Eurozone closer to cutting Greece's huge debts

Finance ministers from the 17 euro countries agreed to pay Greece its next batch of bailout loans, avoiding a potentially disastrous default, and moved closer to reducing the country's massive debt burden.

But Greece's debts are only one piece of Europe's economic puzzle. The ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday were also struggling with two more complicated - and arguably more important - issues: boosting the firepower of the eurozone's (euro) 440 billion ($607 billion) bailout fund to keep the crisis from spreading and forcing weak banks to increase their capital buffers as a defense against market turmoil.

A European Union official said ministers had made progress on strengthening the banks, and that a plan should be ready for a summit of EU leaders Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations.

However, more work remained to be done on Greece and the bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility. Decisions on those two fronts were not expected until a second summit on Wednesday.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos welcomed the news that Athens would get the next (euro) 8 billion ($11 billion) installment, calling it a "positive step." A day earlier, Greek lawmakers had approved new, deeply contentious austerity measures to get the money.

The loans, which still need the approval of the International Monetary Fund, should be delivered during the first half of November. The money will keep Greece afloat for a little longer, but most economists agree that the country also needs a substantial cut to its debt load.