EU mulls strategy to rescue Spain banks

This comes as Madrid has not yet requested assistance and is resisting an international bailout.

European sources said on Wednesday that as Spain is resisting being placed under international supervision Germany and European Union officials are urgently exploring ways to rescue Spain’s banks.

Spain, the euro zone’s fourth biggest economy, said on Tuesday it was effectively losing access to credit markets due to prohibitive borrowing costs and appealed to European partners to help revive its banks.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said after talks at the European Commission on Wednesday there were no immediate plans to apply for a bailout. Spain would await the results of an IMF report and an independent audit of the banking sector, both due this month, before taking decisions on how to recapitalize the banks, he said.

Sources close to the Spanish government said on Wednesday that a crucial Brussels summit at the end of the month would have to find a solution by agreeing to establish eurozone banking and fiscal union, without that deal euro would be finished within months, The Guardian reported.

Europe was hit by a serious financial crisis in 2008 and the situation has intensified over the past few months.

Battered by the global financial downturn, the Spanish economy collapsed into recession in the second half of 2008, taking with it millions of jobs.

The worsening eurozone debt crisis increased Spain’s financing costs and raised concerns that the country might have to seek a European Union bailout, like Greece.

MSH/JR

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