Eurozone Mulls Greece Bailout

Officials avoid B-word while planning 'rescue package'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 9, 2010 2:32 AM CST
Eurozone Mulls Greece Bailout
Firefighters join a demonstration against planned spending cuts outside the Greek Parliament in central Athens.   (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece won't be getting a bailout from the EU itself, officials said yesterday, but they're scrambling to put together a package of loans from member nations to shore up the staggering Greek economy. The EU charter forbids the European Central Bank and national central banks from bailing out countries, but some kind of rescue package from national governments is looking increasingly likely, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Germans are firmly opposed to helping Greece out of a crisis caused by its own failure to trim its deficit, although officials from other nations have privately indicated that they would support a bailout, according to MarketWatch. The IMF has signaled that it is willing to offer Greece assistance, but finance ministers from other members of the single currency system have made it clear that they would prefer to handle the matter themselves.
(More Greece stories.)

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