MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Eurogroup: 'No Bailout Fund Decision Imminent'

Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker

The Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker has said that no decision on a bailout fund will be made at the meeting of finance ministers in Brussels.

Eurozone ministers have been discussing whether to increase the size of the European rescue fund, amid growing concerns that Portugal and Spain may also need financial aid.

The discussions at the two-day Ecofin Council meeting were expected to get heated with differing views across the nations.

Germany, being the strongest Eurozone economy and therefore liable to contribute the largest amount, has expressed its reluctance to increase the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Prior to the meeting, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said he saw “absolutely no reason in the short term” to debate increasing the fund, adding that only a tenth of it had been used up on Ireland's recent bailout.

Austria's Josef Proell echoed the sentiment, saying: “We have to consider how we can improve the efficiency of the system and that is possible with various measures.

”We have to discuss those. I see no acute need to expand.”

Meanwhile, Belgian finance minister Didier Reynder had indicated that he wanted the fund to be doubled while his French counterpart Christine Lagarde said the fund could be allowed to buy the debt of struggling nations on the secondary market to take the pressure off the European Central Bank.

The rescue fund pools together a total of £627bn (???750bn) from the EFSF, the International Monetary Fund and the EU.

Spain's government aims to raise at least £4.2bn from its 12- and 18-month bond sales tomorrow, after a successful auction last week.

Portugal, expected by many to be the next eurozone nation to need a bailout, also raised more than £1bn through treasury bond sales.