EU leaders have agreed to set up a permanent mechanism to bail out any member state whose debt problems threaten the 16-nation eurozone.
The eurozone stability mechanism will require a change to the EU's Lisbon Treaty - but the wording has now been agreed, diplomats say.
As the UK uses the pound it will not have to contribute to the fund, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
This year Greece and the Irish Republic have received emergency EU bail-outs. BBC News
