EU works with ITS members to help Greece

The European Commission is working with eurozone member states on a mechanism to help Greece if there is a need. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso made the announcement on Tuesday, and also urged more efforts on curtailing market speculation.

Barroso said Greece has taken the necessary measures to reduce its government deficit this year. He said the Commission is also doing what is necessary to secure the financial stability of the euro area as a whole.

Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission President, said, "Commissioners have been actively working with euro area member state to design a mechanism which Greece could use in case of need. Such a mechanism would be in conformity with the current Lisbon Treaty in particular with no bailout clause."

Responding to criticism from members of the parliament, Barroso said the EU was working on curtailing market speculation through reform. He said the Commission will consider banning the naked selling of contracts that investors use to hedge against countries defaulting on their debt.

Jose Manuel Barroso said, "The commission will examine closely the relevance of banning purely speculative, naked sales on credit default swaps of sovereign debt. At the same time we will push for international coordination because these markets are very opaque, we are going to bring this issue to the G20 and we will also raise this issue in a bilateral context with the United States."

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