The New Flemish Alliance, which made the break-up of Belgium a central manifesto pledge at the election, said it had "fundamental remarks" to make about the proposal before continuing negotiations.

BBC: Belgian mediator resigns over government deadlock

Overseas, Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the European Central Bank, said he welcomed the pledge of European leaders to publish the results of their stress tests on banks and indicated that the need to buy troubled government bonds in order to calm markets appears to be diminishing.

FORBES

Mario Draghi will stand up this afternoon to explain how the European Central Bank's governing council has decided to back up his pledge to "do whatever it takes, within our mandate" to hold the single currency together.

BBC: Waiting for Draghi

Exactly as the Fed unleashed QE3, WTI peaked, and has since tumbled more than 12%, dropping 4.2% on Wednesday despite the pledge of unlimited liquidity from Bernanke, the ECB, and other major global central banks.

FORBES: Why Oil Has Fallen Dramatically Since QE3 And Why It Could Drop To $82

The Liberal Democrats, whose manifesto includes a pledge to scrap tuition fees, are fighting hard to capture the seat of Cardiff Central from Labour which contains most of the student accommodation in the city.

BBC: Kennedy's '100% backing' for German

Mr. Draghi also restated his pledge to preserve the integrity of the currency area, while saying there was no need for the central bank to unwind its accommodative monetary-policy stance.

WSJ: European Stocks Post Ninth Monthly Gain

The latest announcement, made by Mr Clegg during a speech in central London, comes shortly after the coalition was criticised by green groups for failing to live up to the pledge of being the "greenest government ever".

BBC: Clegg: UK green bank 'to begin investing in April 2012'