Eurozone ministers agree 30bn euros for Spanish banks

Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to offer Spain 30bn euros (£24bn; $37bn) to help its troubled banks.

After nine hours of emergency talks in Brussels, the ministers said the money would be available by the end of July.

It was also agreed that a 2013 deadline for Spain to cut its budget deficit to the EU limit of 3% could be extended by one year.

There have been fears that Spain's troubled banks could lead the country to ask for a full state bailout.

The yield on Spanish bonds rose sharply on Monday ahead of the meeting, with many fearing that little concrete action on Spanish banks would be reached.

"There will be specific conditions for specific banks, and the supervision of the financial sector overall will be strengthened," the president of the Eurogroup Jean-Claude Juncker said.

"We are convinced that this conditionality will succeed in addressing the remaining weakness in the Spanish banking sector," he said.

In a news conference at the end of the marathon meeting, a number of appointments were also announced.

The ministers reappointed Mr Juncker as their chairman and picked German Klaus Regling to head the permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, due to come into force this month.