German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged her country's continuing support to Greece.

During her first visit there since the eurozone crisis erupted nearly three years ago, she said it had made good progress with its vast debt but that it was on a "difficult path".

Thousands of Greeks who blame Germany for forcing painful austerity measures on them have protested in Athens.

Police used teargas and stun grenades against some of the demonstrators.

Just over two weeks ago, I heard and wrote about the case of Liam Barker. Eighteen years old, paralysed since birth, he breathes through a ventilator.

His parents had just received a letter informing them that in order to receive Employment Support Allowance, he might have to prove he is unable to work by attending a Work Capability Assessment.

Just over two weeks ago, I first started wondering how many more Liam Barkers there would be.

I am sad to say that on Thursday, I heard of a case very similar to that of Liam Barker.

David Cameron has given his strongest hint yet that he will offer the British public referendum on the UK's relationship with the European Union.

The Prime Minister gave ground to Tory Eurosceptics, who reacted angrily to his previous suggestion that Britain's position could be decided either at a general election or in a referendum. The sceptics rejected the election option, saying other issues would muddy the waters.

Today Mr Cameron said a separate referendum would be the "cleanest, neatest and simplest way" to give people a say on Europe. Aides said it would almost certainly be held after the 2015 election, when the shape of the fiscal union being forged by eurozone countries would be much clearer.

A deal has been reached between the UK and Scottish governments over the rules for the independence referendum.

The ballot paper is expected to have a single yes/no question on whether Scotland should leave the United Kingdom.

It is also understood the agreed plan will extend the vote to include those aged over 16.

It paves the way for a meeting between David Cameron and Alex Salmond expected to take place on Monday in Edinburgh.

The entire council of the city of Reggio Calabria in southern Italy has been sacked to stop it from being taken over by the mafia, officials say.

The move came after some councillors were suspected of having ties to the powerful 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

Officials said it was the first time that the entire government of a provincial capital had been dismissed over suspected mafia links.

Three commissioners will run the city for 18 months until elections.

An estimated 20,000 farmers have demonstrated in Dublin amid concerns about future EU and government funding.

Many streets around Leinster House and Government Buildings were closed as the farmers marched through the city to Kildare Street.

Irish Farmers' Association President John Bryan said the turnout sent a clear message to Europe and the government that farming matters.

Their main concern is the reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

Global financial stability report warns of large-scale capital flight with the potential to trigger a credit crunch and an ensuing recession; IMF predicts further bank asset shrinkage of between $2.8 trillion to $4.5 trillion by end-2013; José Viñals says it is of utmost necessity that the eurozone achieves banking and fiscal union; it says the function of a banking union must be to break the pernicious link between banks and their sovereign; says a banking union requires a fiscal union to be credible in the form of a resolution fund and deposit insurance; Peter Orszag warns Europeans not to underestimate the hysteresis effect that results from the austerity policies;  Luis de Guindoes said the IMF forecasts for Spain are too pessimistic; Vittorio Grilli presents the 2013 budget law, which includes further savings to achieve the budgetary target; there will be new cuts to the health budgets, and a non-renewal of temporary contracts of public workers; Angela Merkel's visit to Athen was no PR disaster after all; the Wall Street Journal says the purpose of her visit is to stabilise the Samaras government and to defend herself against attacks from Peter Steinbruck; says no one in Merkel's surrounding is under any illusion about her perception by ordinary Greeks; Kathimerini reports that Merkel assured Samaras that he will get the next round of money as long as he keeps on going with the reforms; the Greek finance ministers says that talks about an extension of the Greek programme are finally on the table; the French parliament passes the fiscal pact with a wide margin - Hollande managed to secure a small majority of leftist MPs, not having to rely on opposition vote; Portugal replaces tax measures with spending cuts in 2013 budget; a former German government advisor says Germany is using bailouts to rescue its own banks; Ecofin reaches agreement on financial transaction tax on the basis of  enhanced coordination; Finland has yet to decide whether it wants to take part in this programme; Suddeutsche Zeitung wonders how this tax could conceivably stop the next financial crisis; Silvio Berlusconi, meanwhile, reiterates his support for Mario Monti, but nobody believes him.

He said that the introduction of the euro laid the foundation for the crisis in Europe, but that going back now would be even a greater catastrophe. He said that Croatia should be in no hurry to join the eurozone.

...

He compared Croatia to Spain in terms of the poor flexibility of foreign exchange rates and the balance of payments deficit.

The governments of small countries, such as Croatia, do not have much room for manoeuvre. The government should accept demands of outside players, but need not do more than necessary. The Croatian government cannot say no to demands from the European Union, but should adapt, Krugman concluded.

Hollande got his governmental majority : 282 votes from the left, which is a majority of votes expressed (274 required), but not an absolute majority of the Assembly (which would be 289).

Traité budgétaire : Hollande se félicite que la gauche se soit "réunie" pour le vote

Groupe SRC (PS...) : pour, 264 ; contre, 20 ; abstention, 9.
Groupe EELV (écologistes) : pour, 3 ; contre, 12 ; abstention, 2.
Groupe RRDP (radicaux de gauche) : pour, 14 ; abstention, 2.
Groupe GDR (Front de gauche...) : pour, 1 ; contre, 13 ; abstention, 1.

Groupe UMP : pour, 167 ; contre, 17 ; abstention, 6.
Groupe UDI (centre) : pour, 28 ; contre, 1 ; abstention, 1.

Non inscrits (FN, Dupont-Aignan...) : contre, 7.

It is very important that Croatia should pay particular attention to completing its preparations in time so that that is reflected in the final monitoring report which the Commission will present in the spring of 2013, Fuele told the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee after the Commission adopted a so-called enlargement package.

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Those are: sign the privatisation contract for Brodosplit and take the necessary decisions to find a viable solution for the shipyards 3. Maj and Brodotrogir in order to complete the restructuring of the Croatian shipbuilding industry; implement short-term measures elaborated in September 2012 for increasing the efficiency of the judiciary and reducing the court backlog; adopt the new enforcement legislation in order to ensure the execution of court decisions and reduce the backlog of enforcement cases; establish the Conflict of Interest Commission so that it starts its regular working activities; adopt the new law on access to information in order to strengthen the legal and administrative framework in the area of access to information; complete the adoption of related by-laws to ensure the implementation of the police law; complete the construction of border crossing points at the Neum corridor; achieve the established recruitment target for border police for 2012; finalise and adopt the migration strategy clearly defining measures for the integration of the most vulnerable groups of migrants; and increase the capacity to translate and review the acquis such that this task can be completed in time for accession.