European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding is leading a growing chorus of opposition to plans for tougher euro zone rules, describing Franco-German plans to reopen the EU Treaties as "irresponsible" ahead of a European summit starting in Brussels today (28 October).

The Irish Times reports that the European Commission has rejected claims from No campaigners that it broke Irish rules on referendum spending after paying €150,000 to insert a guide to the Lisbon Treaty into all Sunday newspapers in Ireland. The €150,000 was paid out of the Commission’s Dublin office’s media budget, and was in addition to a €1.

According to the second paragraph of Article 197 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), Members of the Commission may attend all meetings and shall, at their request, be heard on behalf of the Commission. Under the consolidated Treaty of Lisbon, the first paragraph of Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) would shorten this to: The Commission m...

EU leaders are preparing to extend the European Commission's mandate during a summit in Brussels at the end of the week, so as to accommodate a second Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty in October, EurActiv has learned.

European Voice reports that Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Commission Secretary-General Catherine Day have requested that controversial plans for EU-wide recognition of inheritance claims be put on hold, for fear of negative reactions in Ireland ahead of the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

EU heads of states will have to make difficult choices when they meet in Brussels for a summit on 29-30 October, with uncertainty over when the Lisbon Treaty will come into force having huge consequences for the size of the next European Commission, analysts told EurActiv.

Focus reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has insisted that EU Treaty changes are the only way to achieve the kind of EU budgetary surveillance and discipline measures Berlin is seeking. “We need a stronger oversight mechanism for the stability and growth pact and the European Commission can only make suggestions below treaty change,” said Merkel.

Crisis-hit Hungary will be the first EU country to benefit from a European facility worth up to €12 billion to address the ongoing financial turmoil, the European Commission has announced. Nicolas Sarkozy, French president and current EU chair, will propose to raise the ceiling to €20 billion at an EU summit next week. The money will be raised on the financial markets also via the issue ...

EUobserver reports that the EU Commission is starting to take a clearer position on the EU Constitution as debate on the revival of the treaty starts to emerge. Communication Commissioner Margot Wallstrom said yesterday that "the Commission would not like to depart too much from the Constitutional Treaty", saying that the “core” of the current text should remain the “departure po...

Europe Commission to table proposal for EU-wide €10 per tonne carbon tax European Voice reports that the new European Commissioner for Taxation, Algirdas Šemeta, is planning to propose a minimum rate of tax on carbon across the whole of the EU. The move, which was considered too controversial by the first Barroso commission, would mean that carbon tax is calculated according to the ene...