EU leaders agree to create permanent crisis fund

European Union leaders agreed at a summit Thursday to make minor changes to the EU's governing treaty to set up a permanent mechanism from mid-2013 to resolve sovereign debt problems, diplomats said.

The leaders agreed to insert two sentences into the treaty stating: "The member states whose currency is the euro may establish a stability mechanism to be activated if indispensable to safeguard the stability of the euro as a whole," and "The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism will be made subject to strict conditionality." (Reuters)