push through more budget cuts and implement a series of long-agreed austerity reforms before they agree on a new bailout the country needs to avert bankruptcy, a report obtained by Reuters shows.

All eyes have been on Athens' tortuous debt swap talks with its private creditors in recent weeks. EU economic and monetary affairs chief Olli Rehn injected some optimism on Friday, saying an agreement was "very close" and might be clinched as soon as this weekend.

Occupy London protesters have taken over a former bank in the City, a spokeswoman for the group said today.

The branch of the Iraqi Rafidain Bank on Leadenhall Street has been empty since it went into administration last year.

Anti-capitalist demonstrators now want to use it as the home for their Bank of Ideas, which was based in the UBS building in Hackney until a possession order was enforced yesterday.

The central elections commission said it could not accept Grigory Yavlinsky's candidacy because it found nearly a quarter of the registration signatures were either photocopies or forgeries.

"I am sad to announce that we will not able to register Yavlinsky as a candidate," election commission member Sergei Danilenko said at a special hearing.

Russia requires all presidential hopefuls whose parties did not make it into parliament to gather two million signatures in order to get on the ballot. That number is twice what was required before then-president Vladimir Putin changed the rules in 2004, tightening his grip on power. In 2007 he shortened the time candidates could rally their support from three months to one.

French S&D deputy Kader Arif has resigned as rapporteur of the controversial anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA), saying the process lacked transparency and that the European parliament was denied its say in the negotiations.

Arif said that he wanted to "denounce in the strongest possible manner the process that led to the signature of this agreement", claiming that there was an "exclusion" of the parliament's demands on several occasions.

The French MEP also criticised the lack of inclusion for civil society organisations, and said that he had faced "never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted".

"Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications."

"This agreement may have a major impact on the lives of our citizens, and yet everything is done so that the European parliament has no say," Arif said. "I will not participate in this charade."