Brussels, 25/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the end of the summit of leaders affiliated to the European Liberal Democrats and Reform party (ELDR), where the current financial situation, loss of confidence and the Greek saga have largely dominated discussions, the organisation's president, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck from Belgium, expressed a wish to her counterparts to find a “satisfactory solution” for Greece. The desired solution would help to restore confidence in managing Greek public finances without penalising the country too much. Guy Verhofstadt, also an MEP from Belgium, said that the European Council failing to find a solution was not an option. He refused to speculate about the modalities of such a mechanism but did explain that “last week, confusion surrounding this affair weakened the Eurozone. The European Council must make a decision and must make a concrete proposal”, insisted the former Belgian prime minister. He also said that “Greece needs a mechanism to get its interest rates down. The question is one of how to lower them to a level the country needs”. On the question of loans, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen explained that “this will definitely not be a case of providing a subsidy”. Vanhanen insisted on the need to think about the solution for preventing this kind of situation arising again in the future which, he believed depended on developing a mechanism resulting “from tougher sanctions”, such as suspending structural funds. He also underlined the need for greater coordination of economic policies. Following on from this line, Verhofstadt repeated the idea of economic governance in the EU, as a complement to monetary governance, which would require “a more integrated Europe”. He stated: “If we have to find a solution today, it is not the end of history, just the beginning of a process for necessary reforms”. Asked about the possibility of going to the IMF, Verhofstadt refused to provide any more details but would only admit that the international financial institution had very long monetary experience. On several occasions, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen highlighted the EU's duty and responsibility to protect the eurozone and defend its currency. (E.H./transl.fl)