The agenda includes Greece, Spain, the banking union, eurozone budgets, and Europe’s youth unemployment.

Talks are expected to focus less on the debt crises in Greece and Spain than previous meetings.

French President Francois Hollande said yesterday that the eurozone crisis was “very close” to an end.

Hollande also said he wants a deal agreed on the first stage plans for a banking union.
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emphasised that Europe needs “quality before speed” when it comes to implementing banking supervision throughout the EU.

Greece, at the centre of the crisis, is also due to hold a general strike today protesting the austerity measures the country has been facing.

It is their 20th national strike in two years.

The country is currently preparing for a €11.5bn austerity package in return for a €31.5bn tranche of aid from the troika of lenders; the IMF, European Commission, and the European Central Bank.

Greece, which is due to run out of money next month, currently has unemployment of 25 percent, more than double the eurozone average.