Eurozone partners pledge 30 billion euros on Greek rescue package

11:14, 12 April 2010

BRUSSELS. April 12. KAZINFORM Eurozone finance ministers on Sunday hammered out further details of a Greek rescue package, pledging 30 billion euros (41 billion U.S. dollars) in the first year to bail out debt-hit Greece if necessary; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

Finance ministers from the 16-nation euro zone held a rare conference call to find a deal on the remaining details of the Greek rescue package after fresh concerns over a debt default by Athens hit the markets and pushed up the borrowing costs of the Greek government.

"We are now operational if the mechanism has to be activated," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters in Brussels Sunday after chairing the ministers' conference call. " The initiative for activating the mechanism rests with the Greek government."

Juncker said all euro zone countries would contribute to the bailout package and provide loans to Greece on bilateral basis as agreed by European Union (EU) leaders at a summit last month; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

See www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/ for full version

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