The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, warned ahead of Thursday's Euro area summit that “nobody should be under any illusion because the situation is very serious.”

Barroso urged European leaders to “show the ethics of European responsibility.” In a statement he outlined the key issues to be dealt with at the summit, saying: “The minimum we must do is to provide clarity on measures to ensure the sustainability of Greek public finances and the feasibility and limits of private sector involvement.”

He mentioned the importance of tackling “the scope for more flexible action through the European Financial Stability Facility, the repair of the banking sector, and measures to ensure the provision of liquidity to the European banking system.” He also announced that the Commission has created a “Task Force for Greece” to help bring growth back to the country.

On financial regulation, the EC is the first jurisdiction to adopt the proposal for the transposition of the Basel III agreement on bank capital requirements. The guidelines are globally agreed standards created to allow banks to hold larger levels of capital while simultaneously protecting itself from a 2008 financial crisis recurrence.
“Once again, with this, Europe will be the first mover.” Barroso added.