(WASHINGTON, USA) - The July 21 deal on a second Greek bailout and expanding the eurozone emergency fund will be ratified by member states by mid-October, EU monetary affairs chief Olli Rehn and a spokesman said Saturday.
"We are confident that all euro area member states will ratify the agreement," Rehn said in a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the International Monetary Fund's policy advisory board.
A spokesman for Rehn said the target was mid-October.
So far fewer than one-third of the 17 eurozone members parliaments have approved the deal.
Meeting in Washington this week, the Group of 20 major economies, as well as heads of the World Bank and the IMF, have strongly pressed the European Union to move quickly to stanch the contagion from Greece's debt crisis.
The July 21 pact moves to strengthen and broaden the scope of the European Financial Stability Facility and its planned successor for next year, the European Stability Mechanism.
It also offers Greece a new bailout program, worth an estimated 159 billion euros ($215 billion): 109 billion euros in funding and another 50 billion euros in debt service reduction from a plan by private bank holders of Greek debt to write off around one-fifth of the debt's value.
"Euro area leaders reaffirmed their commitment 'to do whatever is needed to ensure the financial stability of the euro area as a whole and its member states,'" Rehn said.
