Eurozone leaders last night failed to outline a definitive plan to tackle the region's debt crisis but have outlined the contributions required from the banking sector.
The 17 euro nations met after a week of delays to present an emergency “three-pronged” deal but no final arrangement was agreed upon.
Yet, Chancellor George Osborne, spoke today about his beliefs that the right measures were taken to resolve the problems with the single currency.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “I think they have made very good progress on the key issues they need to make progress on. I think they got a good agreement. Of course, we have now got to get the detail. There is still quite a lot of detail to fill in.
“The crucial thing is to maintain the momentum, to ensure that we don’t see what happened in July when they agreed another package but then it took months to put it into practice.”
A recapitalisation of Europe’s vulnerable banks, none of which are in Britain, has been settled upon, with their reserves being increased by more than £87 billion.
European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the main euro bailout fund, is to be boosted from the 440bn euros set up earlier this year to 1000bn euros.
The Chancellor made it clear the Britain would not be paying into any International Monetary Fund package targeted at the eurozone.
Mr Osborne added: “It is going to be a tough road ahead but they are on the right road and it is massively in the British national interest that they sort these problems out, because the instability in the eurozone is having a chilling effect on the British economy.”
National finance ministers are set to meet on Saturday to put together the details of the plan, although a final decision is not expected until November.
Shelley DeBere
