EU takes charge and speeds up anti-crisis measures after US downgrade

The European Central Bank (ECB) has said it will buy Italian and Spanish bonds and eurozone countries aer to hold special parliamentary sessions in order to speed up reforms after the recent escalation in the financial crisis.

ECB officials and EU leaders held a series of telephone conferences over the past three days in various formats including the G7, the G20, France-Germany and France-Germany-US in a bid to allay market fears after the Standard & Poor's ratings agency downgraded US debt from AAA to AA+ on Friday (5 August) in a historic move.

The French and German leaders in a statement urged eurozone legislatures to hold extraordinary sessions to ratify a July deal on expanding the powers of the bloc's €440 billion bailout fund, the EFSF. "In particular, they stress the importance that parliamentary approval will be obtained swiftly by the end of September in their two countries," they said.

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