The Dutch finance minister backs the ECB 'as a last resort' to contain the eurozone debt crisis, saying other firewall measures seem to be failing

Following last night’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers EU Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn stated that Europe is “now entering the critical period of ten days to complete and conclude the crisis response of the EU.” The eurozone finance ministers last night agreed more detailed plans to leverage the EFSF, the eurozone’s bailout fund, but admitted that the target lever...

Following their meeting yesterday, eurozone finance ministers sent a strong signal they are prepared to begin buying back Greek bonds on the open market, announcing they would reopen discussions on the remit of the eurozone’s €440bn bail-out fund, the EFSF.

Eurozone finance ministers decided yesterday to delay the payment of the next tranche of funds from the Greek bailout until the Greek parliament has approved the new austerity package, with a vote due on 28 June. However, Evangelos Venizelos, the new Greek Finance Minister warned that there was “complete disagreement on the methods” for achieving the austerity aims between the governme...

Finance ministers from the 16 eurozone countries have agreed on the key mechanism by which they will operate the landmark €750bn stabilisation facility for the eurozone's most vulnerable members

Sterling has a lender of last resort. The Euro does not. The member-states' central banks are their own lenders of last resort. The unlimited liquidity available from central banks at a penal rate against assets is not available to eurozone members. Their central banks can provide liquidity only within the confines of their reserves, as if they were a currency board. So the ECB can print money but...

Der Spiegel reports that German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck is looking into ways to help struggling eurozone member states. The article notes that Steinbrueck was “speaking about the unspeakable” when he hinted at the risk of a country having to leave the eurozone: "We have a few countries in the eurozone who are getting into difficulties with their payments", he said, "if one eu...

Disagreements over the role of the ECB continue to rage on in Europe, as France maintains its position that the ECB should become a lender of last resort for the eurozone. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said earlier in the week, “We are favourable to the intervention of all the European institutions, including the ECB, to achieve the best responses to the crisis,” adding that ...

Finance ministers from the 10 non-eurozone member states met for dinner in Brussels last night in an ongoing attempt to find common ground with which to confront fast-moving developments in the eurozone. More »

At yesterday’s meeting in Brussels, eurozone finance ministers made no move to increase the €440bn eurozone rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. Speaking after the meeting, Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said that the fund was large enough “for the time being”.