German Chancellor Angela Merkel said euro-region leaders must erect a firewall around Greece to avert a cascade of market attacks on other European states that would risk breaking up the currency area.

Expanding the powers of the region's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, as agreed by European leaders in July is necessary to avoid Greece's problems from spilling over to other countries, Merkel said late yesterday on ARD television. The fund's permanent successor, due to take effect in mid-2013, is needed "so we can in fact let a state go insolvent" if it can't pay its bills.

"We have to be in a position to react," Merkel said. "We have to be able to put up a barrier." Even so, "I don't rule out at all that at some point we will have the question whether one can do an insolvency of states just like with banks." She made no mention of setting up the permanent fund before 2013.