When finance ministers from the 16 euro zone countries meet Monday to discuss loan guarantees or loans for Greece, they are expected to strike a delicate balance by giving much-needed clarity on how a bailout could be structured while not making a rescue inevitable, Stephen Castle reports in The New York Times. A tough austerity package announced by the government in Athens has been welcomed in European capitals. Finance ministers are now hoping to put flesh on contingency plans to help Greece, if such help proves necessary, and thereby to reassure nervous markets. European Union officials have said that such aid will likely come in the form of loan guarantees or bilateral loans. Ministers are not expected to agree on any specific sum for a Greek bailout. Talks are expected to concentrate on how legal and political obstacles to providing such assistance would be overcome, if Greece does make a request for aid. Whether any loan guarantees or loans would be offered by all euro zone countries or just some states has yet to be resolved, said officials speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
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