Centre stage: pre-meeting

“We are in a survival crisis

"We are in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone because if we don't survive with the euro zone, we will not survive with the European Union." – Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council.

"We are discussing with both the ECB and the IMF and of course the Irish. The Irish sovereign is well funded into the middle of next year. The real problem is in the banking system. But they are interconnected. You cannot separate them." – Olli Rehn, EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.

"The phasing out of our liquidity support measures will continue after the end of the current quarter. In my view, conditions in both money and financial markets have improved significantly over recent months, notwithstanding the most recent tensions in some segments of the European sovereign debt market." – J uergen Stark, chief economist of the European Central Bank.

"I don't want to use these mechanisms if not necessary. And we want to ask for collateral if facilities are used." – Jyrki Katainen, minister for finance in Finland.

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"In no way will it be considered as an inevitable situation. The Euro Group has to consider it this evening. The first thing the Euro Group is going to do is listen to Ireland's opinions and then debate them." – Elena Salgado, minister for finance in Spain.

"The Irish [corporate tax] rates are below the European Union average. I therefore see here at least a possibility, given the high budget deficit, to improve revenues without causing a negative impact on growth." – Michael Meister, finance expert for Germany's Christian Democrats