Factbox: Coming events in the euro zone debt crisis

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gesture as they address a news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, June 17, 2011.

(Reuters) - Following are coming events linked to the debt crisis in the euro zone:

EUROPEAN UNION:

December 7-8 - Congress of centre-right European People's Party, the largest grouping in the European Parliament, to be held in Marseille, France. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be there and incoming Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy, among other party leaders.

December 8 - ECB Governing Council meeting to consider whether to cut interest rates again from 1.25 percent, and whether to take bolder action to stabilize the euro zone bond market.

December 8 - Informal dinner of EU heads of state and government in Brussels, ahead of summit.

December 9 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels. The focus will be on new rules to tighten fiscal integration. [ID:nL5E7MU1XJ]

2012:

January 23 - Eurogroup meeting of euro zone finance ministers.

January 24 - Ecofin meeting of European Union finance ministers.

February 20 - Eurogroup meeting of euro zone finance ministers.

February 21 - Ecofin meeting of European Union finance ministers.

March 1-2 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.

March 12 - Eurogroup meeting of euro zone finance ministers.

March 13 - Ecofin meeting of European Union finance ministers.

May 25 - Summit of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.

GREECE:

POLITICS:

-- Private and public sector unions GSEE and ADEDY, representing about half the cousignalingillionlabororce, went on an austerity strike on December 1. It is the first major labor protest since Greece's new coalition government under Lucas Papademos took over, signaling that labor unions will not soften their stance against EU/IMF-imposed cutbacks.

-- Greece's parliament votes on next year's budget on December 6. The budget, which projects the economy will stay in recession for a fifth year, does not foresee new austerity provided that measures taken so far yield the targeted results.

-- The main goal is to get to a primary budget surplus, with revenues exceeding spending minus debt maintenance costs, so Greece can start digging itself out from under a debt load that exceeds 30,000 euros for every Greek.

-- Greece is awaiting the disbursement of an 8 billion euro tranche under its first 110 billion euro bailout as it faces bond redemptions starting on Dec 19. Eurogroup ministers agreed to release their portion of the aid payment, necessary to help Athens stave off the immediate threat of default. The money is expected to be released by mid-December.

GOVERNMENT DEBT SUPPLY:

-- Greece's debt agency needs to roll over a total of 4.0 billion euros of T-bills in December: 2 billion euros of 6-month paper mature on December 16 and 2 billion in 3-month T-bills mature on December 23.

-- Greece also has 2.7 billion euros of bonds maturing in December: 1.17 billion due on December 19, 980 million on December 22, and 715 million on December 30.

-- December 9 - Debt agency sets amount of 6-month T-bills it will auction on Dec 13.

DATA:

-- December 8 - November Consumer inflation data

-- December 8 - September Unemployment, October Industrial data

ITALY:

-- Prime Minister Mario Monti on December 5 will unveil his government's emergency budget-cutting plans and measures to spur growth in one of the world's most sluggish economies as he strives to restore investor confidence in Italy's ability to reduce its huge debt.

-- On the same day, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco will deliver a speech in Florence about the country's banking system, as the crisis is cutting lenders' access to fresh cash.

-- Monti will meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Milan on December 7, sources said.

-- Monti, a former European commissioner, said that there needed to be a swift clarification of the roles of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the euro zone's bailout fund to resolve escalating debt turmoil. He has pledged to play an active role in forging the political consensus needed to resolve the crisis.

-- After Italian borrowing costs hit a euro lifetime high of almost 8 percent, sources in Washington and Brussels told Reuters that the country was in preliminary discussions with the IMF about financial support. A 400-billion-euro contingency package was being discussed, one source said. Monti denied that the IMF had offered Italy a bailout, and that there were any talks at all.

-- Italian 10-year yields dropped below 7 percent on Thursday, and the spread with the benchmark bund narrowed to less than 500 basis points, giving the country a respite from borrowing costs that are widely considered unsustainable in the long term.

POLITICS:

-- Among the first measures the government may introduce is a property tax that was abolished in 2008, which would probably be combined with an increase in the state's appraisal of real estate values. There could also be a further increase in value added tax (VAT), which was already raised to 21 percent from 20 percent earlier this year. Some of the revenue from the tax increases probably will be used to lower labor costs.

-- Italy will implement and strengthen austerity measures promised by the previous government, Labor Minister Elsa Fornero said Thursday. She also pledged to make an "incisive" and fair overhaul of the pension system.

DEBT ISSUES:

December 6 - Treasury to announce the amount of short-term bills to be auctioned on December 12, and to detail the maturities of medium- and long-term bonds to be auctioned on December 14.

December 9 - Treasury to announce the amount of medium- and long-term bonds to be auctioned on December 14.

GERMANY:

POLITICS:

-- December 4-6 - BERLIN - German opposition party Social Democrats (SPD) holds annual party conference.

-- December 8 - FRANKFURT- ECB Governing Council meeting, followed by interest rate announcement and news conference.

DEBT:

-- December 5 - Six-month Bubill

-- December 7 - Bobl top-up.

-- December 14 - Schatz top up.

SPAIN:

-- Popular Party (PP) leader Mariano Rajoy is due to formally take office between December 16-20 as the country's next Prime Minister after winning a parliamentary election with an absolute majority on November 20.

REFORM:

-- Labor market and financial sector reforms are expected to be high on the agenda after Rajoy is sworn in. Rajoy has told business leaders and labor unions to negotiate basic labor reform changes by January 6.

-- Spanish banks would need to raise 26 billion euros of capital by the end of June to shore up their balance sheets, EU politicians said at the end of October.

DATA RELEASES

December 2 - Nov jobless figures from Labor Ministry.

December 5 - Oct industrial production.

December 14 - Nov final inflation data.

December 14 - ECB lending to Spanish banks from Bank of Spain

DEBT ISSUES:

December 13 - 12-, 18-month T-bills.

December 20 - 3-, 6-month T-bills.

IRELAND:

-- Ireland, as of October 2011, had drawn down just over 40 percent of the 67.5 billion euros in loans it is taking from the EU and the IMF as part of its 85 billion euro bailout package. It has received 8.9 billion euros from the IMF and 18.1 billion from Europe's bailout funds.

-- Officials from the ECB, European Commission and IMF completed the latest quarterly review of Ireland's bailout on October 20 and said Dublin was meeting all its targets.

-- Dublin has recapitalized the country's four remaining lenders to meet its target under the EU/IMF bailout. It has poured nearly 17 billion euros of state funds into its four remaining lenders, bringing the total amount of capital provided by the government to nearly 63 billion euros.

GOALS TO BE MET UNDER EU/IMF PACKAGE:

December 6 - The government will propose a budget for 2012 with a budget adjustment of 3.8 billion euros.

End Q4 2011 - The Irish authorities will implement the strategy to underpin the solvency and viability of the credit union sectors.

End Q4 2011 - The government will propose a draft program for the disposal of state assets and discuss it with EU/IMF.

DATA DUE FOR RELEASE:

December 2 - Exchequer data for November.

December 6 - 2012 budget.

December 8 - Consumer price index for November

PORTUGAL:

-- Portugal, bailed out to the tune of 78 billion euros, has admitted its accounts fell short of expectations in the first half of the year but said it would meet this year's target agreed with its lenders using extraordinary, one-off measures.

-- The troika of lenders said on November 16 it was satisfied with Portugal's performance under the bailout, but told it to avoid relying on one-off measures in the future and to deliver on structural reforms.

-- Portugal's economy is expected to contract sharply this year and next, only returning to growth in 2013 as the government enacts tough spending cuts and across-the-board tax hikes.

POLITICS:

December 2 - Bank of Portugal Governor Carlos Costa is in budget commission parliament hearings.

December16 - Prime Minister Passos Coelho takes part in parliament debate.

GOVERNMENT DEBT SUPPLY:

December 7 - IGCP debt agency auctions between 750 million and 1.25 billion euros in 3-month T-bills.

December 21 - IGCP debt agency auction 750 million to 1.5 billion euros in three-month T-bills.

Source: Reuters bureaux

(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)