EU agrees on permanent bailout fund

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171576.html

The European Union leaders have agreed on the final terms of its permanent bailout fund to use it as a mean to rescue any member country that may face financial crisis in the future.

The decision came at a meeting of the EU heads of state in Brussels on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The permanent bailout instrument will be put in place in 2013 to rescue, if necessary, the countries using the euro currency.

The leaders agreed that eurozone nations will start contributing to the fund in 2013 over the course of five years.

They also decided on the exact amount the fund will be able to loan.

“We will make sure that 500 billion euro is available with a tipple A status. we have agreed to ensure that the temporary facility as an effective lending capacity of 440 billion euro will be in place in June,” European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told reporters.

The leaders also agreed to increase economic coordination in the eurozone in areas such as taxation and retirement policy.

Currently, the 17 nations that use the euro have different rules on those things, making it hard for them to sustain a common currency.

The meeting also led to an agreement for greater economic surveillance of the EU's national economies.

The eurozone's temporary rescue facility, which currently has 250 billion euros, will expire in 2013.

The temporary instrument was established last year to rescue two eurozone members - Greece and Ireland. Economists agree that having these bailout funds is important.