Euro zone ministers to discuss Portugal's call for aid

Euro zone finance ministers will discuss Portugal's bailout plea, including how much it needs and what reforms it could do in return, but no firm decisions are likely yet, euro zone sources said.

Portugal on Wednesday became the third euro zone country after Greece and Ireland to ask for financial help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund after its borrowing costs rose to unsustainable levels following the collapse of the government of Jose Socrates in March.

Euro zone finance ministers meet informally in Budapest to discuss the response to the sovereign debt crisis, but the focus of the relatively short meeting will be on Portugal.

"The ministers are likely to listen to what the Portuguese finance minister has to say about the economic and political situation," one euro zone source involved in the preparation of the meeting said.

"They will then probably ask the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF to send a mission to Portugal to establish the modalities of the bailout," the source said.

Under EU rules, such a mission to a country requesting financial aid is necessary to establish the parameters of the support programme, which would then be put into a memorandum of understanding signed by Portugal and the European Commission.

Two other euro zone sources, however, said the ministers were likely to have a preliminary talk on some of the key elements.

"They are likely to discuss how much, roughly, Portugal needs, when, and what it might do in terms of reforms," a second euro zone source involved in the preparations said.

The source said the amount of the bailout was likely to be in the higher end of the 60-80 billion euros, possibly 85 billion euros, but it was one of the issues that a mission to Portugal would establish.