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Eurozone agrees on bailout plan for Greece

PTI Mar 16, 2010, 12.56pm IST

BERLIN: The sixteen eurozone nations of the European Union on Monday agreed on an emergency plan to rescue heavily indebted Greece from bankruptcy.

The finance ministers of the eurozone nations at a meeting in Brussels expressed their readiness to provide financial assistance for Greece if the Athens government's austerity measures fail to reduce the country's staggering debts of more than 300 billion euros and bring the finances under control.

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junker, the Chairman of the euro group, said after the meeting that the assistance for Greece could be in the form of bilateral credits, but he gave very few details.

However, he ruled out any credit guarantees. Press reports speculated that the rescue package could involve up to 25 billion euros and the EU's largest economies Germany and France will have to shoulder a major part of the burden.

Junker told a news conference that the finance ministers found a way to help Greece without violating the rules, which bar the EU from bailing-out financially troubled and debt-laden member-nations.

A final decision on the rescue plan will be taken by the heads of state and government of the 26-nation European Union when they hold a summit meeting at the end of this month, he said.