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London/New York. The long and winding process of reforming the European Union takes another step on Monday when the region’s leaders gather for their first 2012 summit with investors desperate for a show of unity on tackling the region’s debt crisis.

Agreement is crucial for European debt markets, which are slugging their way through a heavy first quarter of refinancing. Despite the increased liquidity in financial markets, fears remain that the strong start in global asset markets could be put at risk.

Hope is nonetheless rising that EU leaders are moving towards agreement on the key issues of how much money to put into the bailout funds for debt-ridden countries and the shape and enforcement of budgetary reforms, known as the fiscal compact.

“It seems as though a consensus is building,” said Philip Poole, global head of macro and investment strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management.

Although Poole has no illusion that this is going to be agreed at the upcoming leaders meeting, he is hopeful a package of measures could be ready by the next summit in March.

“The fiscal compact, if it’s agreed and if it’s got teeth, should start to give investors a feeling that, if we can get over the current problems, then in the future there’s a mechanism to get over these problems again,” he said.

In the short term the key risks surround Greece and the progress it makes in meeting the conditions required to trigger bailout funds from the EU and International Monetary Fund needed to cover bond redemptions due in March and avoid a messy default.

“For me that aid package is what controls systemic risk,” Mohit Kumar, head of Europe & British rates strategy at Deutsche Bank, said. “What happens in Greece is important for Greek bondholders but what is more important as far as the rest of Europe is concerned is whether there is a systemic risk of contagion or not.”

Otherwise, the huge liquidity injection by the European Central Bank at the end of 2011, the prospect of another big round at the end of February, plus the outlook for a long period of low interest rates and some improving economic data have encouraged optimism among investors.

“The reality is there’s plenty of cash in the system. It’s just not going in the right place,” said Poole.

The MSCI ACWI Index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets is on track to rise by 6 percent in January. Meanwhile, 10-year Italian bond yields, an informal bellwether of euro zone risks, were at 5.85 percent on Friday, well below the 7 percent level seen as unsustainable.

One issue that has emerged to threaten the fragile state of investor confidence is Portugal, where the recent downgrade to junk status by Standard and Poor’s saw it drop out of key investor indexes, triggering debt sales and rising yields.

Portugal’s fortunes are fast on the decline, with a Reuters poll of 50 economists finding that there is a 70 percent chance that it will require a second EU/IMF bailout at some point.

Portugal has already borrowed 78 billion euros ($103 billion) in an EU/IMF deal and began receiving the funds in May but has struggled to meet the terms set out as part of the loan.

It said it only met the first budget gap goal under the pact, of 5.9 percent of GDP in 2011, using a one-off transfer of banks’ pension funds to state coffers.

“The EU/IMF will probably have to agree another aid package in 2013 of about $50 billion,” Deutsche Bank’s Kumar said.

Investor sentiment may be tested this week when Portugal auctions around 1 billion euros of three-month Treasury bills, though these are expected to be taken up by domestic banks.

Elsewhere on the sovereign debt market next week, Italy will auction debt up to 8 billion euros of new 10 year bonds at a time when its yields have been falling back to around 5.9 percent and the auction is expected to go well.

In the US market, with less than halfway into the earnings season and US payrolls data this week and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index near its highest since July, there’s plenty of room for something to go wrong. If that happens, the market could easily give back some of its recent advance.

This week is filled with heavy-hitting data on the housing, manufacturing and employment sectors. Personal income and consumption today will be followed by the S&P/Case-Shiller home prices index, consumer confidence and the Chicago PMI — all on Tuesday.

Another hectic earnings week will kick into gear with almost a fifth of the S&P 500 components posting quarterly results. Exxon Mobil, Amazon, UPS, Pfizer , Kellogg and MasterCard are among the names most likely to grab the headlines.

Reuters