European leaders will endorse, over lunch on Friday 14 December, the modest progress made towards deepening Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as a result of the Eurogroup's work.
They will act on the reform of the European stability mechanism (ESM), the permanent rescue fund for the eurozone. This will allow the ESM to intervene more to prevent a crisis. When the reduction of financial risks has been deemed sufficient, it will also become the lender of last resort ('backstop') of the...