08.22 Today, the French constitutional court is meeting to decide if adopting the European fiscal pact requires an amendment to France's constitution. It is thought that the court could deliver its verdict late in the evening today or early tomorrow. Earlier this week, jurists told Reuters that the verdict was too close to call.
Signed in March, the fiscal pact must be ratified by 12 of the 17 eurozone nations before it can come into force in January.
Francois Hollande, the French president, wants to avoid writing a fiscal rule into the constitution and instead hopes to pass a powerful form of law through parliament that will hold ministers to the EU budget targets.
If the Council, France's highest constitutional body and made up of a mixture of career jurists and former politicians, rules against him and decides the pact requires a constitutional amendment, that could delay ratification by several weeks.
08.17 In a quick recap of other news yesterday, Otmar Issing, one of the founding fathers of the euro and a former European Central Bank chief economist, has said that some states may be forced out of the eurozone in the long term, but Germany would be better off staying in.
In his book How We Save The Euro And Strengthen Europe, which was published this week and is written as a dialogue between the German economist and a journalist, Issing said a euro collapse would have severe consequences.
Everything speaks in favour of saving the euro area. How many countries will be able to be part of it in the long term remains to be see.
08.02 The big news yesterday came from the Bank of England: Mervyn King urged us to have "patience" as the economic recovery will take some time yet, and cut the growth forecast for the year to 0pc - stagnation. Meanwhile, Fitch affirmed Germany at AAA, outlook stable.
08.00 Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the European debt crisis.
