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Brussels - The European Union will do "whatever is required" to shield the shared euro currency from attacks, EU president Herman Van Rompuy said Thursday at a summit of leaders.
"We stand ready to do whatever is required to ensure the financial stability of the eurozone area as a whole," Van Rompuy said after the bloc moved to grant euro nations a fresh financial lifeline, ring-fencing their currency in a bid to fend off market vultures.
The Belgian said the 27 EU leaders' shared "political will... to do what needs to be done is beyond doubt," in a bid to make the 16 euro economies "crisis-proof."
A "draft decision," reached after 90 minutes of talks, needs to be confirmed in March before a permanent emergency rescue fund, to replace in mid-2013 an existing trillion-dollar joint EU-IMF facility, can be given solid legal roots.
A slight rewrite of the EU rule-book, the Lisbon Treaty, was ordered by 31 December 2012, although Van Rompuy underlined that contributions to the new rescue set-up would "only affect members of the eurozone."
Portugal and possibly even Spain are predicted to need financial aid after Greece and Ireland.
"It's their way of saying they are prepared to put lots of money on the table," explained a senior EU diplomat of conclusions finessed by heads of state and government over dinner at a Brussels summit.
