Eurozone must 'resist alarmism', Olli Rehn says

Speaking ahead of a meeting of eurozone ministers, Olli Rehn said he was "concerned" about public debate on the impact on the eurozone.

The Irish Prime Minister, Brian Cowan, meanwhile has addressed parliament.

He told ministers his country was working with European partners to deal with the debt issue.

He also reiterated that the Republic of Ireland had not asked for bail-out money and that the Irish economy was well funded until next year.

Mr Rehn earlier confirmed the Irish government, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF were meeting to discuss the country's "serious banking problems".

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, called the current discussions "very delicate".

Appearing before a committee in the UK House of Lords, Mr King confirmed that the Bank of England was feeding in comments to that process, but refused to say more publicly.

Mr Cowen tried to play down the growing sense of crisis across the eurozone, telling the Irish parliament that these were just a continuation of ongoing discussions it had been having with European institutions for some time.

'Survival crisis'

Earlier, the EU Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, warned that the European Union was in a "survival crisis" over eurozone debt problems, as the economic health of members such as the Republic of Ireland and Portugal come under fresh scrutiny.

Questions have been raised over whether they can manage their debt without help from EU funds.

Speaking hours before eurozone ministers meet to address threats to the bloc's economic stability, Mr Van Rompuy said that if the euro failed, so too would the EU.

However, he added he was "very confident" the problems could be overcome.

But he added: "We all have to work together in order to survive with the eurozone, because if we don't survive with the eurozone we will not survive with the European Union."

However, Mr Rehn said the latest crisis was not a matter of survival for the euro - although it was a very serious problem for the banking sector in the Irish Republic.

Bond auction

But there is intense speculation that both the Irish Republic and Portugal may be forced to use EU bail-out money.

Portugal's finance minister has said that investors believed that his country would be forced to seek emergency help, because of the worries spreading in the markets.

Fernando Teixeira dos Santos urged Dublin to do the right thing for the euro and accept a bail-out.

And the Spanish treasury secretary called on the Republic to act quickly to end market uncertainties.

On Tuesday, Spain held an auction of government bonds - a routine way for governments to raise funds.

However as Irish bail-out concerns hit other eurozone periphery countries, the rates it must pay on money borrowed - the bond yield - was higher than that faced earlier in the year.

Solidarity sought

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said that much hinged on the stance of the European Central Bank (ECB) - which has propped up the Irish Republic's banking system with loans it could not get on the money markets.

"Without the financial support of the ECB, Ireland would be bust right now," he said.

"But if there is the faintest sign that the ECB wants to withdraw the succour it has provided to weak eurozone banks, Ireland will no longer have a choice, it will have to go cap in hand either to its EU partners or to the IMF."

The Irish Republic's Europe Minister, Dick Roche, admitted that there were major liquidity problems at the country's banks.

However, he said that his government had made major spending cuts which would be continued in its upcoming budget, and added that he hoped there would be "solidarity" from European colleagues at the Brussels meeting.

"I would hope after the meeting there would be more logic introduced into this," he told the BBC.

"There is no reason why we should trigger an IMF or an EU-type bail-out. There is a problem with liquidity in banks, there is no doubt about that. But I don't think that the appropriate response to that would be for the European finance ministers to panic."

There are a range of funds which troubled nations could access - including the European Financial stability facility - 440bn-euro (£372bn) pot of money set up to aid eurozone countries that run into debt difficulties.

And while the UK is not part of the eurozone, its taxpayers could end up footing some of the bill for any bail-outs.

For example, there is the European Financial Stability Mechanism - a 60bn-euro, EU-wide scheme, which countries can draw on and to which the UK contributes 12%.

Also, if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is asked to step in, the UK would fund 4.5% of any aid.

Budget brought forward?

The Republic of Ireland government has consistently stated its determination to restore stability to the public finances and stressed that it is "fully funded" until late 2011.

The banks have struggled since 2008, when the Irish Republic suffered a dramatic collapse of its property market.

House values have fallen between 50% and 60% and bad debts - mainly in the form of loans to developers - have built up in the country's main banks, bringing them to the verge of collapse.

Reports suggest the Republic will try to reassure markets by bringing forward details of its four-year financial plan to next week.

The proposals will be severe. It has said it will impose unprecedented spending cuts or tax rises totalling 6bn euros (£5bn) to try to bring its underlying budget deficit down from about 12% to between 9.5 and 9.75% next year.

While intended to boost confidence in the country's finances, investors fear the budget cuts could plunge the Republic back into recession, leading to further losses to the government via falling tax revenues and higher benefit payments.