EU leaders embrace 'fiscal compact' demanded by central bank

European Union leaders have endorsed a series of rules tightening budget surveillance and institutionalising limits on public spending - the 'fiscal compact' that the European Central Bank (ECB) has demanded before it can more aggressively purchase Italian and Spanish debt.

"We agreed today on a new 'fiscal compact' and on significantly stronger coordination of economic policies in areas of common interest," reads a statement by the premiers and presidents of countries that use the euro...