later, the european council president praised the eu's longstanding relationship with china. that was something that brought a smile to wen jiabao's face. >> china confirmed its commitment to buy bonds from the eurozone. nevertheless, conditions on countries remain unclear. >> our correspondent has been following the summit for us. >> we ask about the agenda focusing on trade and commerce suddenly being overshadowed by beijing's frank comments. >> it has been a strange day. as you said, it started off with backslapping over the growth of the china-eu trade arrangement over the last 10 years. bilateral trade levels have quadrupled. there was praise from the e use side for china and praise from china for the east side, but then, as has already been made clear, suddenly, the chinese decided to get a bit negative and the live transmission was turned off. diplomatically, the eu said he was getting into the substance of the negotiation, but it was the chinese who insisted on that happening. there is a sense that the summit has been sort of run by the chinese. there was not even a f

would have no no chance to destroy this coming concert because the common european council is not only about monetary policy is not only about you cannot impose it it's part of a larger political. project it's the trials of our generation to prove as far as oh isn't it also. that we have something to tell the world we want you we would not really exist in the next coming. decades reviewable just a reason why we have to. do you we have a say in the works. russia russia started after martin so so after so many times by being dollar already and economy but more and more year after year the russia is becoming more and more integrated into european processes including the economic process so how much do you think today russian economy is dependent on the i would say that the russian economy is dependent on the you i would like to say that if you. were to collapse or washoe would be one of the first victims before the end you call it independence. and you say it's not dependent that it will suffer it's dependent as all these things intimidate the related and thus wash has a huge part of its.

and a nanny from the european council on foreign relations explains why the chinese are in no hurry to lend a hand to billion debate in europe is that the chinese would invest in some of the new vehicles that have been crazy like the european stability mechanism. the chinese. offering lots of words of support today and yesterday but not much in the way of concrete promises to buy bonds in any case the chinese don't tend to make their own purchases public so we don't know for example how much the chinese invested in european bones in the last two years since the euro crisis began anyway and we probably won't know so there's a lot of there's a lot of uncertainty about in the case of a boss obviously this is a european company and so it would benefit not just germany but also france and other countries in europe but lots of the deals that have been signed. off for german companies are open to european companies and so in that sense there is a competition going on between germany and other european countries germany seems to be winning that competition. now let's take a look at some other

the european council, european finance council, has to be on the same board and work in the same direction. >> i guess next stop is october the 8th when the esm will be formally set up and we see how fast they can deliver and what happens indeed to the reform process in the countries in question. thank you so much for joining us here today. that's it from us. back to you. >> more from her later in the show. meanwhile the financial times suggests the spanish finance minister is now locked in talks over a bailout. stefane has more from madrid. so what's all the rumor mill? >> the talks are on the structure reforms rather than the additional tax increase or spending cuts. for instance, according to roiter, one of the reforms would be focused on the pension system. the government would accelerate the transition from 65 to 67. the process was supposed to take 15 years. it will take less than that. the other points on which the government is now ready to negotiate is to freeze the pensions, the government would down have the annual link which would save approximately 4 billion euros per year acc

they had a european council at that time and they made the commitments. it was a rather short communique for those who ride communicate a feature not those -- communique afficionados. a new entity will supervise european banks and the ability for the stability mechanism to capitalize without going through .he sovereigns coul we have also called consistently for the other needed actions were recorded action is needed on the part of the european players. implementation of the european fire wall, that was finally decided on march 29 -- march 30, as i recall. it has taken all the time to make sure that it is in place and it is not yet in place. it will have its effective first board meeting on october 8, which is in the meantime various judicial recourse as have taken place and had to be cleared before ratification could happen. we have also suggested and are participants in recommending plans for its fiscal union. again, that is happening for the afficionados of directives. it is a two-part directive and implementation of those interesting little construction

. >> italy has been one of the most determined proponents at the european council of the need for the eurozone to have appropriate glove nance instrume glove nance instruments including to copy with situations like this. we're happy they went down this road. from that to say that italy because it has been a proceed poe then the will make use of the instrument, there is a lot of difference. im i think what italy is doing in terms of policies and structure reforms should be enough to assure the markets. >> i want to talk about short term and long term. you've been very effective in terms of stabilizing the markets and labor reform, making the labor markets more flexible, certainly raising revenue, cutting some programs and raising some taxes. but now the italian people want to know what's next. talk to us about your priorities for 2014 and really how much longer the italian people will have to face these austerity programs. >> the austerity part of the program i'm confident will gradually subside. because a concentrated need of deficit reduction was needed and once italy next year reach

they have the european council at that time and they made the commitment.it was a rather short for those of you who are aficionados, but they have to deliver on that. and in particular, you will remember that there was only between the european supervisors, the new entity that will supervise european banks and the ability for the european stability mechanism to recapitalize directly without going through the sovereign and that is a trick about cutting the link on this vicious cecal between the sovereign and the banks. .. fiscal adjustments needed for us to get back. equally, it may be tailored to the needs of individual countries. and to ensure a fair burden. at the same time from the international community must recognize the huge efforts being made by these countries and provide them with the support they need, including financing. we favorably consider that this be done in a timely unfixable manner in order to ensure success. the last thing we want is for programs to be off-track. so how do we do that? well, we slow the pace of physical adjustments. it i

the same time, i will inform the debate to be prepared by the report that the president of the european council, a self, and the european central bank is asked to present. our blueprint will identify the crucial instruments and present options for legal drafting that will give effect to them from policy coordination to fiscal capacity to that reduction and, when necessary, as in the case of several guarantees for public debt, it will identify the changes necessary because some of these changes require a treaty. it represents a blueprint for what we need to accomplish not only in the next few weeks and months, but in the next years. mr. president, hon. members, ultimately the credibility of the economic and monetary union, the credibility of our currency depends on the institutions and the political construct behind it. this is why the economic and monetary union raises the question of a political union and the european democracy between it. if we want it to succeed, we need to combine improper sequencing and take concrete steps now to treat the political union as the horizon. i would like to se

adinolfi: all of the countries that joined the european community were, first of all, members of the councilso it can be considered as a sort of antechamber for the european union. narrator: today strasbourg is also home to the european union's legislative branch-- the european parliament. but the capital of the european union is, in a sense, split with major administrative centers in brussels and luxembourg city, as well as strasbourg. murphy: there's a little bit of a struggle about where the future of this will go. there's an enormous expense right now associated with running back and forth between brussels and strasbourg. indeed, many of the parliamentary committees meet in brussels. then they have to get on a train with their tons of documents and get on over to strasbourg for their formal parliamentary meetings. so it's an issue before europe of how much this is worth. but, of course, there are political and cultural interests vested in this. ( speaking french ) translator: strasbourg is on the border between germany and france, and for centuries, the city has been caught in the middle

of course, this thursday's meeting of the council of the european central bank again was the major discussion topic on the trading floor. the speculation of what mario draghi, the ecb president, might have to say pushed a little bit in the background corporate news and economic data. >> we say in frankfurt for a closer look at wednesday's numbers. the dax finished up by more than 0.4%. you're a -- euro stoxx 50 also looking pretty good. the dow at this hour unchanged. the euro trading at a value of $1.2595. >> that is it for now. we will be back just after the break. do not go away because we have a story about 10 somali pirates who are being tried at a court in hamburg. >> do not go away. >> welcome back. 10 somali pirates are being tried in court in hamburg in northern germany. >> in 2010, they allegedly took over a german vessel in waters off the coast of somalia before being overpowered by a european naval patrol. >> as the trial nears its 100th day, we look at how the german legal system is dealing with its first pirate case in a very long time. dan hamburg pose a criminal court has seen

council for not being forthcoming. remember that there was the war in iraq. there was a strong push on the part of the europeans, especially britain, germany, and france not to go to the security council because they saw iran going the way of iraq. going to the security council would be a mandate for war. their was a lot of jockeying going on. it was a very strange situation. countries like france had been at odds with the united states over iraq and did not want to be at odds with the u.s. over iran, but wanted to stop the united states from doing what it did to iraq. we had a dramatic event where the foreign ministers of france, britain, germany, in october, 2003, flew into tehran and struck an agreement where iran would embark on uranium enrichment. it is the ultimate in dual use technology. it had the united states stepping back and britain, germany, and france became known as the eu3. they were running the diplomacy. in november of 2004, iran went along with this saying they would also be a part of uranium enrichment. but he doesn't buy, eu3 was submitting a proposal to iran promising help for its program.

european governments. >> it is against this background that the governing council today decided on the modalities for undertaking out right transactions. in secondary markets for a sovereign bonds. >> draghi said governments wanting the ecb to buy their bonds will have to adhere to strict conditions. the program is aimed at lowering borrowing costs pushed up by market uncertainty. >> we will have a fully effective backstop to avoid destructive scenarios with potentially severe challenges for price stability in the euro area. >> draghi added that there was one dissenting vote on the ecb board. it is widely believed to have been from germany, which has been opposed to ecb intervention. >> more analysis now from the german institute of economic research. you have seen the press conference. what do you make of the developments? >> i think we have seen a decisive break in european monetary policy. >> a good or bad thing? >> in general, i think it is a bad thing because the ecb should decide in terms of price stability based on the data for the whole euro area. now, what we have this redistribution among countries, an

council for not being forthcoming. remember that there was the war in iraq. there was a strong push on the part of the europeans, especially britain, germany, and france not to go to the security council because they saw iran going the way of iraq. going to the security council would be a mandate for war. countries like france had been at odds with the united states over iraq and did not want to be at odds with the u.s. over iran, but wanted to stop the united states from doing what it did to iraq. we had a dramatic event where the foreign ministers of germany, in october, 2003, struck an agreement where iran would embark on uranium enrichment. it is the ultimate in dual use technology. it had the united states stepping back and britain, germany, and france became known as the eu3. in november of 2004, iran went along with this saying they would also be a part of uranium enrichment. but he doesn't buy, eu3 was submitting a proposal to iran promising help for its program. this is where you get another big in theme. the eu3 was unable to do anything because the and the states was not there. they looked over the e

yes and european countries imposing reduces the credibility first and foremost of the security counciland also can escalate humanitarian crisis further foreign minister lavrov said that at this point it is a very important time he believes for international relations to come together and the credibility to not be compromised even further by their by there being many divisions within the u.n. security council on a variety of issues meanwhile syrian activists report more casualties on the rebels claims of advances on several fronts in the city of aleppo have seen no breakthrough on friday the u.s. defense secretary reported syria had moved some of its chemical weapons for security reasons but the country's main stockpile remains intact and under government control president obama said the threat of chemical weapons could be a red line for the u.s. to act in syria this is washington pledged additional multi-billion dollar aid to the syrian opposition to help fight against political analysts jacob says u.s. intentions in the region are driving syria further from a peaceful solution. well i

and european countries imposing reduces the credibility first and foremost of the security council andlso can escalate humanitarian crisis for the foreign minister lavrov said that at this point it is the very time you believe for international relations to come together and the credibility to not be compromised even further by their by their being many divisions within the u.n. security council on a variety of issues. and inside syria rebel he's a lot of fresh offensives in the crucial battle for the second city of aleppo in what is being called an unprecedented a sold dozens of reportedly being killed in the past twenty four hours with heavy weapons allegedly used by both sides it all comes as the u.s. sends more support worth forty five million dollars to the syrian opposition political analyst to jacob pawnbrokers says washington's determined to replace assad with a proxy at any cost. well it's a standard policy of the u.s. government it is it is designed to oust rulers of regimes that are independent of what might be called the us military empire and replace them with pro-u.s. rul

and european countries imposing reduces the credibility first and foremost of the security council andalso can escalate humanitarian crisis further foreign minister lavrov said that at this point it is a very important time he believes for international relations to come together and the credibility to not be compromised even further by their by their being many divisions within the u.n. in the security council on a variety of issues. inside syria travel and government forces have launched fresh offensives in the crucial for a second city of aleppo in what's being called an unprecedented assault dozens have reportedly been killed in the past twenty four hours with heavy weapons allegedly use five sides this comes as the u.s. sends more support worth forty five million dollars to the syrian opposition let's get some reaction now from in the kind of political analyst dan glazebrook down thank you so much for joining r.t. today now russia has reiterated calls for what it calls a balanced solution to the syrian conflict why aren't more countries supporting moscow's proposals. that's a good

council this thursday. but with every minute, the potential for disappointment is rising. when question is what if the european central bank will not manage to come up with a consistent plan which it not only will talk about but buying but sustainable solutions for the eurozone. one thing cannot be denied -- crisis has arrived in the german economy. if officials from the german electronic sector and technology sector lower their forecast for 2012. >> we can stay for a closer look on tuesday's number -- finishing at 6932. across the atlantic, in the u.s., the dow jones trading pretty flat at this hour. the euro trading a bit lower. >> some travel chaos today as lufthansa employees expanded their strike action leaving thousands of passengers stranded due to delays and cancellations. the cabin crew is calling for better pay and working conditions. >> 3 @ germany's biggest airports were affected. was the second walkout in a week. the union says of list of the management continues to ignore their demands company will ratchet up pressure further with a nationwide 24-hour strike. >> cabin crew were on picket duty out