Economy, Eurozone | featured news

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has called an emergency meeting of top officials dealing with the euro zone debt crisis for Monday morning, reelecting concern that the crisis could spread to Italy, the region's third largest economy.

Eurozone finance ministers meet in Luxembourg, where they are expected to approve a 12bn-euro (£10bn) loan to debt-stricken Greece.

The euro zone's economic crisis is over and it is now enjoying a broad-based recovery, Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer said.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded two of the euro zone's most troubled member states, citing fears that the pair may have to restructure their debt after 2013.

Euro-zone finance ministers unanimously approved a detailed emergency aid mechanism for Greece but stressed that the country had not yet requested a bailout.