Euro zone ministers push forward with EFSF

Euro zone finance ministers have agreed to speed up work on an EU bailout fund to help member countries mired in the region's debt crisis.

The European Union convened a meeting of finance chiefs from the 17 euro zone countries at its headquarters in Brussels on Monday.

The move follows a call from the leaders of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies for comprehensive measures to ease the crisis.

The euro zone ministers agreed to compile concrete measures to boost functions of the European Financial Stability Facility by the end of this month.

They agreed to implement the measures next month.

On Greece's debt problems, the finance ministers welcomed a recent agreement between the country's ruling and opposition parties to launch a new coalition government.

The ministers confirmed their commitment to monitoring Greece's implementation of an EU bailout package.

They also agreed to send an inspection team to Italy, where government bond prices hit a record low in European markets, in the next few days to monitor the country's efforts to reconstruct its finances. The International Monetary Fund will also oversee the reconstruction.

The European Union failed to win any firm commitments to fund the EFSF from the G20 leaders when they met in Cannes last week.

The EU will now seek financial backing for the bailout fund from the International Monetary Fund.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011 07:58 +0900 (JST)