PARIS, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- European officials said it would be November at the earliest before leaders could find a solution to eroding confidence in European markets.
Political pressure may have increased at weekend meetings in Washington at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, but leaders in Europe are still "focused on their own internal restraints, so that we don't have the outcome we need," said Antonio Borges, head of the IMF's European offices, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
One source quoted a eurozone official in Washington in a meeting shut off from the public as saying, "This is as fast as we can move. It's going to take six weeks."
To that, the Journal reported, officials from non-eurozone countries asked, "Do you have six weeks?"
Some are thinking the Group of 20 nations meeting in November in Seoul would be the likely event for an agreement to come together.
In Europe, meanwhile, leaders are up against political pressure from voters. In Germany, the notion of spending more to bail out Greece has never resonated well with voters. In Greece, austerity measures have sparked widespread protests for more than a year.
Finland has come up with the concept of having Greece put up collateral for loans
In Washington during the weekend, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said, "The threat of cascading default, bank runs, and catastrophic risk must be taken off the table, as otherwise it will undermine all other efforts, both within Europe and globally."
