HispanicBusiness

Boosting the size of bailout funds and Greek rescue efforts -- currently the hot topics in the eurozone's debt crisis -- do not figure on the official agenda of next week's European Union summit.

An invitation, circulated Thursday by EU President Herman Van Rompuy, mentions neither issue, focusing instead on: the fiscal compact, a new eurozone-driven budget discipline pact; a new eurozone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM); and growth and jobs.

This week International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti both called for expanding so-called euro area "firewalls." But, in a speech in Davos on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed those appeals.

Van Rompuy wrote that the EU summit on Monday will offer an "opportunity" to approve a treaty detailing the workings of the 500-billion-euro ($656 billion) ESM, due to be launched in July.

Diplomats told dpa that behind-the-scenes talks on creating a 750-billion-euro rescue fund -- which would combine the ESM with the roughly 250 billion euros that are left in its predecessor, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) -- were ongoing.

But German government sources insisted Thursday that the proposal was "not on the agenda" Monday.

After meeting Monti in Rome on Jan. 16, Van Rompuy promised a discussion "without delay" on the issue. But, a day later, he said it would be considered at another EU summit, in March, as had originally been agreed in December.

In Berlin, where she received Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Merkel insisted on the fiscal compact, which is expected to introduce a balanced-budget requirement, policed by the EU Court of Justice.

Negotiations on the pact involve all EU states except Britain, even if the sanctions are expected to be applied to the eurozone only. A senior EU diplomat said Thursday there were "one or two" issues holding up a final agreement.

Non-euro members such as Poland want to be invited to all future euro area summits; the involvement of EU and national parliaments needs to be clarified; countries are haggling over the number of national ratifications needed to get the pact enforced, the source said.

Monti suggested Monday that Merkel may soften her stance on the bailout funds and the European Central Bank (ECB) may accept the need to buy more bonds of troubled eurozone states once the German and ECB-sponsored pact is approved. The senior EU diplomat confirmed as much on Thursday, albeit in a cryptic way.

"Progress on one front would allow us to also look at other aspects in another way," he said.

Confirming impressions that the Italian leader has become a key EU player since assuming office in November, German sources said Monti would take part in informal pre-summit talks Monday that had so far been restricted to Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It had been widely anticipated that euro area leaders on Monday would hold a separate summit to discuss a second bailout for Greece, which needs to be operational by March if the country is to avoid default.

But as talks were dragging between Athens and private banks on a debt write-off deal that is a prerequisite to eurozone help, the EU-ECB-IMF "troika" report that was meant to inform leaders' discussions on Greece has also been delayed.

"It's not humanly expectable that we'll have the troika report by the time of our (European) council on Monday," Merkel said in Berlin. "That's why we really will be talking about growth policies and about trying to complete the fiscal compact."