European leaders agree on bailout plan to help Italy and Spain

BRUSSELS — After tough all-night bargaining, European leaders appeared to salvage what had seemed to be a summit teetering toward failure by agreeing early Friday to use the continent’s bailout fund to funnel money directly to struggling banks, and in the longer term to the idea of a tighter union.

In spite of all the headlines and chatter the real winner in the latest of 19 EU summits was none other than German Chancellor Angela Merkel. First lets take a look at numerous headlines that got the story wrong. Merkel Big Loser

In the wake of Papandreou's Call for Voter Referendum on EU Debt Deal sovereign debt yields plunged in Germany and surged higher in most other European countries, but most notably Italy and France.

On Thursday the European leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss for a second time the frame budget for 2014 - 2020, which will cover near €1,000 billion in spending, reported Financial Times. The summit was organized after ministers could not reach a deal in November.