Euro zone leaders are likely to achieve positive results at a weekend gathering on the debt crisis, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said today.
The finance ministers' meeting in Copenhagen on Friday is expected to mainly focus on whether to increase the size of a permanent bail-out fund from a planned €500 billion.
"I'm confident that we will reach a positive outcome," Van Rompuy told a news conference after talks with South Korea's President Lee Myung-Bak.
The International Monetary Fund has been pushing for an increase to as much as one trillion euros before it agrees to strengthen its own resources against a crisis.
Adding to optimism ahead of the meeting are comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who indicated she was prepared to allow a boost in the firewall, in an apparent shift of position amid fierce international pressure.
Van Rompuy described a treaty signed earlier this month to control EU budgets as "a turning point in the crisis".
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso also told the news conference he was "absolutely sure" the embattled European Union would emerge from the debt crisis stronger than before.
Monti blames Germany, France for euro debt crisis
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti today said the root of Europe's debt woes lay partly in the irresponsible parenting of Germany and France during the bloc's infancy.
Monti told reporters in Tokyo that because the euro zone's two largest players had not abided by fiscal rules, they had set a bad example for the rest of the continent.
"The story goes back to 2003 (and) the still almost infant life of the euro," Monti said. "It was in fact Germany and France that were loose concerning the public deficits and debts," he said.
The widely-respected technocrat, who replaced billionaire media magnate Silvio Berlusconi in November as head of the euro zone's third largest economy, said the flouting of rules allowing for an annual budget deficit of no more than 3% of GDP was the issue.
He said despite recommendations, a meeting of ministers from European Union governments had decided not to punish France and Germany for going beyond the deficit limit.
"So the two largest countries in the euro zone had the (deficit) with complicity of Italy, which was then chairing under the rotation system the council of prime ministers of European Union. Of course if the father and mother of the euro zone are violating the rules, you could not expect countries such as Greece to be compliant," he said.
Monti's visit to Japan comes as Europe continues to stagger under the weight of runaway sovereign debt, with Greece at the forefront. Italy alone needs some €750 billion to finance its debt, while Spain requires around €370 billion over the next three years.
