At a press conference on 12 November, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso said that Iceland would have to reach an agreement to resolve the Icesave dispute before it could expect any help from the European Union. Icelandic foreign minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir commented "We are isolated when all 27 EU member states agree that we have to reach an accord on Icesave." Talks began almost immediately in Brussels with the mediation of France, which held the rotating Presidency of the European Council. An outline agreement was reached on 16 November, with the Icelandic government accepting to guarantee the liabilities of the "Tryggingarsjóður". In the event of bankruptcy of any Icelandic bank, the Icelandic guarantee scheme was responsible to repay the first €20,887 of savings held by private foreign individuals, with the foreign guarantee scheme's in other nations responsible to pay the remaining guarantee according to their rules; meaning that the Dutch and British state would pay for the remaining amount up to its guarantee of respectively a maximum of €100,000 in Netherlands and £50,000 (approx. €60,000) in UK.