Malta and Cyprus inadvertently made the headlines in Brussels yesterday after European CouncilPresident Herman Van Rompuy mistakenly listed them among countries still to join the eurozone.

Just before the start of the official summit dinner on Thursday night, Mr Van Rompuy, tweeted a message in French stating that “Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Romania, Malta and Cyprus have accepted to join the pact for the euro”, a set of new rules underpinning the EU’s currency.

Mr Van Rompuy’s gaffe was immediately picked up by journalists who highlighted that Malta and Cyprus had been members of the eurozone since January 1, 2008.

Mr Van Rompuy’s attention to the mistake was immediately drawn by EU leaders and 20 minutes later another tweet arrived to the more than 10,000 followers on euHvR, Mr Van Rompuy’s Twitter account: “euHvR (corr) Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia announced that they are joining up to the euro plus pact.”

The EU chief was back on Twitter within minutes posting: “Working dinner just started: discussion on Libya.”

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