Top eurozone officials met this morning to discuss the debt crisis in the 17-nation single currency region amid concerns that it could spread to Italy.
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet, EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker and Jose Manuel Barroso, the head of the European Commission, are attending the specially-convened event in Brussels.
Markets became jittery after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi publicly criticised his widely-respected finance minister Giulio Tremonti.
There is also concern about the health of Italian banks, with the results of EU stress tests due out on Friday. At the end of last week, the premium which Italy pays to borrow money compared with Germany's soared to its highest point since the eurozone came into being.
As to Greece Euro-zone governments might proceed with a plan to bring Greece's private-sector creditors into a new aid package, even if major credit ratings agencies find Greece to have defaulted on its debt. "I am more searching for a solution than a rating," Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said before a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers here. "If it's with a negative reaction from the rating agencies, that's not a problem."
EU-Digest
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