The €2 trillion fund to save the euro - Telegraph.co.uk

Raoul Ruparel, analyst at think tank Open Europe, said: "This plan remains very much up in the air. The issue will be getting approval and what price would be extracted for that. A lot of Parliaments, Slovakia, Netherlands, Germany, are hesitant about giving the EFSF more scope to act. Will Germany ask for greater say in how this money is spent? If so it will only slow everything down which is not ideal."

The idea behind the larger bail-out is that it would deal with the problems in Greece without excluding the country from the eurozone. It would also strengthen those banks exposed to Greek debt. A combination of these two measures and the extra cash available would then create a firewall around the other problematic economies of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy.

Combine this with talk of an emergency interest rate cut from the European Central Bank and you have signs that action is finally being taken.

Economic secretary to the Treasury Justine Greening said: "I think we've had some positive steps taken this weekend towards the euro zone ... in terms of both recapitalising the banks in Europe that are under stress but also putting in place a bail-out fund that is big enough to give confidence to the markets."

There is urgency as well. The deadline for the next tranche of Greek debt to be paid is October 8. Eurozone Governments are expected to have approved the extended powers of the EFSF by the following week.

The Chancellor George Osborne warned last week there was just six weeks to come up with a solution. Sources close to him said this feeling was mirrored at the IMF meeting in Washington. "There was a clear sense that this situation needs to be resolved by the next full meeting of the G20 in Cannes," the source said.

But many commentators will be looking for more than just money to be thrown at the problem. Without structural change it's hard to see how the problems can be resolved rather than postponed.

Mr Ruparel said: "These countries are insolvent. There needs to be structural changes that address the root cause of the problem. Three issues remain, the conditions that will be attached to a bailout, restructuring and the political bottlenecks that are holding up action."

If the Chancellor is correct world leaders have until November 4th to get these three things right.