EU finance ministers lay out details of future bailout fund

    BRUSSELS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) finance ministers Monday laid out details of the permanent bailout(紧急救助) fund which will have a capital base of 700 billion euros (987 billion U. S. dollars) to deal with future sovereign debt crisis.
    "I can tell you that we have agreed on all elements relating to the ESM (the European Stability Mechanism) and I am delighted that that's the case," Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference after an extra meeting held before the spring summit of EU leaders on Thursday and Friday.
    To have an effective lending capacity of 500 billion euros (705 billion U.S. dollars), the ESM will have a capital base of 700 billion euros (987 billion dollars), of which 80 billion euros ( 112 billion dollars) will be paid-in capital provided by euro area member states and the remaining 620 billion euros (874 billion dollars) will be in the form committed callable capital and of guarantees, according to Juncker.
    The finance ministers also agreed that ESM will be able to grant short-term or medium term loans to euro area member states with severe financing problems and it can also buy bonds of them on the primary market. But the assistance will be subject to strict conditionality¹ under a macro-economic adjustment program.
    A board of governors consisting of finance ministers of euro area member states will make major decisions concerning granting（同意） of the loans, and the terms and conditions of the loans.
    The ministers said that the ESM will involve the International Monetary² Fund (IMF) in providing financial assistance on both the technical and financial level.
    At the summit on March 11, euro area leaders decided³ that the finance ministers will finish their work on the ESM and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the 440-billion-euro (620-billion-dollar) bailout fund which will be replaced by the ESM after June 2013.
    Juncker said the ministers are yet to decide how to increase the effective lending capacity of EFSF, adding the most possible way is by guarantees.
    EU leaders will adopt a comprehensive package to deal with the debt crisis at the summit meeting held on Thursday and Friday.
    "Following validation⁴ by the European Council at the end of this week work will continue, there will be the drafting of the treaty on the ESM, provisions for increasing the EFSF capacity and adjustments of the lending arrangements for Greece," Juncker said.
    "Necessary steps will be taken to ensure that the package of measures can be put to national parliaments of euro zone countries. And they will then be able to adopt the overall package of measures before the summer," he added.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 conditionality   

n.受限制性，制约性

参考例句：

• We have the same value plus half the upside, with no conditionality. 我们获得了相同价值，外加一半的上行机会，而且没有条件限制。 来自互联网
• Gate conditionality does not mitigate the adverse effect of gate review criteria. 关卡制约性不会减少关卡评价标准的反作用。 来自互联网

2 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓