Europe agrees 30-billion-euro Greek rescue

Europe Sunday revealed an aid package worth 30 billion euros this year alone for debt-ridden Greece, as it unfurled a massive safety net designed to retore confidence in the euro single currency.
Finance ministers from the 16 countries that share the under-pressure euro currency agreed a three-year financing programme at interest rates of around five percent, which they said represents a slight premium compared to standard International Monetary Fund levels.
The decision to spell out the scale and the terms of the aid, which will involve all of the eurozone members, is aimed at soothing markets that have dragged down the euro's value against the dollar and forced up the interest rates Greece has to pay to borrow money.
The Greek government welcomed the announcement but stressed that no request to activate the debt support had been made.
"The total amount put up by the eurozone member states for the first year will reach 30 billion euros (40 billion dollars)," eurozone finance chief and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference after a conference call between peers.