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Europe insisted Tuesday that a contingency plan to save Greece from bankruptcy with emergency loans was only prudent foresight and unlikely to be enacted, as Athens pushed for concrete details.

As the eurozone tackled a government debt crisis that has exposed deep divisions, European Union partners made it clear that the 27-nation bloc sees any eventual aid as a necessary evil that must be prepared only if the health of the euro currency is endangered.

EU ministers echoed their eurozone counterparts on Tuesday by backing the measures Athens has already undertaken to curb spending and raise taxes.

They "endorsed the European Commission's assessment of Greece's fiscal situation," which held that Greece is "on track" to deliver on its promises, said EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn after the talks ended.

The onus will therefore remain firmly on Greece to maintain a tight watch on national budget surgery.

Spanish Finance Minister Elena Salgado, chairing the talks, said of the contingency plan that "we are absolutely not at the stage where we are imagining (its) use."

German Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen said the eurozone "does not anticipate a decision at the EU summit" next week either.

Greece's finance minister nevertheless welcomed the "serious headway" made in drawing up the plan, which reflects a step-change in moves to give the EU a greater say in pan-national economic governance.

He also said he expected the bond yields Athens has to offer would now fall.

"It is clear we are not happy paying the kind of markups and spreads we are paying at the moment," said Papaconstantinou, referring to a rate of 6.3 percent on the last bond issuance earlier this month.

That rate is several points higher than that paid by Germany on its benchmark 10-year Bund.

"The market is reacting positively to the measures we are taking," he said. "It is a question of time," he added, predicting that the rates "will go down."

He said Athens was "ahead of schedule" in terms of delivering its stated target of cutting its public deficit this year by four percentage points from a huge 12.7 percent of national output.

He said Greece had a deficit at the end of February of one billion euros (1.375 billion dollars) compared to four billion euros at the same point last year.

Speaking in Athens, where the austerity drive has triggered strikes and violent protests, Greek government spokesman George Petalotis underlined that greater precision was required.

"We are waiting to see how the European Union action will evolve... We hope that other EU countries will do their duty and implement the principle of solidarity."

If money is ever released, it will come from all 15 of Greece's partners in the euro currency area and only if ordered by leaders of the 27 EU nations.

Eurozone finance ministers said the objective of safeguarding financial stability in the euro area as a whole would mean "strong incentives to return to markets as soon as possible," or high rates.

Groaning under 300 billion euros of debt, Greece is looking to raise 54 billion euros this year just to finance the debt.

European diplomatic sources have spoken of 20-25 billion euros being sought through eurozone aid.

The euro rose in late-day London trading above the 1.37-dollar level as investors took heart from the eurozone plan for Greece.

AFP