Eurogroup chief urges joint moves to handle toxic assets

European finance ministers could on Tuesday agree on broad, coordinated measures to deal with the "toxic assets" weighing down Europe's banks, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said late Monday.
"We discussed at length all the technical implications of trying to deal with this question of toxic assets," Juncker, who is also Luxembourg's prime minister and finance minister, said after a meeting with his 15 fellow eurozone finance ministers.
"For some banks it is absolutely vital that we find some way of dealing with... toxic assets," he added. Juncker heads the ministers' monthly meetings, known as the Euro Group.
He said that in some countries and for certain banks "the right sort of treatment for toxic assets can help create stability, but we are very aware that the way that you deal with this could have a very serious impact on public finances.
"We are moving towards a final agreement," he added. The initiative will be further discussed by finance ministers from all 27 EU nations in Brussels on Tuesday.