BRUSSELS (AP) — EU officials say European finance ministers plan Sunday to discuss a bailout package for debt-laden Ireland.
They say that the finance ministers of the 16-nation eurozone will discuss the matter first, and that discussion will be followed by one among the finance ministers of the 27 European Union countries. They say the ministers are scheduled to talk by telephone instead of coming to Brussels.
One diplomat said there already had been “many high-level contacts by phone Saturday.” He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, including the possibility of a spreading debt crisis in the eurozone.
The EU and the International Monetary Fund have been crafting a relief deal for Ireland worth 85 billion ($113 billion).
