Europe Approves Irish Rescue and New Rules on Bailouts-NYT 11/28 : 아일렌드 EU,IMF 국제금융 확정과 향후 일반 투자자도 손실 부담 조항 삽입.

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From left, George Papaconstantinou of Greece, Anders Borg of Sweden, George Osborne of Britain and Elena Salgado of Spain at the meeting of European finance ministers on Sunday.

By STEPHEN CASTLE and LIZ ALDERMAN

BRUSSELS — Fighting to prevent an accelerating debt crisis from engulfing Portugal and Spain, Europe’s finance ministers approved an 85 billion euro bailout package for Ireland, while also agreeing for the first time to hold private investors accountable for losses in future crises, beginning in 2013.

With the European Union engaged in a high-stakes battle with financial markets, the move to include bondholders in any future debt restructuring represents an important milestone in the current crisis because the countries stood together on an issue that had caused sharp divisions in recent weeks.

The decision is aimed at ending uncertainty over future rules for the euro zone, made up of the 16 countries that use the euro. Some policy makers had said that a lack of clarity about what would happen when the current bailout provisions ended in 2013 was a contributing factor in the recent market turmoil that led Ireland to ask for aid and that now threatens other countries.

“Europe has shown again it won’t shun difficult decisions and will act swiftly, decisively and united to safeguard the financial stability now and in the future,” said Jan Kees de Jager, the Dutch finance minister, referring to both the Irish bailout and the new permanent rescue plan.

But the move represents a big gamble that the promise of clarity and stability will outweigh the anxiety of investors weighing the purchase of bonds from the Continent’s weaker economies.

After a day of meetings on Ireland and other debt issues, euro zone officials agreed that after 2013, bondholders could face losses in future bailouts, but only on a case by case basis, taking into account guidance from the International Monetary Fund and its experience in previous debt crises. This was a caveat that France had advocated as a way to calm investor anxiety.

Berlin had wanted the automatic involvement of the private sector in sovereign debt defaults, while Paris preferred a more flexible system.

“In view of market developments, it was important to clarify rapidly the role of the private sector in the mechanism,” Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, said in a statement. “Our framework will be fully in line with the I.M.F. approach.”

Across Europe, governments have faced a rising tide of anger from taxpayers who are now footing the bill for a crisis created in part by the financial sector. Investors have so far been protected from potential losses resulting from bank failures and government default, both in the bailout of Greece in the spring and in the package of financial measures for Ireland announced on Sunday.

But German officials have argued that, once the markets factor the risk of losses into their calculations, borrowing costs for more spendthrift euro zone nations will increase, forcing them to change their behavior. That is seen as a key tool to prevent a recurrence of the current problems.

Under the agreement reached Sunday, the new, permanent bailout fund for the euro zone would be structured loosely on the current short-term mechanism created in the wake of the bailout of Greece in May. Beginning in 2013, euro zone bonds will include clauses requiring bondholders to accept restructuring measures if necessary. Berlin had wanted an earlier phase-in period.

Officials rushed to announce the details of the new system — and of Ireland’s rescue package — before financial markets opened on Monday in a bid to relieve pressure on Portugal and Spain, the economies seen as the most vulnerable after Ireland.

Europeans are desperate to keep the crisis from overtaking Spain, which, because of the size of its economy, would require a huge bailout and raise questions about the sustainability of the single currency.

The ministers also agreed to undertake a new set of stress tests on European banks to try to reassure markets of their ability to survive shocks. And they said they would examine whether to extend the time given to Greece to repay its bailout funds to match more generous terms accorded to Ireland.

But it remained unclear whether enough had been done to quell the fears of contagion gripping markets. Despite Ireland’s application a week ago for a bailout package, the markets have continued to threaten the stability of the euro, and yields on 10-year bonds climbed last week in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

The euro gained in early Asian trading after the announcement, strengthening to $1.3296 on Monday compared with $1.3242 in late trading Friday in New York.

In the meantime, Ireland formally became the second nation to accept a bailout. The 85 billion euro ($112 billion) total includes a contribution of 17.5 billion euros by the Irish government itself through money it has already raised. Of the rest, 22.5 billion euros will come from the International Monetary Fund. The remaining 45 billion euros will come from bilateral loans from European nations and two European Union rescue funds set up in the spring.

Britain’s bilateral loan will be 3.8 billion euros, though it will also pay into the European Union and I.M.F. components, for a total contribution of 7.9 billion euros.

“It is in Britain’s national interest,” said George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer. “It is money we fully expect to get back, and I think it will help Ireland get on a fully stable path back to growth.”

In a condition that was strongly backed by Dublin, senior bondholders in Irish banks will not take losses. “There will be no ‘haircuts,’ ” said Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.

The interest rate on the loans has yet to be determined but would be around 6 percent and in line with I.M.F. policy, he said.

Dublin has said it would try to cut its budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014, from 32 percent now, but growth is likely to slow amid a new austerity plan that will cut 15 billion euros’ worth of spending over the next three years. In an acknowledgment of these new pressures, Ireland’s European partners said they would extend by one year, to 2015, the time in which Ireland must meet the deficit-cutting target.

Before Ireland joined the euro, its banks tended to do business the old-fashioned way, financing their lending through the deposits they took in. Once in the euro zone, banks were suddenly able to borrow huge sums of money inexpensively on international markets with nearly no exchange rate risk, an activity that was barely regulated by policy makers. With easy access to these funds, banks like Anglo Irish lent huge amounts to prominent Irish developers, leading to a frenzy of overdevelopment.

When the dust settles, most of Ireland’s banking system will effectively wind up nationalized by the government. The Irish central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, said last week that Ireland’s banks and various assets were up for sale.

But while the European Union rescue package helps backstop billions in losses, a fresh wave of losses is expected to hit banks soon as more beleaguered homeowners default on their mortgages and housing prices continue to tumble in Ireland. With more losses to come, it is unclear who would step in to buy the banks.

“The Irish banking system has become a black hole,” said Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, a global association of the world’s largest banks, “and as long as real estate prices continue to deteriorate, it will remain somewhat of a black hole.”

Liz Alderman reported from Paris.