European leaders are not expected to decide on the scale of the permanent euro zone bail-out fund at this week's summit, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said today. "This will be considered throughout March," he said.
Germany, which has said it could pay half of its contribution to the new European Stability Mechansim (ESM) this year, is urging other countries to also pay as much as possible as quickly as possible into the fund, Schauble added.
Euro zone leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso has said that he agrees with the Taoiseach Enda Kenny that ratifying the fiscal compact treaty will help Ireland rebuild its economy.
But he said it was up to each of the 25 member states how they ratified the treaty. The UK and Czech Republic are not involved in the compact.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Mr Barroso said he would make no comment on any suggestion that the referendum offered Ireland a chance to secure concessions on the cost of its bail-out of the Irish banking sector.
Greek PM rejects call for special EU Greece envoy
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos today rejected a call for a special EU commissioner to be appointed to run his country's promised reforms in exchange for bailout aid.
"The new economic programme for Greece will be implemented by the Greek government and the Greek authorities," Papademos told a news conference after talks with the head of the European Commission.
"In doing that, we welcome the support by the European Commission, the commissioners themselves and the Commission's services - and I think this is sufficient," he said.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier who heads the Eurogroup of finance ministers, told European newspapers that a special post should be created to oversee the "reconstruction" of the Greek economy.
This was only the latest echo of a loss of trust in Greece's capacity to deliver on its commitments, cited especially by German, Dutch and Finnish backers. The latter two have already passed the €237 billion second bail-out greenlighted last week.
Papademos said "ownership" of the programme ultimately lay with the Greek people, who are to vote in a general election probably in April.
The talks with EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso were about re-directing some €7.7 billion in normal EU budget funds promised to Greece by 2013.
Papademos said there was an "urgent need" to use some of this money as a complement to the bailout "to address the social consequences" of tough decisions taken in Athens.
