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Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti (L), EU rotating presidency Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado (C) and Greek Finance Minister Giorgos Papakonstantinou talk during an extraordinary EU Finance ministers meeting in Brussels, May 9, 2010.

European Union (EU) finance ministers agreed early Monday on an unprecedented rescue mechanism worth up to 750 billion euros (956 billion U.S. dollars) to prevent spread of the Greek debt crisis and rebuild confidence in financial markets.

 

At a news conference following the extraordinary meeting, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said that finance ministers decided to create a European Financial Stabilization mechanism to preserve financial stability in Europe.

 

Under the three-year Special Purpose Vehicle, the largest bulk of the 750 billion euros, or 440 billion euros (560 billion U.S. dollars), would come from bilateral loans from the 16 eurozone countries, said a statement issued after the meeting.

 

The European Commission would raise 60 billion euros (76.5 billion U.S. dollars) from financial markets on behalf of the EU, which means the borrowing would be guaranteed by all 27 EU governments.

 

The 60 billion euros, covering eurozone countries, will be added "without prejudice" to the existing 50-billion-euro (64-billion-dollar) facility providing financial assistance for non-eurozone countries, the statement said.

 

Xinhua/ Editor: Deng Shasha