Up to 750,000 million euros could be mobilised thanks to the agreement signed by the ministers of the Eurozone to help EU countries with a high deficit or problems with their public debt.

In their meeting in Luxembourg, the Eurozone finance ministers signed the financial stability mechanism that was designed a month ago in order to help those countries in danger of insolvency. It could mean the mobilisation of up to 750,000 million euros.

Agreed on 9 May in an Ecofin meeting chaired by the Spanish Minister of Finance, Elena Salgado, this mechanism is one of the main tools designed to bring stability to the Eurozone.

The finance ministers agreed to set up this instrument with the aim of reducing the risk of the Greek public-debt crisis spreading to other states with a high deficit, such as Spain or Portugal. The agreed aid package will be added to the 110,000 million euros that has been assigned to the rescue of Greece, which the Europeans and the IMF will begin to pay out immediately.

Up to 750,000 million euros could be mobilised, including the contributions of the community budget (60,000 million), a special European financial facility (440,000 million) and theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF(250,000 million). Called the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), it will be registered in Luxembourg for tax purposes.