The paper clip, 5 July

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on last night's meeting between Angela Merkel and Mario Monti, Germany's chancellor and Italy's prime minister, in Rome. The two leaders followed up on last week's European Council and talked of the need for Italy to continue its structural reforms. Monti and Merkel have said that they will work together to tackle the eurozone crisis, writes the Wall Street Journal.

Süddeutsche Zeitung, in a comment piece, says that Merkel has been “cut down to size” and no longer has a “natural leadership role in Europe”. But the writer says that this is not necessarily a bad thing because it will help the southern eurozone to recover.

Kathimerini reports that there might be a special meeting of eurozone finance ministers later this month to discuss whether to ease the conditions of Greece's bail-out.

Financial Times Deutschland reports that Standard and Poor's, the credit rating agency, believes that there will be a “happy ending” to the eurozone crisis. But only, the paper says, “if governments implement the summit resolutions correctly”.

The European Central Bank is today expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75 per cent, the Irish Times writes.

Der Standard asks Austrian parliamentarians about the European Stability Mechanism, whose ratification is about to begin in parliament, and finds widespread ignorance about its specifics.

Victor Ponta, Romania's prime minister, is seeking to remove President Traian Basescu through an impeachment procedure in parliament, writes Adevarul, which live-blogged Basescu's statement to parliament this morning.

Austria's centre-right Die Presse writes in a commentary that Ponta is seeking to cement the Socialists' hold on power by sacking officials and now seeking to depose the president.

Barclays bank could be downgraded as a result of the rate-fixing scandal that has rocked the lender in recent days, the Daily Telegraph writes. Moody's, a credit-ratings agency, has put the bank on negative watch.

Rodrigo Rato, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, is to face trial for alleged fraud in connection with the collapse of Spanish lender Bankia, the Daily Telegraph writes.

Le Monde reports on Francois Hollande's focus on nuclear deterrence.  

Hollande is planning a “tax grab” on holiday homes, the Daily Telegraph writes. The paper says this is bad news for the approximately 200,000 Brits who have holiday homes in France.

Anger is rising in the leadership of Serbia's Democratic Party about the alleged cost of Vuk Jeremic, Serbia's outgoing foreign minister, chairing the UN's General Assembly, writes Blic. Jeremic's presidency, which starts later this year, could cost the government several million euros, according to Serbian media.

Le Figaro reports that France's budget minister has said that the government does not plan to subject computers to the country's TV license fee, despite suggestions to that effect by the culture minister.
     
Liberation reports that French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has promised that petrol prices will not rise above inflation, despite calls for a rate increase from oil companies.