World leaders have baulked at writing new cheques to help bail out the eurozone, demanding its own governments first do more to fix the two-year-old debt crisis.
Global policymakers demanded more details of a week-old rescue package before they would commit fresh cash to the International Monetary Fund, which could
then lend to Europe's bailout facility, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the end of a Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that a deal might not come before February.
"The worst thing to do would be to try and cook up a number without being clear who was agreeing to what," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the two-day summit. "The job of the IMF is to help countries in distress, not support currency systems."
The refusal of major economies to stump up money now reflected irritation with Europe's failure to resolve its crisis and foiled investor hopes that the summit would mark a turning point. The turmoil instead flared again before Greece's Government survived a confidence vote in Parliament on Saturday and Italy's Premier, Silvio Berlusconi, accepted IMF monitoring.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won the vote after saying he would begin discussions with the opposition on creating a unity government to reach accord on a European aid package needed to avert default.
