Eurozone finance ministers on Friday agreed with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to pursue "a strong and international response" to the financial crisis plaguing both sides, but appeared to have found little other common ground, dpa reported. The chairman of the 17-strong Eurogroup ministers' panel, Jean-Claude Juncker, said there had been "slightly different views" over the use of stimulus, which is not an option in Europe. The United States is currently considering a 447-billion-dollar jobs package. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said Geithner had also spoken of "the need to have a support fund that can be used ... to put out the fire, as he put it." But Juncker denied that an expansion of the eurozone's 440-billion-euro (607-billion-dollar) bailout fund had been talked about, saying that the Eurogroup would not discuss "the increase or expansion of the EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund) with a non-member of the euro area." A spokeswoman for Geithner declined to comment on the talks "out of deference to (our European counterparts) and so as not to complicate their objectives."
