European support for Greece remains vague

ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Finance Minister Luc Frieden of Luxembourg said the European Union was still committed to helping Greece lower its debt, but offered no specifics.

European leaders agreed to help Greece last week, but there have been few details released beyond a renewed push for Greece, already facing street demonstrations due to spending cuts, to enact more severe austerity measures.

Despite the lack of details, Frieden said, "we don't have any other choice. Europe is a community of solidarity. We are not going to allow Greece to become a risk for the euro zone," Spiegel Online reported Friday.

Concurrently, several German banks, including Eurohypo, Hypo Real Estate and Deutsche Postbank have said they would stop buying Greek bonds.

Greece needs to refinance $27 billion in government debt by May and $72 billion by the end of the year, but delayed a bond issue Thursday on concerns that rating agencies were going to downgrade their debt.

Ratings agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's both warned this week that a downgrade in Greek debt was possible.

Sovereign debt in Greece has reached 12.7 percent of the country's gross domestic product, more than four times the target of 3 percent set by the European Union.