London/Brussels - Eurozone finance ministers are set to agree a multi-billion dollar bail-out deal for Greece at an upcoming meeting in Brussels, a report in The Guardian newspaper said on Friday, quoting "a senior European Commission official."Greece has been pleading for the European Union's solidarity after pushing through a 4.8-billion-euro (6.5 billion dollars) package of
austerity measures aimed at shaving a massive 4 percentage points off its 2010
budget deficit.
The Guardian says that the euro area's 16 member states have agreed on a system of "coordinated bilateral contributions," consisting of loans or loans guarantees, ready to step into action if Greece found itself unable to find enough buyers for its bonds.
According to the paper the aid could rise up to 22 billion euros (34.4 billion dollars), a figure equivalent to about half of Athens' estimated refinancing needs for this year.
EU officials contacted by the German Press Agency dpa to comment on the report remained tight-lipped.
"The fact that Greece has presented a very ambitious fiscal consolidation plan has led some to say that something needs to be done, but nothing will be decided until ministers meet on Monday," one of them said.
He was referring to the day when
eurozone finance ministers are set to convene in Brussels for their monthly Eurogroup meeting, where they are expected to formally approve the budget cuts offered by
Athens last week.
Any assistance to Greece is expected to be tailored in such a way so as to avoid breaching the no-bail-out rule enshrined int the EU's treaty, and accompanied by new proposals to strengthen EU-level surveillance on national
economic policies.
Although speculation about a possible measures has been mounting for weeks, so far EU leaders have never gone beyond the generic February 11 summit commitment to "take determined and coordinated action, if needed, to safeguard financial stability in the euro area as a whole."
