Only if the country were formally deemed insolvent by all other euro-zone members would bondholders face losses.
Instead, Germany insisted any aid must come via loans by the individual euro-zone members to a stricken country.
Euro-zone members and the International Monetary Fund would also be on the hook if Greece repudiated its bail-out loans.
In addition, euro-zone members would likely have to take a large hit on governmental and central banks' loans to Greece.
Nor can Mr. Osborne blame the euro crisis for the U.K.'s predic-ament when several euro zone members are performing better.
All this should make euro-zone members better able to cope with the rigours of sharing a single currency with Germany.
Beyond that, France has made no secret of its desire for decision-making among the 17 euro-zone members and sidelining the British.
Eurogroup Chief Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed on Monday night that the support would involve bilateral loans from all euro zone members, rather than debt guarantees.
The worry for Greeks is that with Spain and Italy coming under attack in financial markets, some euro-zone members may be tempted to sacrifice Greece.
Euro-zone members have learnt that they have a direct interest in each others' economic policies, so have accepted closer monitoring by Brussels and their peers.
Many people argue that Britain and America, for example, are in a better position than euro-zone members like Greece because they can depreciate their currencies.
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It would also raise very awkward questions for euro-zone members themselves.
The schemes of the 17 euro-zone members could merge later on.
For certain Reward Zone members the return policy is extended.
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Had it done so, the stimulus would have been a fall in the prices of goods traded between euro-zone members relative to those traded with countries outside the currency union.
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Only John Redwood, a former cabinet minister and a bit of a lone voice on the right, asked for a pledge that Britain would not make further loans to euro-zone members.
The steady loss of wage competitiveness relative to Germany has been one of the troubling and underlying causes of economic difficulty for a number of euro-zone members since the launch of the single currency.
For another, if euro-zone members overcome their differences and integrate much more deeply, they would arguably be leaving Britain, especially if their integration fragments the single market that is the bedrock of British membership.
But there is a danger that the result will be a bureaucratic mess that polarises the haves and have-nots of the euro zone, while further dividing the euro-zone and non-euro-zone members of the European Union.
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Nearly a year after it was bailed out by the European Union, Greece has been thrust back to the top of the agenda as its increasingly fragile finances put serious pressure on Euro zone members to figure out how to avoid a messy default.
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But the German and French governments haven't done a very good job of selling the pact, and that's partly down to the fact that while it involves pain and political risk for other euro-zone members, it ignores most of the problems that confront the bloc's two giants.
The stability-and-growth pact approved by the members of the euro zone looks for budget balance by 2004.
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All 16 members of the euro zone now breach the 3% deficit threshold, and 12 also violate the 60% debt limit.
Since Greece is one of 16 members of the euro zone, its position is very much like a state in the United States.
She knows that many of the other 16 members of the euro zone are enduring and will endure a great deal of pain.
Europe has many world-class companies that sell goods and services across the globe and that are not dependent on the fortunes of peripheral members of the euro zone.
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The deal is an indication that overseas investors are warming up to debt issued by European countries as troubles recede for fiscally stressed members of the euro zone.
Finally, if your organization is filled with analytical skeptics you may need the credibility and momentum of a veteran facilitator to nudge members outside their comfort zone ruts.
Last month, the agency accused the rebels of holding 11 of its local employees and more than 50 of their family members in the conflict zone against their will.
The trouble is that the 17 members of the euro zone, let alone their 333m citizens, cannot agree on who must sacrifice what to allow this new Europe to emerge.
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