Eurozone ministers look to beef up bailout fund

At a meeting in Luxembourg last night, ministers from governments previously opposed to proposals to leverage the €440bn (£377bn) EFSF admitted the plan is now under serious discussion, reports the Independent. In addition, European Central Bank member Christian Noyer also indicated he would back the scheme to prop up the bailout fund in a speech made in Tokyo yesterday. Greece, Portugal and Ireland have all received bailouts via the EFSF but the fund is considered too small to support the governments of Spain and Italy should they require it.