Brussels, 09/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the meeting of the eurozone finance ministers on Monday 8 October and of EU27 finance ministers on Tuesday 9 October, the idea of extending Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was discussed, along with the idea of setting up a separate budget for the eurozone. Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said the idea mooted by the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, of the eurozone having its own budget was “interesting,” and could help deal with youth unemployment. His French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici, said this did not in any way contradict the need for an ambitious European budget for the whole of the EU27. On Tuesday evening, Van Rompuy, President of Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and European Parliament President Martin Schulz met up in order to put the finishing touches to their interim report on strengthening EMU, a report to be discussed at the European Summit on 18 and 19 October. (MB/transl.fl)