With the government of Greece teetering on the brink of disaster, and governments in Spain and Portugal in danger of collapse, ministers from the 16 member European Union acted to protect other eurozone countries from being affected by the Greek debt crisis. The ministers agreed to €750 bn ($975bn; £650bn) worth of emergency measures to ensure the stability of their shared currency and prevent the fallout from the Greek crisis from spreading to other nations in danger of defaulting.

The 16 members of the European Union who share the Euro currency will have access €440 bn of loan guarantees and €60 bn worth of emergency funding from the European Commission. The International Monetary Fund will also contribute roughly €250 bn to the bailout package. The decision was announced on Monday after 11 hours of talks. In addition to the massive bailout package a €110 bn loan package for Greece was agreed to by eurozone members, backed by the EU and IMF.

Under the plan, member nations will have access to €60 bn from the European Commission to support themselves in the face of "difficulties caused by exceptional circumstances beyond their control". The €60 bn loans would be available to member nations through the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism and would come from the €440 bn worth of guaranteed funds. As a part of the plan the European Central Bank will buy government and private debt in an effort to stabilise markets and offer depth and liquidity to dysfunctional markets.

The measures taken by the members of the EU prove that Europe is willing to defend its shared currency no matter what it takes. The actions had an immediate impact on markets around the globe, with markets in London, Japan, and Hong Kong all trading higher as a result of the news. The announcement of the bailout package also had an immediate impact on the value of the Euro as it rebounded from a 14-month low against the dollar. The Euro jumped above $1.30 in early trading after the plan was announced. Other positive fall outs from the announcement of the package included Greek's two-year bond rates falling from 18.1% to 4.9%. The premiums on eurozone government bonds also fell along with the cost of insuring them against default.

European leaders admit that the bailout package alone is not enough to solve the problem however, as simply throwing money at the problem won't be an option should another crisis arise. Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado said that "our conclusions also reiterate yet again the need for progress to be made on regulating the financial system, on oversight and the supervision of the financial system, in particular derivatives and the role of rating agencies".